Krill boilies at home: a homemade krill recipe with real percentages

Krill boilies are one of the easiest ways to give a homemade fishmeal bait a stronger marine smell. The trick is the dose. Krill meal is rich, oily and has almost no binding power, so a little goes a long way, and too much gives you a paste that crumbles in your hands. This guide shows how much krill meal to use, which ingredients sit well next to it, and a 1 kg krill boilie recipe with every percentage written out.

If this is your first batch of any kind, read our boilie recipe for beginners first. It covers rolling and boiling step by step, so this post can focus on the krill side of things.

What krill meal does in a boilie

Krill meal is ground, dried krill, the small shrimp-like crustaceans that live in huge swarms in cold seas. In the krill meal entry of the BoilieFormula library it is listed as a protein source, fat source, attraction contributor, texture coarsener and colourant. The estimates put it at around 60% protein and 15% fat, though those figures change from one supplier to the next.

In practice that means four things for your mix:

• Smell. It scores at the top of the library scale for natural attraction and high for leakage, so it gives off a lot of scent in the water.
• Oil. At around 15% fat it is oilier than most fishmeals. That softens the bait and shortens how long a bag keeps at room temperature.
• Texture. It opens the paste up and binds poorly, so it needs help from other ingredients to hold a round shape.
• Colour. It tints the paste a reddish shade, which is useful if you want krill baits that look different from your usual fishmeal.

If you want to see how krill compares with the other meals and flours you might use, our guide to boilie base mix ingredients goes through them one by one.

How much krill meal to use

Stay inside the library range of 2.5-15% of the dry mix. Within that range, think of it in three steps:

• 2.5-5%: a hint of krill in a fishmeal mix. The paste rolls almost like your normal one.
• Around 7.5-10%: krill is clearly the main smell. This is where most homemade krill boilies sit, and where the example recipe below lands.
• 10-15%: a heavy krill bait. The paste gets oilier and looser, so you will need more binder and a careful boil.

Above 15% the mix becomes hard to balance, and 20% is the absolute maximum in the library. Going past it does not make the bait more attractive, it just makes the paste harder to roll and the skin softer.

What to mix with krill meal

Krill meal works best as part of a fishmeal mix rather than on its own. These partners from the ingredient library suit it well:

• LT94 fishmeal (10-35%, typical 20%). A high-quality fishmeal that gives the mix a solid protein base and a bit more binding than krill.
• Shrimp meal (2.5-15%, typical 7.5%). Another crustacean meal with a similar smell. If you add it, take some krill out so the two together do not swamp the mix.
• Green-lipped mussel powder (GLM) (1-5%, typical 3%). A strong, soluble attractor that pairs naturally with krill. A small amount is enough.
• Salmon oil (5-20 ml per kg of dry mix, typical 10 ml/kg). Adds more marine oil. Krill already brings fat, so stay at the low end.
• Fish protein hydrolysate (10-50 ml/kg, typical 25 ml/kg). A liquid that adds water-soluble attraction. Count it as part of your liquids when you mix the paste.

For structure, add a binding flour such as semolina and some soya flour. Defatted soya flour is a good fit here because it brings protein without adding even more oil.

1 kg krill boilie recipe

This example uses 10% krill meal in a fishmeal base. Every amount sits inside the BoilieFormula library range for that ingredient. The table is the dry mix only, which adds up to 1000 g.

Wet ingredients per 1 kg of dry mix, added separately:

• Eggs: the library range is 7-11 eggs per kg, with 9 typical. Start with about 8 and add the rest one at a time until the paste is right.
• Salmon oil: 10 ml. You can leave it out, as the krill already carries oil.
• Fish protein hydrolysate (optional): 25 ml. If you use it, you may need one egg less.

The percentages above describe the dry mix, not the finished bait. Once you add eggs and liquids and then boil and dry the baits, the make-up of the finished boilie is different.

How to make krill boilies step by step

1. Weigh out all the dry ingredients and mix them well. Break up any lumps of krill meal so the colour is even.
2. In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs with the salmon oil and hydrolysate, if you use them.
3. Add the dry mix to the eggs a little at a time and knead until you have a firm paste that does not stick to your hands.
4. If the paste cracks, add a little more egg. If it sticks, add a spoonful of dry mix. Let it rest for 10-15 minutes.
5. Roll it into sausages and then into baits by hand or with a rolling table.
6. Boil the baits in small batches, using the same time you would for normal fishmeal baits of that size. Krill paste is softer, so check a couple of baits before you scale up.
7. Lay them on a tray or in an air-dry bag and let them dry until the skin is firm.

How to store krill boilies

Because krill meal is oily, krill boilies do not keep as long at room temperature as a lean fishmeal bait. The oil can turn rancid over time, which changes the smell. Once the baits are dry, split them into session-sized bags and freeze them. Take out only what you need for each trip.

If you want shelf-life baits, that is a different recipe with preservatives and is not covered here.

Variations for colder water and faster breakdown

The ingredient library rates krill meal well for cold water, but salmon oil much less so. In winter, keep the krill and cut the salmon oil back or leave it out. GLM and fish protein hydrolysate are both rated highly for cold water, so they are worth keeping in.

If you would rather have a krill bait that breaks down within hours, our guide to soluble boilies explains which ingredients open up a mix and how to shorten the boil.

Common krill boilie mistakes

• Too much krill. Going above 15% makes an oily, crumbly paste. Stay in the 2.5-15% range and add smell with GLM or hydrolysate instead.
• Not enough binder. Krill binds poorly. If baits split while boiling, raise the egg albumen slightly (the library range is 1-7%) or add a little more semolina.
• Too much oil. Krill already brings fat. Adding a lot of salmon oil on top gives soft baits that go off faster.
• Leaving them out. Oily baits stored warm lose their fresh smell. Freeze them.
• Skipping the allergen care. Krill dust gets everywhere. Mix it away from food and label the bags.

Krill boilie checklist

• Pick your krill dose within 2.5-15% of the dry mix.
• Pair it with a fishmeal such as LT94 and a binding flour.
• Check that your dry mix adds up to 1000 g and 100%.
• List eggs, oil and liquids separately from the dry mix.
• Mix in a ventilated space and keep the meals away from household food.
• Roll and boil a small test batch first.
• Dry the baits, then bag and freeze them.
• Write down what you changed so the next batch matches.

How BoilieFormula can help

A krill recipe is easy to tip over by a few percent. In BoilieFormula you can enter the recipe above, see the percentages, an estimated protein figure and cost per kilo, and get warnings when an ingredient goes outside its usual range. If you want a starting point, open the free Basic Fishmeal Mix template in the calculator and add krill meal to it.

The free plan gives you unlimited calculations and three saved recipes. Pro adds unlimited saved recipes, detailed scores, comparisons between recipe versions, a testing journal, custom ingredients and extra recipe templates. See what Pro includes if that sounds useful.

Frequently asked questions

Final thoughts

Krill meal is a strong ingredient, and a good krill boilie uses it with a light hand. Keep it inside the 2.5-15% range, back it up with a solid fishmeal and enough binder, and store the finished baits in the freezer. Roll a small batch, see how it behaves, and note any changes.

When you are ready to try your own version, put it into the free boilie recipe calculator and check the numbers before you roll.