Particulate feeding: Many fish naturally filter feed. Carp are an excellent example that use this method and are even termed slow suction feeders, adjusting their gill rakers to most efficiently sieve the most abundant and nutritious natural food items like blood worms and water fleas etc. In the case of smaller hook baits and ground baits which consist of smaller items of ingredients such as crushed dried shrimps and fly larvae, small seeds and crushed nuts etc, fish can be easier to catch using these. The use of micro sized pellets or mixed sizes of pellets or crushed boilies mimic in many ways natural food carp feed on most efficiently for much of the time.

Bait alkalinity or acidity: A bait can be manipulated so that when mixed with water to form a solution the solution it creates is more acid or alkaline. There are very many questions regarding exactly how acidity of a flavour for instance genuinely impacts upon the fish receptor cells. This involves numerous forms of chemical and bioelectrical receptors, proteins and specialised channels and nerves connecting and leading to the brain.

Flavours work; if they did not we would not be able to detect roast beef or Tutti Fruitti ice cream and feel hungry as biofeedback kick in, and fish in water are the same! Flavours have various levels of impacts and very few substances have no inherent flavour at all; even plastic and rubber baits contain substances that fish can detect down to 1 part in many millions if not over a billion...

Bait component reactivity: This might sound a bit complicated but it basically means that putting one ingredient or substance with another in your bait will lead to a reaction which will benefit your baits performance. Very well proven examples are enzymes used to break down protein ingredients in baits converting them to fish stimulating peptides and amino acids for instance, and various carbonate substances, some of which are used to create activity within the bait and even producing bubbles which disperse the baits attraction further quicker and more efficiently than a standard bait. This is a very interesting and stimulating subject and can be applied to both hook baits ground baits very powerfully!

Bait bioactivity: If you find out enough about bait ingredients in relation to fish themselves you will see that very many of the most successful ingredients affect the fish in potent ways that the fish cannot fail to notice in association with your bait. Many have potent antioxidant properties; in fact it gets to the stage where finding a very successful ingredient which does not have antioxidant properties is comparatively rare. From natural concentrated cranberry, blueberry and strawberry flavours for example, milk extracts, marine and vegetable oils, herbs like mint and spices like black pepper; the list goes on and on...

Bait nutritional biological availability versus flavour attractors: Many anglers see baits that work in terms of how much protein it contains or if it incorporates flavours to make it work. The funny thing is that when Richworth first introduced readymade frozen boilies to the carp fishing anglers, they used flavours such as Tutti Fruitti, Honey Yucatan, and Salmon Supreme. These labels became associated with the bait to the point that the main question was what flavour are you on.

In the case of Richworth at least, many of these flavours are very far from mere labels and do indeed have bioactive properties. However, flavours do not constitute nutritional significance in baits but the bulk ingredients certainly do! Suffice to say, you can eat something but it does not mean you can digest it and actually use it as food! Best nutritional bait design is about bait with as near 100 percent digestibility within the fish, basically to get the maximum impact upon fish internally for repeated successful consumption of bait which leads to higher chances of takes on such a bait.

Thermogenic ingredients and substances: You might have heard about these in regards to dieting or body-building. These are foods which require as much (if not more) energy to digest as the energy they actually provide as food. In effect these ingredients will affect the inner systems of the fish so that when it eats your bait it is stimulated into eating more and there are many ingredients which supplement this effect including taste enhancing feed stimulants and growth stimulants etc.

This whole subject is very significant and exploiting it can lead to really great bait edges indeed in terms of ground baits and hook baits of many forms. Spices are a perfect example of very potent but very economical ingredients for homemade baits and ground baits etc.

Bait component olfactory potential impacts on fish and chemoreception: Having mentioned a bit about what baits do to effect fish to make them want to eat your bait or mouth it at least this might be of use. One of the greatest advantages you can have is to glean which substances naturally trigger fish feeding in your chosen fish and to find out exactly how to use them in a bait. If you can team this up with other senses stimulation such as sound, sight or leverage of subtle fish electrical detection and orientation in water you will be far better equipped to exploit and even repeatedly create many more intensive feeding situations than other anglers!

Fish feeding triggers compared to fish attractors: This is linked to the above regarding exploiting fish olfaction and chemoreception, it is the use of fish feeding trigger which have very much more likelihood of stimulating true fish feeding than artificial attractors like many flavours for instance.

Essential nutritional bait ingredient tastes and smells versus artificial flavour tastes and smells: There is no reason why you need to use flavours in some situations, especially if you know a bit more about the inherent flavours produced by you bait ingredients and additives themselves. You might be surprised to find that many of the chemicals producing a characteristic odor in water in bread or milk for example, can also be found in many artificial flavours...

Stimulation of all interrelated fish senses to leverage maximum response to bait: This is about looking at all the senses a fish has and incorporating the means to exploit them together in your bait and rig. It makes logical sense that one great way to induce the most takes for an average skilled angler is to exploit the natural senses of the fish sought.

All the senses are naturally used together and the stimuli is processed in the brain to make instinctive and learnt decisions to consume your bait or flee from it! This is just a sample of how you can obtain more control over your baits performance and your resulting fish catching success, and although some areas appear complex it is easy for anyone to use these things with just a little more know-how!

 

1. Tinned fish make excellent baits. Putting them in a liquidiser and adding ordinary wholemeal flour and eggs is one of the simplest ways to make a fish meal bait!
2. Even using tinned tuna or salmon flakes or chunks in natural oil used in ground baits or one of the new round plastic hollow hook bait holders; both work effectively.
3. Many fish meal fishing baits can taste sour or bitter and benefit from use of ingredients to improve taste, (and smell) and most importantly; "palatability" which can cause fish to ingest baits more repeatedly to create more chances of a hook bait being taken.
4. It takes roughly 4 to 5 tonnes of live fish in order to process and produce 1 tonne of fish meal, (fish have a high water content like us humans among many other similarities!)
5. Due to world-wide over-fishing, certain fish species used for human consumption and in fish meals, especially of the north Atlantic white lean fish like cod, haddock, whiting and pollack are more in short supply these days but their place is filled by smaller still very valuable fish species.
6. You can mix various fish oils together or with vegetable oils, to create your own personalised "fish feed inducing" oil.
7. Lecithins improve the beneficial dispersal of fish oils from baits when in water; making them far more "semi-soluble" and easier for fish receptor cells to "detect."
8. Use of fish oils in low temperatures can severely inhibit fish bait digestion and even "lock-up" other less soluble ingredients which could sit in the gut and go rancid.
9. Often when fishing a fishery containing large catfish, having baited a swim with fish meal type baits can produce a "slick" of oil on the waters surface which can take some time to reduce depending on the oil content of the baits.
10. Often a fish oil induced "oil slick" can be confused with the large "slicks" which large catfish produce, (and the reverse is also true!)
11. Putting together a fish meal bait is very easy at the beginners level and gets more in-depth at the levels of optimising the digestive biological value and nutritional profiles of substances in the baits (especially involving first and second "limiting amino acids," for instance.)
12. Ideal fish meal boilies and pellets and pastes should contain much reduced oil levels and exploit lecithins (like the commercial carp bait “Trigger Ice” for example.)
13. A good fish meal bait in winter (in contrast to summer) needs to have an open texture which allows soluble components to leach-out more effectively.
14. Using crushed egg-shells or crushed cockle shells adds much more than just more effective open bait texture.
15. The use of wheat germ, wheat and barley bran and milk proteins, are all beneficial digestive ingredients in cold temperatures either helping other ingredients to be absorbed or helping further natural bacterial enzyme of proteins for example.
16. When your simple straight fish meal bait loses some of its "edge" you can add to its nutritional profile by using various milk proteins, yeast powders, "Robin Red" additive type products ,or kelp powder for instance. (But there are thousands of choices and combinations to exploit while keeping a very favourable stimulatory nutritional value of your bait!)
17. You can rejuvenate the fish response to an already established fish meal bait, by adding various herbs and spices (which also aid more effective digestion and raise fish metabolism.)
18. Many simple baits based on cat foods and dog foods containing fishmeals and cereals make highly successful carp and catfish baits which are enzyme active and in the case of dogs, are most often than not, sweetened for added palatability!
19. Fish "oils" are liquid at room temperature but can solidify in cold temperatures so making normal summer type fish meal baits very ineffective.
20. You can test some of the "functional effectiveness" of your fish meal baits and pellets, by placing samples in a glass of cold water and assessing the time it takes for baits to "colour" the water in the glass and release soluble attractors you can smell.
21. The marine stocks of smaller fish used in "brown" fishmeals especially have stabilised and are claimed to be "sustainable" so it looks like these fishing bait ingredients are here to stay!

