Bait & PVA calculator
Pick your rods, session length, season, venue and how you like to feed. You'll get a starting estimate of boilies, particles and pellets, PVA bags or sticks and spare hookbaits, with the sums shown.
The calculator needs JavaScript switched on. As a rough guide without it: allow about 1 kg of boilies per rod for each 24 hours in summer and autumn, and about a quarter of that in winter. See carp bait explained.
starting estimate for this session
Take a little more than you think you'll need, and take what you don't use home. Freeze leftover boilies, or air-dry them, so they keep. Some fisheries limit how much bait you can put in, or ban particles altogether, so always check the rules first.
More on choosing and feeding bait: carp bait explained · PVA bags, sticks and mesh · spodding and spombing.
How we work it out
| result | sum |
|---|---|
| Boilies | rods × days × season rate × approach × venue, rounded up to the next 0.5 kg |
| Particles and pellets | boilies × particle share (none for single hookbaits, half for scattering, three-quarters for spodding), halved in winter |
| PVA bags or sticks | rods × days × recasts per day: one bag or stick on every cast |
| Spare hookbaits | PVA count + 10 spares, rounded up to the next 5 |
| setting | value used |
|---|---|
| Days | day session 0.5 · overnight 1 · 48 hours 2 · 72 hours 3 |
| Season rate, kg per rod per day | winter 0.25 · spring 0.75 · summer 1 · autumn 1 |
| Approach | single hookbaits 0.2 · light scattering 0.6 · spod and spomb 1.2 |
| Venue | busy commercial 1.2 (lots of fish competing) · club lake 1 · big pit 0.8 (fewer, bigger fish over a bigger area) |
| Recasts per rod per day | winter 4 · spring, summer and autumn 6 |
These figures are starting estimates, not measurements. Every lake is different: if bait is being eaten fast and you're getting bites, feed more; if nothing is touching it, cut back.