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MAKING HOMEMADE BAITS
FOR CATFISH, CARP AND BIG CATCHES!
By Tim Richardson
‘Secret fishing baits’ abound and
some are fantastically successful catching many more than their fair share
of big fish for those fishermen who realise just how powerful and potent
using a very unique bait can be. Simple or complicated baits all work. You
just need a little ‘working knowledge.’ It can be so exciting making your
own baits and ground baits when you just know your next session is going
to be fantastic as a result!
Just knowing one little edge can transform your catches overnight.
Although most baits end up getting ‘sussed’ by the fish and they can often
respond to being caught and returned by becoming far more reluctant to
pick up your baits without caution, they will very often still be eaten
despite this. Every weekend, the majority of carp and catfish being
heavily fished for get away with a big free meal feeding on ground bait
and free baits without feeling the pressure form a bend fishing rod!
Even in situations where catfish and carp are caught for the table, it is
often the bigger fish which are more rarely landed which have perhaps
evaded capture for years having been hooked and lost on the regular baits
and fishing methods most commonly used over the years...
Even on heavily fished lakes there is usually a head of big fish that
usually evade capture on regular baits and methods often for years.
Sometimes a can of corn or piece of luncheon meat, liver or fish produce
the goods but this is not always the best answer as most of us have
realised. Sometimes it really pays you to know just a bit more about how
to design a bait not even especially to catch that lake record, but merely
to get a ‘take’ in the first place!
You might want to know about using of simple super store propylene glycol
flavours with corn syrup and corn flour. Or feel the need to explore
isoenzymes, peptones, oleoresins, special fruit acids or fermentation
bye-products for answers and ingredients, that’s the level to go.
Not everyone needs to know that hygroscopic substances like peptones, or
lecithins, honey or malt extract or even mineral salts are outstanding
bait ingredients for catching fish of many species. But then again, it can
be a great benefit to be much more aware of more bait knowledge like
knowing the ‘significant ingredient’ in lobster powder, or green lip
mussel extract, or squid liver extract. This knowledge and its practical
use can transform your bait from a good trusted bait into one that means
‘fill your boots time!’
The level of bait know-how you need really depends on what you want to
know! Because bait making is more of an art despite all the application of
scientific knowledge used in the bait making industry, there is so much
that we do not know and which has not been verified or measured as
conclusive in a dynamic fishing environment with so many constantly
changing variables.
I could stay on the narrow road of flavours and aromas, or venture into
stimulators, enhancers, sweeteners, essential oils, ‘food oils’ and a vast
array of specialist additives each with their particular benefits to the
fish in regards to stimulation, nutrition, their method and pathway of
detection and their uses and effects in the fish. However, even a scrap of
rubber, plastic or wood can all catch extremely big carp so things need to
be taken a step at a time. If you’re more into catfish, the dietary
requirements and some methods of stimulation by your bait are so similar
to that of carp that the two areas of bait design almost merge into one.
Fermented shrimp might be an ‘off the wall’ ingredient but it has been a
significant secret ingredient for those fishermen aware of the potency of
trying ‘different’ ingredients to improve their catches. If you go so far
as to realise some of the reasons why this ingredient, like ‘Belechan’
(which is popularly used in the UK) works so great for catfish and carp,
then will be ahead even more.
In the case of this ingredient, there is an impressive amino acid profile
with significant levels of essential ones for these fish, and taste
enhancing ones too, teamed with energy supplying palm oil, loads of highly
stimulatory salts and even attractive bacterial enzymes too. Its high in
protein which has been part broken down in the production, drying and its
natural fermentation process which provides exceptional soluble
nutritional stimulation ‘food messages’ to the fish. But thing do not need
to be so involved at all for you yourself to make very successful baits.
In the UK boilies and fishmeal based pellets are very successful
mainstays. In the States the trend towards the use of boiled dough paste
baits is growing as they prove themselves for big fish more and more. It
can be a real saving in time and money to learn how to make your own baits
which work consistently. Even when competing against other anglers on
well-proven shop-bought readymade baits your own home-made baits can be a
fantastic edge and really produce the goods! The same goes for making very
powerfully attractive ‘ground baits too.
It is a proven fact that catfish and carp can come on almost any bait by
design or accident. But for a very long time now, literally thousands of
fishermen have proven that baits that supply nitrogen and amino acids are
very highly attractive and extremely consistent in the long term in
tempting those bigger fish, many repeatedly.
Baits based on the characteristic ingredients that are commonly used in
carp and catfish farming do demonstrate good catches, but good a sound
theoretical nutritional basis to making a bait is not that necessary all
the time. In fact very simple baits can catch numerous bigger fish
sometimes even perhaps due to their very lack of attractive ‘food signals’
in situations where fish get heavily fished for.
Baits that contain even one ingredient that initiates a feeding response
or just simple curiosity can really produce. Almost everyone knows that
simple corn, hemp, luncheon meat or cheese catch fish, as do live baits
like bloodworm, worms, maggots, and a myriad of other protein rich natural
organisms. The list of ingredients you can use in making a secret bait of
your own is endless. Each one and its level of inclusion in your bait can
influence your bait’s diversity from those that other fishermen usually
use and that difference may be all you need for greater success.
Of course whatever you can make up for yourself, can be adapted in some
kind of liquid form to ‘adapt’ those baits you have bought as readymade
baits. To make your readymade boilies and pellet baits different and stand
out more, or to reduce likelihood of fish being wary of them and so easier
to tempt ‘doctoring’ your baits is an extremely good edge. Again there are
thousands of ingredients and combinations and ingredients effects to
exploit.