Although there are thousands of other bait variations, additives, attractors, enhancers, feeding triggering ingredients and substances etc, the basic fish meal bait and its nutritional profile is a proven winner for consistent big fish results!

The author has many more fishing and bait "edges." Just one could impact on your catches!

Fish oils and other fatty acids provide over twice the energy in kilocalories than carbohydrates or proteins and are vitally important stimulating high energy sources in fishing baits.

Fish meal baits often contain a high level of fish oil in the meals used and adding excessive fish oils can lead to unhealthy fat accumulation around vital energy and metabolic area such as the heart and liver and reduce their functioning potential.

Fish oils in baits provide a "protein-sparing" effect allowing valuable protein (nitrogen and amino acids and peptides etc) to be fully utilized for fish growth and repair; not wasted as energy.

Fish meal ingredients in combination with fish oils in fishing baits when consistently applied to a fishery can really produce fish with high growth rates!

Some fishmeal products are comparatively indigestible having a relatively lower biological value compared to others especially compared to "low-temperature" treated fish meals.

Some fish meals are very high in oils and some are much lower (total oils content in fishing baits is recommended to not exceed 5 to 7 percent over all; much depends upon the analysis list from the manufacturers and any other oily ingredients used like crustacean meals.)

Fish meals contain many other lesser know but extremely effective, potent "true fish feeding triggers" other than just amino acids and fatty acids. (Which induce bait ingestion; not simply inciting search and location and initial "testing" behaviors.)

Many fish oils have hidden potent antioxidant effects which boost their fish stimulation and bait attraction and metabolism and resulting energy levels in fish.

Fish oils are fatty acids which are proven fish feeding stimulants.

Fatty acids (oils,) from fish sources and vegetable sources when combined, produce a more balanced fish food and energy source.

Fish oils are potent anti-inflammatory substances which in fish physiological, energy efficiency and metabolism rates are highly beneficial when used in fishing baits.

Some fish meals are finer than others and processing varies between plants and fish meal types from different fish.

Many species of fish used as fish meal products, are either a trawler "by-catch" or bye-products of fish processing like many poultry products also rich in many similar fish nutrients and stimulants etc, (others are caught specifically for use as fertilisers or as animal foods.)

Some of the most well-proven and nutritionally stimulating fish meals are composed of small fish high in oil and with many bones and are rich in phosphate and calcium among other essentials for fish.

Smaller oily bony fish which are popular in fishing baits or as fishing baits include: Herrings, mackerels, menhaden, sardines, anchovies, sprats, pilchards, sand eels, smelts (capelins) shads and horse mackerels etc.

Adding fish meal to baits containing other ingredients add palatability, vitamins, minerals, essential fatty acids, proteins and soluble proteins among other things.

The salts in fish meal baits act as taste enhancers for other ingredients and flavours and "potentiates" the taste and effects perception of amino acids and other substances in fish receptors used to "detect" food.

Adding fish meals can improve the digestibility and biologically valuable and stimulatory nutritional profile of other baits, especially popular carbohydrate ones like carp baits based initially on soya flour and semolina for example.

Often carp are caught on small fish "live baits" meant for predatory fish and demonstrates they have a predatory side to them in certain conditions, (I've also caught carp which coughed-up live fish fry in the net!)

Dead baits for pike, eels, zander, catfish and others predators and scavenging fish have a record of catching carp and fish chunks used on a hair-rig are a well proven bait for many species of fish, but is comparatively rarely used.

Mass baiting using "mass free baiting with herring chunks and fishing a different bait above such an "alternative' bed of bait has resulted in some great catches of many species for me including big tench of around 10 pounds!

The very popular "Marine halibut pellets" are both high in rich nutritionally stimulating oils, but also in enzyme treated highly soluble and digestible fish proteins.

Too much use of high fish oil baits like halibut pellets and "fish oil-glugged" fish meal baits, can lead to vitamin E deficiency in fish.

Fisheries where high oil pellets are used predominantly can end up with many fish with vitamin E deficiency.

Wheat germ oil and cod liver oil are extremely rich in vitamin E which is one of the most potent antioxidant vitamins as is ascorbic acid (vitamin C) which is also essential to fish, (Both are beneficial in not just fishmeal baits!)

Fish oils and others can "oxidise" and go rancid when warmed-up, or when stored past their recommended use by dates. (So store your oils in the fridge!)

Enzyme-treated fish protein called "LO30" can be in both powdered and liquid form and have "hygroscopic" (water attracting and absorbing) properties.

The ability of a bait to hydrate efficiently in water both enables it to open up and release triggers and attractors, but prepares it better for fish digestion as fish food ideally needs to be initially hydrated.

Fish meal and their derived ingredients are about the closest to the most suitable natural highly digestible biological nutritional value food, to provide add nutritionally stimulating fishing baits.

Fish meals great nutritional profile and attraction can be incorporated at any levels in any other fishing bait whether hook baits or ground baits, base mixes or "PVA" bag and "stick" mixes, method mixes, pastes or dough baits.

The author has many more fishing and bait "edges." Just one could impact on your catches!

Using baits which arouse zero or as little suspicion as possible (ideally with the maximum stimulation) has always been the biggest point about fishing baits (as well as the hook!) Yes, catfish adapt to fishing pressures and can change their dietary habits to rely solely on natural food; which has not yet been exploited as bait that is! Very often, they will only take baits they are prepared to take the risk to fed on, just like carp. And just like carp, catfish can become much easier to catch as you progressively use smaller and smaller baits. I've only ever live-baited for catfish once, so all my catfish catches have been on homemade baits and altered and adapted commercial ones.

Also just like carp, tempting very big catfish is most often no push-over; indeed far from it! (Using live-baits is completely unnecessary and strictly for sadists in my book!) I've had thirty catfish over sixty pounds in the UK now on homemade baits and I've watched over the weeks and years how their bait preferences and the effectiveness of various baits has changed. Often this change is incredibly fast and even sudden after a good catch. Then you need a new version of bait!

In this respect catfish are definitely in a similar league to carp and considering catfish feed far less frequently the potential for "blank sessions is much higher! Wels catfish and channel catfish for instance have metabolisms which means they actively feed much less than carp in lower temperatures, so in many countries their season is far shorter than for carp.)

In fact on various fisheries I"ve experienced I've known catfish to reject all the following baits after initial success: Cockles, mussels, squid, liver, luncheon and sausage meat, marine halibut pellets, trout pellets, salmon pellets, salami, various "Pepperami" products, carp pellets, leaches, fresh herring, mackerel, eel and lamprey segments etc. Also the same has happened with a huge range of boilies of all kinds of base mixes stimulators and attractors, both commercial baits and homemade ones and so on.

Fortunately you really can keep ahead of both catfish and carp by using homemade baits. If you have underestimated the satisfaction of getting regular new personal best fish using homemade baits then I guess you will settle for commercial baits. Many of these may have already been experienced by fish and therefore not as effective as newly introduced ones.

With commercial baits you really are competing not just against the fish's senses but a multitude of other anglers too. Not only this but often they are simply not in optimally stimulating nor digestive forms as they need to "fit" the practical preferences of buying customers. The adapting and altering of commercial baits is absolutely recommended; making your version uniquely and "new" is a hugely important key to consistent big fish success.

The choice of various substances and methods to this end are not merely limited to flavourings or feed stimulating additives, but fermentation, liquidising and forming such baits into new baits and ground baits and much more cutting-edge developments and substances...

