I've tried many many different mixes over the years, and not really ever found a bad one. Some are more 'stable' than others, and can last indefinitely - with just a little more wetter added, whilst others - eg. grits, shoot their bolt after about 8 hours, and there is basically nothing you can do to 're-temper' them. They are a pretty magical bait though - whether you use them as a pack bait, or as a method.
Grits --- 18oz Instant, 9oz Quick, creamed corn and flavour of choice. Don't get it too wet, and ALWAYS moisten your hands before packing.
Another good choice is pretty much any Calf Manna based mixes - here's one that I frequently use -
1 cup CM
2 cups quick oats
2 cups cracked corn
1 tspn Kosher salt
1 can creamed corn
1 (corn can) water ( lake water - or bottled NOT City water)
Mix dry ingredients well, then add corn and water (if you want to put a flavouring in there - mix it with the can of water)
Mix well (it will be very sticky) put a lid on the bucket and leave for 4 hrs (minimum -- I usually mix the night before fishing) When you open the bucket, it will be set up in a cake. Carefully break it up (not squeezing it too much) by rubbing it between your palms, until you have broken up all the big lumps, and again mix well. It will be pretty dry, but will pack just fine. Keep the lid on the bucket between baitings -- and, if it gets too dry to pack - add a little (very little!!) lake water, and mix until it binds again. A good tip is to have damp hands when packing it, and DON'T overpack, or it will take forever to break in the water.
If you want a faster break with this mix, just add about 1/2 cup of cornmeal.
The last one I'll share is one of the most forgiving mixes I use, and has caught many fish for me.
A 'full' mix - for a long session would be -
8 cups Quick Oats
2 cups Quick Grits
2 cups Wheat Bran
I can Sweetened Condensed Milk
1 can creamed corn
Any flavourings that you like, and a palm full of kosher salt.
If too dry. just add a little more creamed corn.
This is one of the few recipe's that you can successfully halve, or quarter the ingredients - and it still works great.
For short sessions, I'll just make a smaller mix -- and, if I don't use it all, it will keep fine in the refrigerator for a couple of days.
A good tip for making up any 'new' mixes you just dreamed up, is to test it at home - before going fishing, and even then, test it by dropping a ball into the margins where you can see it, on arriving at the water - and note how long the break takes. If you carry some small quantities of the major components in the mix, you can adjust accordingly.
The recipe's I gave are tried and tested - and any substitution of the ingredients will not give the results I've come to know.
There are a plethora of mixes out there - some easy/cheap, and others complicated/expensive. As you get a better feel for what suits any different situation, you can vary the 'flavour of the day' and -- what might not work one day might kill them the next. Just like rigs -- there are many possibilities

1. What are your favorite Method ingrediants?
A. Binder---I like old-fashioned oats most of the time except the winter. I like to use bread crumbs during the cold months. I also have had good success on an all-grits recipe with instant grits as the binder.
B. Breaker---Usually quick grits. The last several months I've also been using hemp seed. I've used Dynamite pure crushed hempseed and Dynamite Frenzied Feeder chili hempseed. Both are pre-prepared and require no boiling/soaking. Also, sweet corn will act as a breaker as well as a wetter.
C. Wetter---Sometimes cream corn, sometimes sweet corn. Just depends on what I've got. I do think cream corn might cloud and give off more scent than sweet corn. If it's not wet enough I just add lake water till it binds.

2. What is your favorite Method Recipe(s)?

Old reliable:
-1/2 large can old-fashioned oats
-1/2 container (as in the size can that Quaker makes) quick grits
-chili powder
-1 can cream corn or sweet corn
-1 cup optional bird or hemp seed...if you use seed, you might want to up the amount of oats a little or add a little bread crumb

All-grits pack:
-18 oz. instant grits
-9 oz. quick grits
-1 can cream corn
-1 cup of optional bird or hemp seed
-optional flavoring of your choice

Cold-water plain jane bread method:
-bread crumb...I don't remember the amount as it's been so long since I've used it
-sweet corn
-optional flavoring
This is a great simple pack for wintertime pond fishing! Depending on the ratio of corn to crumb, it can take forever to break down...IMO not a bad thing when turtles and catfish are not an issue, i.e. wintertime.

How much chili powder do you use?
Teaspoon? Tablespoon? Cup? Truckload?

I put a truck load in colder weather. Right now i haven't been putting so much. Maybe a half a cup.

