Doughball is a popular bait for carp and catfish. Like the name says it is basically a ball made out of dough. You work the dough ball around your hook and use it as bait. Doughball can be made from all sorts of different ingredients. People who use doughball have their favorite methods and secret recipes. People who fish paylakes for money often guard their recipes tightly as they don’t want to give the competition any advantage.
I don’t fish at paylakes but I do like to catch carp. I learned about making doughball from people who did fish paylakes regularly. Then I took the recipees and applied them to fishing for wild carp. I’ve had very good results. So did the people who taught me.
Today I am going to tell you about an effective and easy to make doughball recipe. This isn’t the cheapest doughball recipe you are going to find. But it is one of the quickest to put together. It’s also one of the best for catching carp.
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There are only three ingredients for this doughball:
You could technically substitute these ingredients for cheaper substitutes. Though in my experience that doesn’t always work well. You want to make sure you use toasted wheat germ at the very least. The raw stuff isn’t nearly as effective.
Making the doughball is really easy. There is no cooking or even heat involved at all. That is good since you can keep the dry ingredients for a long time and then just mix them together right on the water when you want to fish.
All you have to do is mix a few jars of the wheat germ together with equal amounts of the light and dark Karo syrup. You might be able to mix them with some kind of spoon but I always just use my hand. If it gets really sticky you can rinse your hand in water. Having a wet hand can make it easier to mix this stuff around.
You want the mix to turn into a kind of flaky dough. You shouldn’t see any dry clumps of wheat germ. Once you get it thoroughly mixed you can start trying to form balls with the dough. If the balls will form you are pretty much ready to go. If you can’t form any balls you might want to add a little more Karo syrup. Just be sure not to overdo it.
It doesn’t hurt to let the doughball set up for a few minutes to give it a little firmness. That will help it stay on your line. Though it will still flake off in the water while staying together enough to catch fish. This bait will keep for a couple of days in the right conditions. But it is best to use it within the first 24 to 48 hours.
This doughball can be packed around a hook and used as bait. It will catch plenty of carp. It can also catch the occasional buffalo or catfish. If you are using a paylake rig or hair rig, you can also use this doughball as a packbait to help bring fish into the area.