Many catfish species display very similar chemoreception and olfactory similarities to carp, including receptor sensitivities to a huge range of similar substances; feeding triggers like betaine and amino acids, and a whole range of attractive flavours for example. In fact over the years it often been a curious personal observation of mine that when conditions are "perfect for carp to feed," very often it will be the catfish which feed first. This feeding activity (and resulting catfish caught) are often literally followed by the carp feeding and being caught, (or sometimes vice- versa.)

I recall two very memorable sessions. Over the course of two weeks fishing various sessions, I fished and baited a swim continuously without success and no sign of fish activity, line bites, "oil slicks" tiny "give-away" bubbles or of fish rolling craftily under the surface... Then within the space of an hour a 37 pound mirror was followed by a 68 pound catfish which were both the biggest catfish in the lake at the time and the joint second biggest carp which was a huge framed white looking mirror which had never been banked before since the fishery had opened about 10 years previously.

An almost identical pattern and results happened the following week with the capture of the other joint biggest mirror in the lake of 36 pounds at the time followed by a 58 pound catfish which was the second largest catfish in the lake at the time. By contrast, I had caught the largest carp a couple of years previous to this at around 45 pounds within half an hour of baiting up one evening using an unusual homemade bait over a bed of natural spice extracts-soaked maize and sweetcorn (These are very rich foods high in potent antioxidants, attractive pigments, sugars, essential minerals and vitamins etc!

This kind of result of a 30 or 40 pound carp and 50 pound plus catfish caught almost together in just an hour or 12 hour period has happened more times to me for it be "coincidence." Catfish are "binge feeders" and often the same fish will be caught more than once over the space of just a few days. Over a "red-letter" period of just 4 days I caught the same two 50 pound and 70 pound fish twice each on homemade "pop-up" baits. (Once I hooked the same 120 pound catfish twice in a week before it "switched-off" again for a few months.)

Often it is best to keep your catfish catches "quiet" and not letting competing anglers learn of your results, in order to keep catching consistently yourself. Everything your competing anglers do in terms can drastically impact upon your fishing results for both catfish and carp! It also pays to be stealthy yourself, hide your lines and minimise any detectable tackle in the water and fishing activities which although may be considered "OK" can actually put off fish from feeding! When fishing for catfish on homemade baits the absence of "line bites" can be a very reassuring sign. In contrast, on some extremely heavily pressured waters, just getting a "line bite" can seem almost a miraculous event; but when it happens you often discover you've just "spooked" a fish from feeding on your bait!

Fishing pressures and normal bankside activities like a fully loaded "tackle barrow" rumbling its quiet way along the bank can severely affect catfish and carp and "switch them off" from feeding. This can even prevent their feeding on baits altogether until angling pressure is "perceived" by fish to be reduced to "safe" levels. In fact just banging a car door or pushing a loaded barrow around some fisheries has definitely been proven to alter fish behaviours and can even result in you unnecessarily wasting the first days and nights of a valuable session. On numerous occasions I've landed big catfish after not getting a single bite for as long as too many anglers' lines were in the water than the fishery could "handle." (And the same goes for carp!)

On more than one occasion after a period of no catches for any anglers, numbers of them have decided that the “Lake is crap with no fish in it!” reeled in their baits, leads and lines and left the fishery. When they do in their ignorance (if only they saw the "bigger picture") then my frustration levels drop and my excitement and anticipation levels rise significantly! When enough anglers have given up and left it is then that the action very often starts.

Even within ten minutes to half an hour in such a situation, I've had fish over 60 and 70 pounds take the bait. Sometimes this has meant no-one was to take a picture or to enjoy witnessing the fish of a life-time; so sad! (In many ways I personally prefer it that way.) The times I've shared news of captures seems to result in swim robbing "copy-cats" who want to know every detail down to the exact feeding spot and exact rig dimensions in order to attempt to replicate your success. (I learnt the hard way that fishing acquaintances and even some "friends" are often the last you should tell in the drama and excitement of a big fish capture.)

However, I do not mean or intend to be a secretive anti-social angler and I do tell what I can to help fellow anglers increase their personal catch rates of course! But I do not wish for them to copy me for one very good reason. They cannot becomes "self-sufficient thinking for themselves anglers" if all they do is copy from others all the time. Riding on the backs of others is just too easy a route in my book, which robs anglers of massive benefits of learning for themselves many vital aspects of "the essential bigger fishing picture!" (The original meaning of education was to bring forth what is inside a person; “Teach a man to fish not give a man a fish and all that!)

These big catfish and carp are definitely aware of fishing all our fishing activities even at night when everything is still and quiet. Using trendy "camouflaged clothing" for example, will not disguise your body heat as you move around; carp can see into the air from water and see your "signature!" More familiar threats like vibrations from tight lines (picked up by the lateral line finely tunes pressure receptors cells,) bite alarms with enough decibels to wake the dead and bleep five times each time they are turned on (not a brilliant idea that one Mr Fox!) Heavy "artificial" splashes from heavy leads, method ground bait rigs, and heavy poly vinyl alcohol bags get to be very easily recognisable warning signs as opposed to dinner bells after a period of exposure, catches and association with past stimuli!

Simply walking along the bank is enough to send warning vibration shooting across the water all the way the other bank on the far side of the lake. Yes' I realise this can all sound "over the top" and there are waters where you could drive right up to waters edge, chuck out some bread and catch carp right next to where you're standing. (Well, I don't notice the majority big fish catches from such waters!)

Sound waves travel very effectively both through and across water. (Next time your mates have a conversation with you from across the water in another swim, notice the echoes; (which are especially noticeable at night!)

Very little is "tight" or having neat square lines or right angles in nature and tight lines that are obvious pinned down to the bottom or passing higher up through the water are very obvious "danger reference points." Obviously for fish these have dangerous associations with previous fishing activities, leads, baits, hooks etc! Incidentally, when a fish is hooked and landed, how it does not know that it might be returned safely to its home and not going to be someone's supper! I guess birds like herons that feed in the margins on fry sheltering there, are less immediately obvious reason big mature fish are not exactly in favour of being taken from the water!

Catfish are equally adept as being aware of you, your fishing equipment and activities as carp are. Carp are already notorious for responding very negatively to anglers fishing activities. "Crude" tackle and these days, even far more subtle and sophisticated methods, rigs, bait designs and sizes etc.

On one occasion in 2006, I found myself on a deserted stretch of a normally packed busy commercial fishery. Within ten minutes of casting out I'd landed the lake record. Although 30 years of fish location skills and use of an innovative new homemade bait were also major factors in this catch, another was the most important. Fish are only catchable when they are prepared to feed (without being electro-fished or blown up with dynamite at any rate! I knew how to fish "stealthily" crating very little water or bank disturbance by vibrations, movements, shadows etc. The lack of fishing pressure from me and other anglers meant the fish actually felt safe enough to feed on bait immediately in its vicinity.

Big catfish are very "residentially located" oriented fish like so many big carp, which although also travelling to find food can spend the majority of their time remaining in just one area of a water or swim. I once fished another very constantly pressured fishery for 3 days and nights with no success and no sign of carp or catfish feeding activity. Big catfish can get you very excited by excreting large "slicks" which appear on the water surface made more obvious by causing a round area of water to go calm while water ripples all around it. (It looks a bit like it does after ground baiting with a very large amount of oily boilies or pellets.) When you see this your know a big catfish is on the cards for you! When your fishing rod bends double on the take; you'd better be ready; enjoy the ride! "Tight lines!”

The author has many more fishing and bait "edges.' Just one could impact on your catches!

For example, the frequency with carp will visit shallow areas where the suns heat radiates and penetrates the water and is absorbed by plants and vegetation in the water is surprising to many. True carp at times move into deep water to find comfort in falling temperatures, but carp acclimatize and change their activity sometimes in very surprising fashion. I remember drawing a lead back on one occasion and actually feeling fish being bumped during very low temperatures about a week after a thaw and hooking a beautiful mid-twenty linear koi carp which had never been landed before. Winter it seems can alter some fish's diets.