1. What are your favorite Method ingrediants?
A. Binder: I like to use Penko Bread crumbs.
B. Breaker: Oats, try to keep'em a little dry.
C. Wetter: My own secret sauce

2. What is your favorite Method Recipe(s)?
8 bags of penko, half tube of oats, and add sauce till desired consistency. Usually half a gatorade bottles worth. (I also dip my maize in the sauce as a flavor booster)

3. Do you have any tips, links or other information about this topic? If you are too broke for bread crumbs...just use range cubes

About 1/3 to 1/2 of the (small) shaker full. I used to just use about 1 or 2 tablespoons, but after seeing Steve continually haul using more I've been using more lately.

1. What are your favorite Method ingrediants?
A. Binder
Bread crumbs, Oats, Pellets
B. Breaker
Maize, birdseed, sweetcorn
C. Wetter
Creamed Corn, water, sweetcorn water, corn syrup
2. What is your favorite Method Recipe(s)?
2 parts Calf manna, Goat, or Rabbit pellets
1 part bread crumb or old fashioned oats
1 part soaked birdseed or other small particle
1 cup Hog Wild or 1/2 cup chili powder
1 can+ Creamed corn and/or water to pack
3. Do you have any tips, links or other information about this topic?
I add wetter in small increments; I hold back some dry ingredients in case I get it too wet. I usually don't flavor my mix but leave the flavors to the hookbait.

Here is a link to a nice simple and effective mix: http://americancarpsociety.com/cypr_baiting_method.html

fiSherwood,
Instant or Old Fashion Oats?

Just starting to get into method fishing so it will be a bit before I actually can say.

1. What are your favorite Method ingrediants?
A. Binder old fashion oats
B. Breaker sweetcorn (instant potato mix?)
C. Wetter creamed corn and lake water
2. What is your favorite Method Recipe(s)?
(this is from memory: see 3 below)
1 large carton of old fashion oats
3 cups instant potato mix
2 cans sweet corn, drained
2 cans creamed corn
2 capfuls Scorpion flavor of choice
Lake water to texture

3. Do you have any tips, links or other information about this topic? Don't leave your method recipe laying around the kitchen. After months of working out just the right mix, my wife tossed the final recipe I left on the counter. My family law attorney tells me this is not sufficient grounds to show she's an unfit mother, so I guess we'll stay together.

Old faithful via Jason Black and Alexander of Royal Carp...

The base:
1 can plain progresso bread crumbs
1 can del monte creamed corn
Usually make first batch with about 8 cans of each.

To feel:
hook bait - usually fermented maize
hi-protein deer pellets
dried molasses

Only use lake water if it dries out too much

So far the fermented corn has out-fished boilies 100% of the time for us. Boiled for 1hr, once off heat 1lb sugar per 10lbs corn, let sit outside for 24-48hrs prior to fishing. Once on hair 1 spray of Royal Carps Yellow Corn flavored spray.


Have had awesome luck on this stuff... from a 30 fish single night massacre at Lake Livingston to a great trip (about 5wks ago and sadly only trip thus far) to Austin on LBL topping out with a 32.36 common and a 31 and 37lb buff.

I am lost by the "unfit mother". Are your children carp?

While my attorney agrees that such a neglegent act as tossing a well developed fish bait formula is certainly grounds for divorce, he fears it is not enough to gain sole custody of the kids, so I guess I'll have to forgive her to avoid a nasty custody battle.

rpayan that sounds like a bad*** method mix and hook bait. I'm a fan of fermented corn as well - really any corn because it's cheap, easy to make, and lasts awhile.

Hey Nick, yeah this mix is easy and basic but most importantly killer!!!

Fermented maize has been the MVP 100% of the time for us.

We need to share a bank sometime man... Have you fished with both Justin and Jason already?

I've fished with Justin quite a bit and I've met jason but we haven't fished together.

Rpayan,
Where do you get Dried Molasses?

Brid,
For your Calf Mana Recipie, do you soak your cracked corn first? Boiled water?

I am still unsure of the difference between Old Fashion Oats and Instant Oats. I am guessing that instant oats are pre-cooked and bind more?

Thats exactly right, dturner; they will bind like cement if too wet! So will Quick Oats.
I will sometimes use Quick Oats later in the day to help a dried-out method stick better.

Brid,
For your Calf Mana Recipie, do you soak your cracked corn first? Boiled water?
DT - No soaking needed - especially if you make it the night before as suggested.

here is a good CM mix i use,
4 cups calf manna
1 cup water
mix till it binds together. add water thru the day to keep it moist.

Man, let me grab a pen and paper...that's a recipe!

Keepin it simple is always best though!

I would like to know Too! But in the meantime the all stock pellets i get from the feed store also have molasses in them. Now that i am typing this we could make a very nice molasses glug with Dried Molasses and Karo Syrup for our hook baits. Would be killer with a molasses method mix.