There are thousands of variations on basic baits for catching catfish and
carp which go beyond simply opening a can or meat or corn or opening a bag
of pellets or boilies etc. Although so many ingredients will catch these
fish, if you simply follow the knowledge that these fish need a percentage
of nitrogen containing food, protein and amino acids to survive, you will
do well for the bigger fish. The smaller fish can always be caught using
baits based on carbohydrate ingredients like corn meal, soya flour,
semolina and so on in combination with any of thousands of added
attractors and flavours to further stimulate the feeding responses.
When it comes down to making your own secret homemade baits you need a
simple starting point and everyone dreams of catching the bigger fish so
why not aim high and make a bait intended for the giant catfish and carp
by supplying for their basic needs? The main most important ‘bulk’
ingredient to supply the protein and attractive amino acid content is
massive. Some are better proven and easier to use than others.
For many fisherman it makes good time and monetary economic sense to make
a visit to the Wal-Mart or Tescos store for bait supplies. Proprietary
fishing bait and ingredients are often much more expensive and can be
inhibitive to your needs. Why buy a bag of boilies for £10 per kilogram
when a homemade bait can easily be produced for £1.50 which catches your
fair share of big fish and more?
A couple of decades ago making your own bait was pretty much your only
option, and fishermen of this up to this era thought nothing of making up
homemade baits as part of the challenge and satisfaction of their sport.
Catching big fish on your own bait is much more satisfying anyway!
Bait ingredients do not have to be expensive. You can easily start with
cheap cat food, dog food, ground trout pellets or cheap sausage meat and
add binding ingredients like flour and eggs. Experimentation using small
quantities is the key to growing your confidence! You may simply want to
liquidize some lamb or pork liver and bind it up with enough corn flour to
bind it into a dough and use it straight on the hook and as free baits.
Such a bait is great for catfish or carp.
Using eggs will improve its resilience in water and boiling rolled balls
for use on the hook or on a ‘hair rig’ will much improve duration of
practical use. However so many anglers go straight to the bait shop and
grab the first bag of baits that seems the most attractive to their mind
at that moment. In doing this behaviour your are in fact just copying what
thousands and thousands of your competing fishermen are doing, and mostly
your catch results will end up being the same too.
To put the odds in your favour if your are not at the level of a
‘professional’ or ‘name’ angler there is more than enough you can do with
baits to level things up. Provided you can bait up regularly and are
prepared to make the quantities of bait that will influence the behaviour
of a good number of fish in the water you are fishing you will triumph in
the long run with consistent big fish catches. It’s not all about angling
ability.
You do need to find your fish and ideally, identify those natural areas
where your fish feed naturally. The routes to and from these areas are
also of interest to you.
By introducing bait of any kind into these areas repeatedly over a period
of a number of alternate days and after a few weeks, you may begin to
observe a difference in the feeding behaviour of certain fish as they
almost start to ‘anticipate’ your baits arrival.
Catfish feed far less often than carp and tend to ‘binge feed’.
Carp feed very regularly and can feeding cycles can be like ‘clockwork’
and be on a morning and evening basis for example demonstrating the
natural bio-rhythms in fish concerning their feeding habits and patterns
and usual digestive cycles all of which can be manipulated by your bait to
different degrees and effects!
The smaller fish of both catfish and carp species may tend to feed much
more regularly and are often much easier to catch because of this
increased feeding frequency for one thing! It is interesting that often
baits with higher flavor levels in your bait catches you more small fish,
by far.
Flavors are a very interesting subject on their own. What we may think of
as a simple acid or alcohol or glycerol or glycerine type combination or
pure flavor, may be far more ‘volatile’ and complicated a mixture of
unrelated but extremely powerful substances, especially with the very best
modern commercial fishing bait flavours. These can involve substances that
can ‘excite’ the nervous system of the fish in different ways and even
increase the metabolic rate and give it an ‘instant energy rush’ as in the
familiar ‘hit’ from drinking a coffee, “Coca Cola” or “ Red Bull” drink.
Your bait can be used to initiate an immediate feeding response the moment
a fish recognises it as a food item, even from great distance away. This
can lead to many favourable chain reaction in the fish involving their
nervous systems, and production and release of stimulatory hormones in the
brain and release of amino acids and neurotransmitters among many other
things which can result quickly being in an ‘excited’ feeding state well
before it even finds your hook bait.
So the more you know, the more you can manipulate the fish more
significantly more of the time and keep ahead of the fish and other
fishermen too. Knowing more about how a shop ‘flavour’ combination really
works is advantageous, but if you can make your own dips and ‘flavour
combinations’ things can really get interesting because these liquids can
instantly change a ‘normal standard readymade bait’ into something totally
unique and different and potent enough to keep the big fish coming back
again and again..
The author has many more fishing and bait ‘edges’ up his sleeve. Every
single one can have a huge impact on catches. (Warning: This article is
protected by copyright.)
By Tim Richardson
Now why not seize this moment to
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bibles: “BIG CARP FLAVOURS, FEEDING TRIGGERS AND CARP SENSES EXPLOITATION
SECRETS!” “BIG CARP AND CATFISH BAIT SECRETS!” “BIG CARP BAIT SECRETS!”
And "BIG CARP BAIT SECRET - VOL 2" For free extracts, these Ebooks and
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homemade bait success secrets bibles! |