Fish that have remained un-caught throughout the rest of the year can stray from their natural diets and be tempted by our baits. Even un-flavored fluorescent bits of plastic can catch fish when they have turned off' to more conventional baits that are highly "charged" with normally attractive taste and smell substances. There is far more to flavors and exactly what they are and do than there first appears to our human senses and common knowledge.

flavors can definitely turn fish off the feed and deter them from an area but this response can occur where any substance is simply too over-powering to the fish senses. Their receptors are tuned to recognise very many key substances found in their environment, just as a child can detect 10,000 smells, while an adult can detect 30,000 smells. flavors as in the small bottle of vanilla flavor from the local supermarket works in carp baits but is now a feeble weapon compared to others in the modern flavor arsenal. Often cheap flavors like the ever popular vanilla are composed of water, a little expensive natural extract and ethyl alcohol. Some are made from water and propylene glycol, or some other solvent. However flavors can be based on very widely different substances.

The fast changing fashions of flavors means that many of the best flavors get ignored by the majority. It's a good tip to use "unfashionable" flavors and such mixtures. Some of the very best are lost to us purely due to fashion. Rod Hutchinson told me at one time his best flavor in his opinion was his Blueberry flavor. Even compared to his Scopex, Mulberry, Spice and Mega Tutti Fruitti flavors it stood out and was a fantastic winter flavor. (Where is it now?)

Much of the time the best flavor is not the one your friends are using now, but the alternative one you remembered using years ago and sourced specially to use now. Many of the more experienced anglers know which flavors, combinations and their components are "head and shoulders" above the rest and know how and when to use them...

As it happens vanilla is a good introductory starting place in regards to flavors. Vanillin (from vanilla pods) is a solvent usually synthetically produced, as are propylene glycol and alcohols too and these are often constituents of flavors. Propylene glycol flavors are at the cheaper end of the spectrum and have in the past been prone to the maxim "using more equals more taste and smell and more carp." But over-use can repel too. There are some good propylene glycol flavors but they are far less popular than in the past.

Some solvents are more soluble in water and some taste better to carp for sure! Some are most highly "hygroscopic," which means they draw water to themselves as opposed to repelling water. This is significant feature of many good carp bait additives, flavors and ingredients including L030 fish protein forms and salts for instance. Glycerol (glycerine) solvent based flavors are a good example.

In air, glycerol can by its hygroscopic nature, "suck" into itself so much water it becomes 80 percent glycerol and 20 percent water; so imagine this effect in water considering diffusion dispersal of soluble flavors in water is vitally important to their success! Alcohols are one of the most relied-upon solvent flavors in dense cold water fishing, as ethyl alcohol is 100 % soluble in water (as opposed to propylene glycol.)

Solvents seem to have become the "bad boys" of the carp flavor world since the popularisation of natural flavors and nature identical flavors. Combining an "electrolyte" such as common salt or sodium chloride with your flavor can intensify the effect of the flavors and more and different carp receptors (and sites) will be more stimulated in different combinations.

Carp detect salts very well although possibly not a feeding trigger directly speaking, carp are certainly able to detect saline conditions and thrive in them to a degree of salinity such as in tidal rivers. Carp receptors certainly detect alcohols and esters in their environment among very many other flavors and flavor components.

Two of the most popular flavors currently seem to be n-butyric acid (an ester smelling like rancid cheese) and ethyl butyrate flavor, (also an ester.) Pineapple seems to be a fashionable label for a boilie (or pellet) bait at the moment. These esters have a high boiling point well over 100 degrees Celsius (handy with boilies) and are very highly soluble in water. (Ethyl alcohol flavors are also great in winter, but boil out of baits during the heating of water, alcohol having a boiling point of only 78.4 degrees Celsius.) These flavor compounds can act as "food signals" which leach out and spread quickly through the water.

Originally, flavors were used to change the taste of bait, not as attractors per se although many modern commercially designed fishing "flavors" have been developed into highly stimulating mixtures indeed.

Conventional commercial winter baits contain high levels of flavors or flavor components; ethyl and amyl acetates and methyl butyrate for example. The taste and smell of these are familiar to us because these type of flavors are naturally found in fruits such as banana, pear, strawberry etc. Part of fish's natural diet consists of decaying food and carp are predominantly bottom-feeding fish which actively sample and eat bacteria laden potential food items. They are a scavenging opportunistic species and are even triggered into feeding by nasty smelling polyamines like putresine from a dead fish as much as by the now familiar carp essential amino acids. (However high levels of ammonia being released in the water is a definite turn-off.)

More recent Japanese studies on the carp feeding stimulation of singles amino acids expressed results that have demonstrated that promotion of continual feeding (gustatory olfaction and to do with taste ) was stimulated most by alanine (as with goldfish) followed by arginine. For stimulating olfaction or actual "investigation - search and location of food items, lysine was the most stimulatory followed by methionine.

Many great bait ingredients and additives are high in methionine (or are termed "methionine donors.' Obviously winter baits designed to supply these amino acids freely in abundance from the make-up of the bait ingredients as well as by using supplemental crystal forms or using supplemental liquid forms of these amino acids, certain of which do very well.

But amino acids being so water pH and temperature influenced in practice can take very much time and money in bait trials to truly refine before you can make absolute conclusions about things like the profitable addition of extra ingredients and their exact productive levels. In carp fishing, many things are taken "as Gospel truth" but no lake or carp have read these so keep an open mind! On any particular water "Scopex" flavor can be devastating, especially in combination with another flavor like diacetyl cream flavor or a glycerol fruit one, but then not produce a "take" somewhere else.

Bait and water pH "issues" are best left to the chemists. Even the pH of water in one part of a swim compared to anther can be different and influence if a bait is detected and eaten - or not! Using baits with an overall lower pH in winter than in summer can pay dividends and also on very rich waters with a relatively high pH. The use of betaine hydrochloride for example, in liquid form especially works well.

Many waters look like they would have a low acid pH due to the trees (and shade) surrounding it, constantly depositing acidic tannins within falling leaves and little oxygenating aquatic vegetation and even some acid loving plants like rhododendrons growing around the lake. (It helps in bacterial break-down of vegetation in water if plenty of dissolved oxygen is available.)

Lack of oxygen in water often means that carbon dioxide levels are increased. Specialised carp receptor cells are very sensitive to carbon dioxide with good reason. It is a good indicator of lack of oxygen and as a result you will see fish rising to the water surface where there is the most dissolved oxygen in over-stocked waters in high temperature conditions where oxygen levels have been depleted.

The big point about oxygen and carbon dioxide especially, is that carbon dioxide become carbonic acid in water therefore acidifying the water. Add this to the combined effects of things like bacterial demand for oxygen. Now add acid rain effects and conditions and venue environments which limit oxygen getting dissolved into a fishery and you will very possibly get acidic pH water. This is where a high or low pH flavor can make all the difference to the impact your bait has upon fish receptors in combined ways!

But first impressions of a water can turn also out to be completely wrong! For instance in the case of on over-stocked pond in Kent with some extremely big fish, which is fed by an underground aquifer coming through alkaline pH chalk rocks.

Many flavors do attract carp into your swim (with many mimicking or actually being substances they naturally detect in their aquatic environments,) but these do not necessarily promote the consumption of your hook bait, nor especially even of any free baits. Part of this attraction is to do with the richness and depth of your "flavor profile," but also much has to do with other factors which many anglers are not aware of.

Some flavors actually have the effect of "burning" delicate fish cells upon contact, when used in high levels! flavors can be so complex that over a 100 components are used in some formulations. There are very many effects modern flavorists can incorporate into a flavor including "notes" and "back-notes" of many kinds, but this is just the tip of the winter (or summer) bait flavor ice-berg. Many flavors smell great to us but will taste bitter too.

