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In reply to Post #1
A mixture can be good 
Ive listened to some people and they are obsessed with bait size and say they should be the same size as the food the fish are eating, good luck with that!
I always think something different can work. Unpressured fish it’s a 20mm for me everytime, better for baiting up too. As anglers I do think we make it harder for ourselves at times.
Ultimately there are two things for me, it’s a bait the fish really want to eat or it’s an attention picker that trips them up
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In reply to Post #14
Size isn’t all that matters (that from a guy with … )
But baits attraction and composition may play a crucial role too.
I’ve got boilies that hardly catch any bream and others where it is in and out.
Sometimes a less attractive bakt allows the carp to visit the spot and you will catch more carp than bream 
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In reply to Post #12
They’re very often in the mood unfortunately. They’ve slowed down a bit now, but late spring I was unlucky enough to catch 21 of the buggers in 72hrs. Single 24’s were picked up with alarming regularity. Double 24’s slowed them down a bit, but the carp seemed to be avoiding them, so went back on single 20’s as I felt the rig mechanics were hooking the carp better.
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In reply to Post #12
Only up to about 14lb 
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In reply to Post #11
Have you not seen the size of the gob on a double figure bream?
They'll easily neck a 24mm if they're in the mood.
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In reply to Post #9
You will eventually get the odd one hooked up, but it's unlikely they are able to easily eat any 24mm freebies, so at least they are still there for when the carp pass by.
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When i used to roll me own. The size of the bait was dictated by the distance we wanted to pult or stick them. No spods or spombs back then. No thought was given to diffrent sizes creating a different feeding reaction. I pretty much only still fish boilie to this day. And what I buy is still dependent on the above. 
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Any ‘small’ baits under 20mm tend to get snaffled by bream almost instantly where I fish. Absolute suicide trying to fish a single 16mm. Double 24’s definitely slow them down, but still get bream up to about double figures fairly regularly. There’s no real way of avoiding them it seems.
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Generally use 18mm bottom or 16mm wafter / pop up... But I came back from France a couple of years ago, was too lazy to swap my rigs over and fished double 22mm at my local syndicate at did really well on them!
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18mm whole and cut in half tends to be my approach
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In reply to Post #4
Ditto, but I use smaller 10x15mm when I can, with bigger hooks.
Edit, forgot to add that most of the time if I do use round boilies they're butterflied 1/2 & 1/2 back to back.
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In reply to Post #1
Same as essexandy, I always try and be different. I remember on a podcast the other week a bait manufacture said something like 75% of baits he rolls for all his customers (including big brands) are 14-16mm. Most of the others are a little smaller (12's) or a little bigger (18's). Very few use 20mm or bigger.
I like to roll 20 or 24 at home as its different plus the bonus that it is quicker to make a few kg of 24's than 12's!
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I preference 14/18mm dumbell's these days, you don't see many people on the bank with them.
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In reply to Post #1
I’ve been debating moving to 18mm recently, for better presentation on a snowman (my 12mm pop ups are too buoyant so have to cut and weigh them down) but I’ve always felt they’re too big - no idea why, just so used to using 14/15mm….
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In reply to Post #1
Personally I like to use a different sized bait to those fishing around me if possible. At one time that meant using 10 or 12mm baits, but for the last few years being different has meant going large. 24mm.
I have always thought that my rigs are more effective with bigger baits. Even in the winter I was using double 16's and getting fantastic hook holds, some as much as three inches back.
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Bait