#but since i'd already enhanced the clouds a bit

[plein-air-on-gorkhon]

[carpfishingbaits]

What Constitutes an Ideal Winter Boilie?

In the realm of winter carp fishing, the choice of bait is paramount. While boilies remain a favored option throughout the year, their composition during the colder months demands special attention. It's widely acknowledged that in winter, anglers should shift from heavy fishmeal baits to those based on nuts and birdseeds. This approach has consistently proven effective for me, and I firmly believe in leveraging every small advantage, especially during the challenging winter fishing season. A crucial element of this strategy is selecting the right bait, which I aim to explore in this article.

Essential Ingredients for Winter Boilies

A superior winter boilie, in my view, should primarily consist of a nut/birdseed base. Such ingredients absorb water effortlessly, breaking down quickly and offering easy digestibility for carp. While I typically prefer a fishmeal bait like the OG Fish during other seasons, I switch to boilies containing tiger nuts, peanut proteins, and birdseeds as autumn wanes. The OG Fruit & Nut is an exemplary bait fitting this description, and its increased catch reports post the first frosts are no coincidence.

Although it's not obligatory to use baits from this category exclusively, and even the OG Fish continues to be effective in winter, I advise avoiding high oil content baits. Oils generally perform poorly in cold water, hindering solubility, delaying breakdown, and impeding the release of attractants - precisely what we want to avoid when enticing a bite in winter!

Digestibility is Key

Earlier, I touched upon the importance of digestibility, a concept now well-understood among anglers. Influential figures like Tom Maker have long advocated pre-soaking baits to enhance their texture and give them a washed-out appearance. This practice is vital year-round but becomes even more critical in winter. Carp feed less frequently in cold water, and their slower metabolism means they digest food at a reduced pace. Therefore, incorporating highly digestible ingredients in your winter boilies is essential.

Let's Talk Attractants

Securing a bite in the colder months can be challenging, making it crucial to enhance your baits. I prefer soaking my baits in a matching sauce before a session, which intensifies the liquid food absorption, further softening the baits and boosting leakage upon water contact. This technique complements the already-dusted outer coating of the OG Fruit & Nut, but adding more of the Magic Dust can elevate its effectiveness. In winter, I never leave home without a can of evaporated milk, which, when added to baits, creates a significant cloud of attraction, often enough to lure nearby carp, especially in clearer waters.

Shelf Life or Frozen Boilie in Winter?

Whenever possible, I opt for frozen boilies due to their fresher flavor and higher solubility - key attributes for winter fishing. The only scenario where I'd choose shelf life baits in winter is when time is of the essence, and I haven't had the opportunity to defrost baits. In such cases, I'd grab a couple of bags of the OG Fruit & Nut in shelf life form. Despite their longevity, these baits retain remarkable freshness straight out of the bag, likely due to their double-dusting process.

Boilie Sizes in Winter

The size of the boilies used in winter is another critical consideration, closely tied to digestibility. Smaller baits absorb water and break down faster, becoming softer and easier for carp to digest. Winter mixes teeming with smaller 'bits and pieces' tend to perform exceptionally well. That's why I incorporate 10mm boilies and crumb in my mix, both of which release attractants rapidly and, with the added double dusting process, prove to be real winter winners!

Personal Experience and Recommendations

Having been an avid carp angler for over 17 years, my experience with Parker Baits, particularly since conducting an independent review on my blog, has been transformative. Balancing fishing with a busy work life, I spend most of my time at day ticket venues and park lakes around Yorkshire, where these strategies have proven their worth time and again.

In conclusion, the key to successful winter carp fishing lies in understanding and adapting to the unique conditions of the season. By choosing the right ingredients, focusing on digestibility, enhancing attractants, selecting the appropriate boilie type and size, and preparing your baits with care, you can significantly increase your chances of a rewarding catch during the colder months. Remember, every small detail counts in winter carp fishing, and the right boilie can make all the difference.

[kasanya-01]

I'm super late, but I'd love to hear about Escape From Nibelheim (Final Fantasy 7)!!!!

Hi @boomchickfanfiction , thanks for asking about my WIP!

I only started writing fan fiction last November and “Escape From Nibelheim” was my first writing project. (It’s also what I was working on for the first @dogoodweirdly challenge!)

As you can probably guess from the name, it’s about Zack & Cloud. I’ve read a lot of stories that cover their time in the lab, their escape, and their year on the run. Most stories gloss over the details of the escape or go with them sneaking out of an abandoned mansion, but I wanted something grittier and more desperate so I decided to write it myself.

I’m about 15k words into it at this point, they’re less than 12 hours into their escape, and Zack is having a very not fun time. (Sorry, Zack!)

The bad news is that I got sucked sideways into the Legend of Zelda (Linked Universe) fandom and I haven’t touched this WIP since February. I’m sure my interest in FF7 will be renewed at some point though. We’ve got at least one more remake to go in the franchise.

So, I will leave you with an excerpt from the rough draft:

Two soft whumps broke the silence. Zack flinched, heart racing wildly, as a pair of grenades bounced off the back wall and came clattering to a halt near the operating table. They hissed ominously, starting to release white smoke with a familiar acrid scent.

Ifrit’s fiery hell.

Tear gas.

Zack’s mind slammed into overdrive. He hadn’t heard anything. Even with an open door, he hadn’t heard anything. How?! His ears were still ringing a bit, but not enough to impact his . situational . awareness… Oh gods. The pit of his stomach dropped. His eyes darted around the room, finally spying a video surveillance camera up in one corner. That’s how they’d known he was free! They’d been watching all along! This attack had been planned. They must have snuck a strike team down the stairs while he was distracted with Cloud. And those grenades had been launched! They were planning to take him down from a distance.

Zack jerked his attention back to the grenades. Little clouds of white smoke were starting to form above them. Shit. Ok. Less than a minute until things get ugly. No point throwing them back. They’ll be wearing masks for sure and they can just launch more. Gotta contain the gas, limit exposure. He raced over to the closest cabinet, half ripping the doors off their hinges in his haste. Need something airtight, like a jar. The grenades hissed slowly in the background as he ransacked the cabinet, heedless of the delicate scientific equipment getting smashed in the process. Nothing useful.

Wide eyed and panting, Zack whirled around, looking for another cabinet to check. The white clouds had been pulled along in his wake and were now curling around the glass of the mako tube, getting dangerously close to his Cloud.

Wait.

The mako tube!

Zack exploded into action. Dashing forward, he scooped up both grenades. Distantly, he heard some rounds smashing into the far wall as he looped back around the operating table. Those didn’t sound right, part of his mind processed as he skidded to a halt in front of the unbroken mako tube. Zack dumped the grenades inside, already turning away as he hit the door control. Unseen, behind him, the tube slowly started flooding with white gas.

Snatching up the Buster Sword, Zack raced towards the front of the lab. More shots fired as he crossed the open doorway. He fetched up behind the closed half of the door in time to watch several feather-tufted projectiles float past, seemingly in slow motion, before impacting against the far wall with a distinctly non-metallic sound. Tranq darts again. His stomach clenched. Gods, he wished they were just regular bullets. Getting shot hurts like a bitch, but wounds heal. These were far more dangerous. They would slow him down. And right now his crazy adrenaline-fueled, mako-enhanced speed was his biggest advantage. Hell, get enough of those darts in him and he’d wake up back in the tank.