Bitterness is detected by carp and although this may not deter fish from actually eating baits, studies do show that foods which are less bitter are mostly eaten in preference. I personally don't care if a bait is bitter as long as it has a diverse range of true feeding triggers and attractors with no dominating; the fish will certainly still eat it if it contains essential nutrition it requires. Many fishmeal products have a bitter-tasting edge, but the most suitable nutritional profile and high digestibility of fish meals make bitterness a pretty low priority feeding factor in a nutrient deficient hungry fish!

In fact, adding any sweetener is an advantage, as it has been found that sweetness is most importantly detected by carp palatial receptors, which are important in helping carp decide to actually eat and swallow a bait or to reject it (and leave your bait alone.) Bait palatability is so important and even various more insoluble substances like certain essential oils, will tip the balance.

More than one very famous angler has stated that on a cold winter's night out of all their baits, they would expect the bait with a particular essential oil mixture to be taken if the fish feed! (Many essential oil components are extremely effective at boosting metabolism, releasing essential energy efficiently for movement and improved food (or bait) digestion which provides more energy.

Many food taste enhancers like monosodium glutamate "MSG" are easily detected by carp. (Glutamate is the naturally and highly abundant in nature amino acid; glutamic acid and is a "true" carp feeding trigger!) Many proprietary fishing bait taste enhancers are widely available and many commercial baits contain them.

Nucleotides are a very important element of foods and newer ones are being developed that specifically block bitter taste. Some companies use the fact that some taste enhancers have neurotransmitting properties for example, which can really improve your baits potency; of cause the more bait a carp continues to eat, the higher the chance of a take...

Anti-inflammatory substances may be added to a flavor and often come in the form of fatty acids (oils) like fish or hemp or fruit oils. These have potent "antioxidant effects on carp and are also proven feeding triggers. Citrus oils are well proven in winter and summer for example.

One of a range of natural protein sweeteners might be added also like "Talin' or "Thaumatin B." Components of essential oils too can be included in a flavor. (How about or menthol crystals or geranium terpenes?) In winter especially, very many essential oils and their components are excellent. Both soluble and insoluble parts of these mostly herb and spice extracts are useful, from the terpenes and oleoresins (as in black pepper, peppermint, bergamot etc,) to the eugenol from any of a range of herbs for example.

A whole range of different types of fruit acids are very stimulatory too. There are some very powerful compounds in most natural flavors used in carp fishing - just look at the popular cranberry or mulberry for example.

Sometimes it's better instead of copying your peers, to adapt your commercially made baits to improve results. If they are low protein attractor baits perhaps try adding much higher levels of minerals, vitamins and amino acids supplements for example. If using popular food baits how about washing out your baits in your lake water for 24 hours prior to use, or instead of using the recommended standard additive flavor combination. Or how using a different imaginative combination and creating your own? (Some modern baits have specific additives which should not be changed if involved with creating a "live enzyme system bait" for example.)

A dip or bait soak based on corn steep liquor, ( or a "Minamino" type product) and liquid yeast, added salt, betaine hydrochloride and glycerine, liquid lecithin and a mixture of essential oils with natural fruit oils and flavors. A winter dip does not have to be expensive or complex, but remember that it's the soluble messages that hit the carp first, but that does not mean bashing them in the head with a very strong solvent like nail varnish remover (acetone.) But even a lowered dose of a popular flavor can make the difference between your bait not being detected, or repelling the carp from the area, or actually hooking a happy bait consuming carp!

Often the fact is what everyone else is doing on a water will determine which approach to take; observing what your fellow anglers are using and how it is applied often reveals the solution to the problem. Using no conventional fishing bait flavors is one reliable angle (using fermented soya products as a very effective proven alternative for instance.) You can totally adapt and change your baits natural flavor profile. Even green lip mussel extract, or kelp meal or blue cheese powder, or vanilla powder can do that. It just takes a little thought in identifying the real problem that stands in your way to improved catches and often it is in tweaking your bait slightly to make it a little more digestible, nutritionally attractive or a bit tastier!

 

The often different activity levels of other fish species and altered availability of many natural foods along with changes in carp behavior in colder water temperatures can contribute to making them a little easier to catch at specific times. Very often the impact of there being far less angling pressure with only the really keen anglers going fishing makes thing much easier. Sometimes you can have the pick of the most favored swims, although this can become a problem if fish are grouped in front of only 2 or 3 swims on a water.

Much less free bait fed is into fisheries compared to warmer months too and I'm certain this is a major factor in the downfall of many big fish which succumb to capture at this time. The easy free meals they have become used to may to a great degree disappear in winter time.

Some of my best most memorable big fish captures happen in winter between November and March. The catches can come in a variety of conditions and times and often during frantically active "binge" feeding behavior.

The periods after the water temperatures have evened out more after heavy frosts can be good for example in November. Evenings in November to December seem pretty productive in my part of the UK on certain waters when usually early morning (6 am to 8.30 am would be the usual feeding time. On the same water in January, on clear sunny days the fish might suddenly switch-on for a swift half-hour feeding "binge" at 1 pm in the afternoon. If prevailing winds push in from the south, west or combinations around these, feeding can happen at any time.

In February even during very heavy frosts which build up on your fishing shelter on top of frost from previous nights, the morning feeding may return again with fish appearing from 6 am. Around February and March, in swims most heated by the afternoon sun, fishing close to snags entering or in the water can be very productive.

Reed beds soak up the radiated heat so heating the surrounding water making things a bit more favorable for feeding. Margin fishing in winter is far more productive than many anglers appear to realize. In fact very often if fish will feed at all it will be in water under 4 feed deep and not in the deepest part of the lake.

Reeds are an especially favored area for me for this reason and they harbours all kinds of natural food too. Fishing under marginal overhanging bushes, branches and other cover are also productive. Any old established formerly productive feeding spots like shallow depressions, edges of drop-off's, bottoms of shelves, gullies, raised spots, weed beds and lily beds, marginal and island spots sheltered from a cold wind, all can produce fish.

It is often the case that fish will come from swims that are still receiving regular baiting. In winter certain formerly "favorite bet" swims may be very un-productive.

Effects of prevailing winds in autumn and winter can really affect the location of over-wintering fish which frequently group together forming large shoals which can literally be most of the population of a lake tightly packed side by side into just one or 2 groups. Such a group does not necessarily choose the deepest part of the lake to over-winter.

Sometimes location of these fish can be down to vigilant observation of regular fish movements seen around morning and dusk. Often just one tip of a fin of one fish may be all you see. Using your end tackle to help you locate fish is an interesting exercise. Fish on the bottom can sometimes be located by actually reeling back a lead slowly and finding them by feeling them "bumping the line."

Often setting your tackle and alarms to the most sensitive possible will not only indicate a taking fish possibly otherwise missed, but may show you more line activity which can reveal whereabouts of fish. "Fishing for liners" with slack lines and light indicators is often a useful trick; just changing your range until you get a bite.

Taking notes on fish location, exact feeding spots in a swim, feeding times, exact details of baits and rigs used, amounts of free baits used and form of introduction all matter. Notes when and where other anglers hook fish and their fish sizes and knowledge of their baits is all useful knowledge, but you never need to neither copy another angler nor necessarily "poach his swim!"

Notes on weather conditions are especially important as not only identifying the exact spots in a swim are important, but just finding a swim with fish in can be a real winter achievement! This information is priceless after a couple of years on a water

Fish location is often a big challenge in winter. Even knowing where fish may have settled in November or December may not be much help come February; especially if angling pressure and catches have caused them to move.

Often carp sit in the sun-warmed and more comfortable top or middle water lays. In winter it is often the case on many waters where a bottom bait in water over 8 feet deep may produce very little compared to rigs fished "long pop-up" or "zig-rig" style in the upper water layers. If you have ever swum in a lake at different times of year (life jackets and properly safely assisted) you will fully appreciate yourself just how much water can change and differ at times between the surface and going down deeper. Depending upon various factors, distinct water layers may be discovered of a different temperature and thus density.

There can at times be a significant difference between marginal temperatures and the temperature of water on the bottom in different areas of a swim. Judging your prospective results by air temperatures alone can be very misleading. Sometimes conditions can produce interesting effects which can be either productive or not!

