Fishmeal Boilies – Why the hype?
May 25, 2026
There’s something satisfying about catching carp on a bait that costs next to nothing and gets overlooked by half the lake. While everyone is firing out kilos of fishmeal boilies and matching wafters, a handful of properly prepared chick peas can absolutely do the business.
They’re not fashionable. They’re not “carpy”. But that’s exactly why they work.
Chick peas have been around in carp fishing for years, but they’ve quietly disappeared from a lot of anglers’ bait buckets. These days most anglers reach for boilies, pellets, particles like hemp, or bright hookbaits straight away. Meanwhile, carp on pressured waters are seeing the same stuff week in, week out.
A chick pea is different.
It’s got a soft but firm texture, a natural food look, and once prepared properly it leaks attraction nicely into the water. More importantly, it doesn’t scream danger. On waters where fish have been hooked repeatedly over beds of identical boilies, something as simple as a chick pea can trip them up.
Chick peas are a proper food item. They’re packed with natural oils, protein, and carbohydrates, and once soaked they give off a subtle nutty smell that carp seem to home in on.
The shape helps too.
Unlike perfectly round boilies, chick peas sit naturally on the lakebed and don’t look manufactured. In silty areas especially, they settle in nicely and can look just like something the fish would naturally grub around for.
One thing I’ve noticed over the years is how confidently carp feed on them. You often get proper positive bites rather than liners and hesitant pick-ups.
Like most particles, preparation is everything. You can’t just chuck dry chick peas into the lake.
The process is simple:
Once they’ve cooled, they’ll usually develop a slightly thickened natural liquid around them which is full of attraction.
Some anglers add salt, molasses, chilli flakes, curry powder, or liquid flavours during preparation, but honestly, plain chick peas work absolutely fine.
A lot of the time, simple is better.
One of the best ways to use chick peas is little and often.
You don’t need to spod out a full bucket. A few handfuls scattered over a spot can be enough to get fish searching around confidently. Because they’re small, carp spend longer feeding over them compared to larger boilies where they can just mop them up and move on.
For rigs, you can:
They’re brilliant in margins as well. Under trees, near reeds, or little quiet spots where fish feel safe.
One thing that makes chick peas so appealing these days is the cost.
With the price of bait climbing constantly, it’s getting harder to justify piling in loads of expensive boilies every trip. Chick peas are ridiculously affordable and available almost anywhere.
You can prep a massive bucket for the price of a small bag of boilies.
And the funny thing is, carp genuinely do not care how much your bait costs.
If you’re doing a longer campaign on a tricky water, chick peas can be deadly.
Introducing a small amount regularly gets fish used to feeding on them confidently because there’s very little danger associated with them. On pressured venues especially, introducing something different can give you a massive edge.
A lot of anglers overlook particles now unless they’re using hemp or tiger nuts, which leaves chick peas sitting in that perfect “rarely seen but highly effective” category.
Carp fishing has a habit of going in circles. Sometimes the old-school methods quietly outfish the latest trend.
Chick peas might not look exciting on Instagram, and you won’t see sponsored anglers shouting about them every five minutes, but they still catch carp — and plenty of them.
If you fancy doing something a bit different this season, grab a bag, prep them properly, and give them a go.
You might be surprised how effective something so simple can be.
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