Those nights where ground frosts and heavy air frosts create exceptionally poor visibility during high pressure are not my favourites in January or February. Neither are heavy night rains during changeable conditions in November for instance. Confidence can be easily dented in winter; this is where your notes from previous years can really help you.

You can fish in confidence pretty much whatever conditions are regardless of weather conditions. Fishing during times of icing-up can be exceptionally productive as the water may actually become less dense just prior to freezing and the fish can feed very well at such times. I find about 2 weeks after a thaw can be very good too depending on the water. For those less of a winter fishing inclination, why miss out on possibly your biggest chance of a new personal best from your water.

As spring approaches and the rising air temperatures start warming the water, some nights the air can become colder than the water temperature. On such a day, try and get your baits where the sun has been penetrating the water for longest in the afternoon sun; perhaps under an over-hanging bush in the water on the eastern bank facing the setting sun.

After an especially bright sunny day and as evening draws in a thick fog can envelope you. In such spooky conditions you can very well expect a big fish or a multiple catch as one of the first significant feeds of the New Year can well occur and you could well be the only angler on the fishery. As usual, if you hear "crashing" fish then follow the signs and use your head! Casting at any moving fish at any range and moving your rigs every hour can certainly pay-off.

I find fish that have been disturbed by tackle and bait sounds and movements seem more awake and mobile and easier to catch being curious creatures. Soluble baits and highly digestible baits are very much an edge too. I'd rather fish 5 kilograms of soluble paste and "winterised" pellets (with a surfactant lecithin product) than "conventional" boilies or pellets, although of course these still catch their share of fish.

If your primary bait is the "Marine halibut pellet" there are many ways to adapt and enhance their form, characteristics and practical uses especially for winter purposes, even leading to a new generation of successful baits for the coming spring and new season.

If you are confident, you will fish confidently and do much more to catch your fish. You will see and strike more usually missed rod tip knocks. You will make sure your rigs and baits are as finely tuned and well presented as possible. You will have the willingness to strike at single or double "bleeps" in adverse weather when it could well be a fish. (A self-hooked fish can move very little in winter!)

You will even observe more fish to raise you morale, stay more alert and "in-tune" with the regular rhythms of a water and more easily spot anything unusual or useful. Being "sharper" you will generally catch more fish and be more energetic, positive and confident and you will enjoy your winter fishing much more too!

Often when you are less confident a fish head at night or a "line bite" may be put down to your imagination; or thoughts like “It's only the wind, or “That dammed duck, goose, coot, bream again etc.” However, maximizing any potential opportunity is what winter carp fishing is all about. Having positively oriented winter fishing friends is a great help too.

I remember in early February 1980, (on my birthday,) I went fishing for a day and night on a water which had not produced a fish for 4 weeks previously. I had this fishing mad friend in this particular fishing syndicate, just as keen as me to brave the freezing temperatures. He brought us a flask of coffee with a strong dose of whiskey in it; which kept "spirits up!" (It's also an interesting bait dip, vodka coffee works too...)

I had one "bleep" with all my gear finely tuned and struck my "birthday fish." Such fish stick in the memory as the odds of capture at the time appeared so low. I even remember the bait, the rig, the depth and range and temperatures and that was one cold fish. When your landing net is frozen solid and when there is ice in your rod rings, holding a rod to play a fish can be both an exhilarating but painful experience at one and the same time.

My judge of a great winter fish is often how painful it is to hold a very cold fish instead of the snow or frost on the ground! (My hands are especially sensitive to cold!)

Following this capture, we refined various ways to exploit the fish having temporarily found them to exert our own influence on their location and bait orientations. Taking such an unusual opportunity with barely any other anglers bothering to fish the lake at the time, we quietly regularly baited a large area and had a very productive winter. Indeed we had very many multiple fish captures with some of the biggest fish in the lake too before the syndicate "clocked" us! (Talking of clocks, you can get to the point in winter where feeding times are like clock-work and you can more efficiently use your time!)

During this winter period, I remember in particular, one member coming up and stating how "rubbish" the fishing is on this water in winter. I could not help it as I looked at my watch and said “On the contrary; they'll be feeding in about 5 minutes.” Of course literally 5 minutes later I hooked a fish and the guy just stood there in disbelief. (Little did he know I had a rather "bigger picture" than him!)

Often one good winter trick to exploit is where a westerly or southerly or south-westerly wind would impact that area. You regularly pre-bait a couple of marginal spots of 3 to 6 feet depth and go a bit deeper maybe 7 or 9 feet deep up against a weed bed (these do often persist in mild winters.) Or simply choose an area next to a holding area like a set of snags in the water which are especially affected by south-westerly type winds. In warming prevailing winds in winter this practice can seriously pay off, but why be fixed in your approach.

If water birds are an especially bad problem and you've found the fish, or discovered their winter patrol routes, you could bait with hemp heavily for example instead of chocking expensive boilies or pellets down their throats. At such times, boosting baits with acidic flavors and betaine with extra palatants or other amino acids products and additives for instance can work well.

I remember in winter we used Tutti Fruitti and other sweet and fruit flavours like "Cornish ice-cream" quite a bit but savory ones like butter, cream, "milk B" "scopex" "chocolate malt" and spicy ones like "bun spice" "mega spice" and a variety of essential oils too were successful. Using various higher than recommended levels of fish and crustacean concentrates packed with feeding triggers were used very successfully also. In 2008 anglers would probably go for "chilli hemp" or "n-butyric acid pineapple" instead of a homemade cheese flavoured bird food oriented highly digestible boilie (and not a conventional round or dumbbell shape either.) I know which I'd personally go for to get an "edge."

The rule still applies that achieving a big "edge" by being different to the "crowd" of contemporary "popular" baits, methods, "conventional thinking" and angling styles, can mean far improved catch rates and consistency in your fishing.

Even using a swim feeder to introduce flavor sprayed maggots and crumbed baits is a neat trick to get more attraction, movement and activity near your hook bait. Method mixes, "stick mixes and methods etc all work well, but the choices of tactics and baits are huge; so why think "fixed' or in a "copy-cat" stereotypical fashion?

The timing of winter pre-baiting or "strategic baiting while fishing" with coming weather changes is an efficient method. Doing this particularly when temporary milder air temperatures, sunny days, or when relatively warm winds are forecast can readily produce multiple winter fish and a good chance of the biggest fish in your lake. Winter personal bests kind of stick more sharply in the memory. The author has many other "edges" to reveal...

By Tim Richardson.

A world famous carp angler, Rod Hutchinson certainly made his name designing and using "attractor and "HNV' baits like this to exceptional effect. He even combined the two styles particularly effectively. Thinking back to 25 years ago, I fishing one particular carp syndicate water which taught me an enormous amount about the value of bait, its ingredients, "attractors" stimulators, enhancers and so on and their impact on my big fish results.

I had "emerged" from a background of fishing for years for small carp and other species and forms of angling including sea fishing, game fishing and predator fishing. I had a good experience of catching fish into "double figures" but the waters I had fished up to the start of the 1980's only contained smaller specimens, even if I did catch the biggest of these in various waters.

I still remember a personal best of 7 and a quarter pounds being an outstanding fish in one water and of achieving a lake record with a fish of over 12 pounds! Such "giants" pale into insignificance today and it seems incredible to me that total beginners expect 30 and 40 pound carp instantly! However fish weights are all "relative" and you could catch over 100 "doubles" and "singles" fish in a 12 hour session today, on suitable waters.

But carp fishing is far more than about fish weights which in fact can become "arbitrary" and meaningless. Those more experienced anglers who've achieved their dream catches and been "there" will know what I'm referring to. It is the context, water, setting, fish available to catch, personal resources and personal satisfaction that enables memories from over 30 years ago to remain very clear and valued.

The quality of angling I did back in the 1980's was one edge I had against far more experienced carp anglers with greater bait knowledge and sophistication. I was very sharply focused on developing any advantage I could get against other anglers. It became clear I was actually fishing against the detrimental impact of other anglers' activities upon my catch results. When their baiting of a lake in order to dominate it resulted in less aware anglers not catching fish many week-ends in a row, my own counter measures were essential.

This was not because I was a very competitive angler, but because my fellow anglers then (and still do) had an annoying tendency to "stitch-up" the lake, by regularly pre-baiting at 3 in the morning, extremely heavily! However, these tactics followed a cycle of 'boom and bust.' The fish may have fed on such beds of bait for a while, but it became obvious that the fish soon "wised-up" to any particular bait or baiting pattern. New bait versions and baiting styles, rigs, set-ups and so-on kept having to be devised. This kept everyone evolving as the impact of one person's bait or tactics could easily adversely affect everyone's results on the water.

At that time uniform round baits were mostly used and I found using small square baits, fat cylinders, odd cut triangles and even pear shaped baits to all be very successful. Sometimes such baits caught fish rarely seen, including some particularly small mouthed common carp. In fact, as long as the fish had not experienced a bait before, they were often easier to catch initially, and I achieved numbers of multiple fish catches regularly. (This was at a time I used "attractor baits with flavours" quite a bit.)

The downside was the large number of smaller fish in the double figure and low twenty pound bracket, instead of the big twenty and thirty pound fish I was aiming for. But you learn far more while catching than not catching and this feedback all paid-off. My bigger fish were caught more on baits that had a degree of nutritional value, as opposed to the simple semolina and soya flour and similar base mixes with a flavour or other so-called "attractors." I used most of the commercially made mixes and ready rolled baits at that time and the nutritionally stimulating baits did have more longevity than the attractor baits of the "Tutti Fruitti" style.

That said, my repeated captures of 3 of the lakes' biggest inhabitants came on the first introduction of a new bait each time. They were caught often within hours, days or a few weeks of a new bait being introduced. This probably says very much about "danger reference points and their associations" in carp in regards to bait!

I found that constantly trying new baits kept fish coming and this included trying new flavours, ingredients, additives and so on. Of course, I used high protein ingredients in very many of my baits due to what I'd commonly heard on the bank about them. However, cost kept their practical inclusion often to lower levels than "recommended" at the time and use of bird food, yeast, ground pellets and other cheaper bulking ingredients were often employed in my baits.

It seemed to me an advantage that I spread the nutritional profile of significant ingredients to such a degree. My bait reference points were always changing. I used various base mixes for sustained periods of a season or two or more, but the attractors would be constantly changed to create a "new bait" and this consistently fooled the fish, which really recognised and wanted the nutritional base mixes used.

Various approaches were used regarding nutrition and sometimes it was more about delivering good taste and stimulation from sweeteners, oils, essential oils, minerals and vitamins, taste enhancers, and mainly natural flavours and products. Combined with this were associated strategic "side benefit" ingredients; like crushed oyster and egg shells, various insect foods, pet foods and even particular nutritional taste enhancing ingredients which also stimulated natural aquatic organisms to the bait. (Some goldfish foods do this for example.)

The focus was certainly not just bird food, fish meal, milk protein, liver, yeast, squid or whatever the bait "category" the lines blurred between them so much. The main focus was on attraction and acceptable taste and many mistakes were made, but then all feedback tends leads towards final success.

Constant evolution was the "name of the game" and things kept changing. One very useful lesson was in using crumbed bait in beds and strategic spots in swims and this led to further developments in regards to fishing over baits that quickly melted forming a "sediment" of attraction, but providing little bait to eat.

You can pre-bait with bread paste and worms and expect to reap the rewards

With many well designed balanced nutritional baits well there is little need for "flavours" or other additives at all. (Taste enhancing and "palatability" altering aspects aside.) Milk protein baits do in fact work with no other additives or flavours, but upon first introduction, they can be out-fished by a similar milk protein bait with a very proven flavour like "Scopex." But this does not mean that use of flavours is a good thing as such, especially for the longevity of the baits success.

There are many so-called flavours that do not attract fish at all, but might instead stimulate attention or curiosity by the slight difference in the water around the baits compared to other water in a swim. Carp are sensitive to carbon dioxide and pH changes. However, to what degree a bait flavour can affect these differences in real life fishing situations is a point for discussion by scientists. That said, flavours effect fish, some can become a deterrent if used in high levels or concentrations.

Even the same labelled flavour such as "pineapple" can be at a different concentration and have different recommended inclusion rate per pound or kilogram of bait. Flavours can have very many components and the ratios and levels of these in combination with a "base" and its inclusion rate and types can really affect flavours repeated success.

It can be very difficult for a "purist" to spot a genuine "natural flavour, because some of the major constituents can be synthetically produced and mixed with real fruit juice for example, to give a genuine richness that the genuine original strawberry would have. The big thing with high protein baits like the milk proteins is that much of the expensive protein content is wasted because much of the nutrition is affected by limiting factors in digestion and assimilation. This situation occurs with humans too.

In fact it is beneficial for a quantity of carbohydrate ingredients to be in the bait as this will have the effect of "protein-sparing' so enabling more protein content to be utilised for tissue building and repair and not energy. Many "establishment" bait buffs who currently run bait companies, can appear to have "tunnel vision" regarding amino acids and polypeptides. These are often treated as the "Holy Grail" of carp feeding triggers and long-term bait success. They have become obsessed with achieving a "balanced optimum amino acid profile" in their baits.

It is strange how they seem to turn a blind eye to many other attraction substances and completely different proven feeding triggers. For example, substances in tiger nuts, peanuts and hemp exert hugely consistent feeding triggering effects and performance both in the long and short-term even to the detriment of the general balanced health of the fish as seen in the case of tiger nuts or chufas where introduced in large amounts by many anglers regularly...

Most fishermen do not see that it is the soluble amino acids and peptides from the proteins in a bait (apart from anything else involved) that result in fish captures. Particular individual and combinations of amino acids and peptides, can elicit fish "exploration" actual prolonged repeated feeding and ingestion of bait, so allowing fish to be regularly hooked on these baits. But how much difference does it make, for a bait to have a high or balanced nutritional profile when applied to pressured fisheries where every anglers is using them?

The fact is that on many waters, a multitude of different "high or balanced nutritional value baits" can be in use at any one time. In this situation, to say carp "prefer" one bait over the others is a very interesting comment. Some baits can be more successful than others, but much depends upon the amount of bait introduced, the nature and context of the baits it is fished against, how regularly and for how long it is introduced and how many fish are hooked on it and effect fish response as a result.

Many other factors are involved and one that sticks out is that often new baits are used for the first time by better than average ability anglers who know how to leverage nutritional baits to maximum effect and catches. Once these boys have been at work on a water, the anglers that follow them the bait may well find it has already passed its productive peak. Usually simply the use of a new bait is one of the greatest edges.

Things have to be seen to be believed and it seems to me that not all nutritional baits catch fish equally well all the time. Of course, there are many variable factors involved. Often it is the newer baits that have the edge over the old. Often it is the freshness and actual nutritional potency of ingredients and stimulants, attractants and "food" type additives that makes a big difference. Amino acids come into the equation in style here as they are an integral part of so many bait ingredients and many individually and collectively stimulate search and feeding behaviour.

The ratios of various amino acids is all important in a balanced nutrition bait, but in many ways, the solubility and digestibility of amino acid providing ingredients and additives is just as important. Liquid "free" amino acids used in combination with soluble protein ingredients to boost concentrations released from the bait are well proven for big fish. There are many other bait additives and substances which act synergistically with and alongside amino acids which one reason why for me, amino acids in getting fish hooked is definitely not all there is to it. (In fact, far from it!)

These things can all be separated into a class of separate behaviours working along both a practical and hypothetical checklist of fish receptors, chemoceptory and olfactory systems (and combinations of) and the synergistic working of the other fish sensory systems too. Balanced or high nutritional value baits are often introduced into the water regularly to "wean" the fish onto eating them and into them becoming accustomed to this new "natural food" source.

Often this is unnecessary as anglers using baits similar in design and fishing a swim prior to you have often done this for you. It seems a habit for anglers to bait up a swim without actually discovering how much of which particular bait may already have been introduced already. This can make a mighty difference to your results for good or bad. Fishing over rotten chufa or tiger nuts or other rotting particles, boilies or pellets type baits can guarantee you zero fish; carp like other fish are highly sensitive to sources of ammonia and certain amines like putresine.

If baiting up of any bait is carried out at regular times and places, the fish can literally be "waiting " for your bait as it goes in. You can often exploit the free baits of anglers in the swim before you. On many waters, anglers arrive, bait up heavily, and after a couple of days, top up free baits, still with no fish caught. Then often within an hour or 2 of them reeling in their lines and vacating, the fish might have a swift "binge" on the washed out baits. Fishing single baits is obviously effective here.

Often a water is "dominated" by one manufacturer's range of baits. Perhaps where a syndicates members have personal links with a bait company, or a bait can be purchased cheaper by a group of anglers on a water all contributing money in order to get a better price for their bait. If anyone else happens to stumble upon the same ready made bait, they can catch a disproportionate amount of fish as a result of other angler's money and hard work establishing a bait.

It is worth remembering, that many anglers have regularly used so-called "attractor baits" to catch big fish and it can even be said that some take less nutritional baits because they may associate a particular flavour "label" or additive with a similar but nutritional one. When all is said and done, fish have no hands and if the mood takes them virtually anything will be sampled, if only once. There are many "attractor" baits that catch fish, but can actually "burn" the fish's sensory mechanisms temporarily, in the process of the sampling. (As in use of high levels of certain flavouring substances for example.)

There are many other substances that trigger true feeding and ingestion or swallowing of food and consumption of bait and this needs to be more considered by some. It is logical that the more true feeding receptors are triggered leading to a positive response upon a bait being repeatedly experienced the more likely a fish will feed confidently depending upon impact of anglers etc. (If your bait is being consumed you obviously stand a high chance of hooking a fish!) You do not necessarily require high levels of particular ingredients etc to get sufficient response to your bait.

In fact, to prolong the successful duration of your bait, it is better to keep levels of more recognisable substances and ingredients to a minimum. (Many are very possibly over-used by fellow anglers anyway leading to losing their effective "edge" despite their stimulatory action.)

Certain combinations of amino acids in the correct temperatures and concentrations and pH might affect carp in a fishery for a certain period of time, but no bait will maintain its edge over the fish forever. If fish are constantly being hooked and where other food sources are available to sustain them, previously successful baits can fail whether balanced nutrition ones or not.

Even fish fed quality boilies in a stock pond can stop eating these in response to fishing pressure and only within a couple of weeks too in one instance. That said, one particular large Kent pit had a tonne of a flavoured carbohydrate bait introduced and this dominated the water for over a full season, catching many of the biggest fish.

But this was a water where many of the leading milk and fish based nutritional baits had dominated previously. However, high fish stocks and comparatively low natural food stocks can be attributed to much of this success, besides the over-riding abundance of this energy providing food and the number of anglers introducing and fishing this bait. Its success as the dominant bait did not last however…

But it is the successful duration of nutritional baits that often lasts over the "attractor" ones single attractors being often included in very recognisable levels which fish can easily associate with a threat. Fish dependence on your baits can be affected by cycles of natural food explosions. Other factors include other food sources availability and impact, like the nutritional value and consistent abundance of other anglers' baits, fish stocks and other factors like effects of constant intense fishing pressure etc.)

There are waters where carp simply stop eating certain types of baits, despite them having worked exceptionally well for some time; even a few seasons. "Staying ahead of the game" is certainly a fascinating and exceptionally productive part of carp fishing!

My point is one of the key edges in fishing apart from watercraft skills, location and actual bait presentation, is to be the first on a rig, method, tackle innovation or bait format or design. I know many experienced anglers who have become lazy and stereotyped in their tackle, baits, rigs and over all thinking approach. Of course, many anglers just fish for a bit of peace, wildlife and country air, or a change to a "social" in the pub for example. But even these anglers who completely differ from some intensely driven and goal oriented contemporary anglers, can benefit from thinking a bit more about what they do and how they think about what they do in their fishing.

If most anglers realized that although there is such a thing as mean or average fishing results, no angler is doomed to remain just an "average angler" achieving mostly average results. Using commercial baits is a very good idea, with so many advantages attached. There's time saving, potential savings of economy on quality nutritional baits and the feeling confidence when you have heard about big fish catches on a ready-made bait or mix at other waters.

It makes great sense to exploit ready made base mixes pellets, ground baits and method mixes etc that have been designed by often very technically minded guys. These companies often use the back-up of flavourists, aquaculture experts, nutritionists and the like. These baits have to be rigorously tested over months and even years. This is to refine them and discover the correct levels of ingredients and flavors that will be successful on a range of waters throughout the year.

Your trust in a bait and any company is extremely important and rumors can be very damaging. It is always best to find things out and experience things first hand rather than take any notice of things you might read online in forums especially. For instance, I used to use Rod Hutchinson products for years in all my bait making. At one stage there was a rumour going round that he was making savings and lowering quality standards by using things like wood shavings swept off the floor!

Well I was not fooled by this at all; my results told me the precise opposite. I bought some of his ready made baits instead of the base mixes I often incorporated into my base mixes at the time. (Yes, you can "bulk up" expensive base mixes very effectively with cheap protein ingredients like yeast powders, feather meal, peanut meal etc.) I looked for anything unusual and found in a particular meat boilie (meat baits were far less popular at the time) that there were what to me anyway appeared to be tiny "wood chips" in the matrix of the bait... But there was far more to this than first appearances indicated.

I thought a little about it. Firstly, the baits caught me fish, which is what I totally expected, being a new bait with a different profile, taste, hardness and so on. This little chips could actually be a deliberate inclusion I pondered. I reasoned that from a texture point of view, they would create a different "dimension." They also would offer a different attractor leak-off characteristic to many contemporary baits like the soya, semolina instant baits and milk proteins so prevalent at that time.

However, the clincher was when I stumble across a bit of information regarding certain species of catfish which use an unusual behavior to help them utilize their food better. These catfish would scrape bark off the overhanging trees. I think they were "Salix" tree species. Being a professionally trained commercial horticulturalist of 20 years I should have taken much more notice; but the effect is what matters.

The inference was that this stimulated and improved digestion of some other their important harder to digest foods. (Many important processes, roles and substances are involved in "synergistic" ways in fish digestion.) Well if you investigate various wood barks you will immediately notice the common presence of sap, or resins. These are a kind of "half-way house" combination of often very potent substances. One of these substance categories is for instance the oleoresins. "Bingo" will some readers exclaim at this point. Oleoresins are very common bait ingredients and can be used in powders or liquids.

Vanilla powder from "Ccmoore is packed with vanillin, which has over 300 components to stimulate and attract your carp. Capsaicin of red peppers and chilli peppers is also very effective. Piperines of black or white peppers are very effective too especially for low temperatures and winter time. Essential oils and often proprietary fishing flavours have a variety of potent oleoresins at play, which can effect carp and catfish in "bioactive' ways. (Think of the way chili powder "hits" you with a large dose for instance and how a curry gets to be "just one more" in effect.)

Its funny how many fishermen don't see the "wood" for the trees...? It makes you think a bit more about what else is used your ready made baits than meets the eye. One company I heard about used "industrial grade casein" (used for glue manufacturing not food) because it was so much cheaper. The things is, their baits still caught fish; so how could anyone have known? There are many ways to alter or adapt most ready rolled boilies and pellets etc to achieve extra "edges."

Those baits designed specifically with enzyme or "bioactive" components are best left to do their thing, although there are loads of additional proven feed triggering substances you can add from electrolytes, organic acids, various amino acids (both essential and non-essential,) taste enhancing and sweetening substances, oils and others most anglers won't have probably heard of.

You may not consider over-flavoring and boosting your ready made baits these days with a glycerol or ethyl alcohol flavor for the winter for instance. But a good soak in an amino acid packed liquid or powdered palatant additive can do wonders; the more soluble feeding triggers leaking off the baits the better!