A FURTHER UNDERSTANDING OF WHAT TYPE OF BAIT FISH PREFER TO EAT SHOULD HAVE AN EFFECT ON THE ATTRACTION OF WHAT WE CHOOSE TO USE;

BY JOHN BAKER

What part - if any! - does your bait play in your captures and why? In the second part of John Baker’s mini bait series, he takes a detailed look at what exactly we’re all throwing into the lake!

Photographs by John Baker and Friends

JB IN REFLECTIVE MOOD

or put more simply, how quickly we’re likely to get a bite from our bait! This concept might see us refer to two categories of boilie: short-term bait, and long-term bait. Short-term baits would have little or no food value and as such, are less likely to be nutritionally beneficial. They may perhaps contain higher levels of key ingredients, flavours and additives to increase their smell, taste and overall attraction. More emphasis will be placed on quick, even instant attraction, than on food value. Ready-made baits with chemical preservatives, and also plastic sweetcorn for instance, and other artificial baits all fall within this category. We know that carp can be tricked into eating these, in spite of their make-up, rather than because of it. It’s also important to note that these types of bait would be far less effective - even useless - if not presented on a self-hooking, Hair Rigtype set-up. It should not be forgotten that before the Hair Rig was invented, anglers buried their hooks inside baits and would have to strike when they had a bite. Hair Rigs, in all their variants, are just self-hooking rigs, and their use has eliminated a great deal of the skill previously required to convert bites into hooked fish.

Recently, I was talking to a group of mates on the bankside and I asked them if they ever tested their bait by using it totally unflavoured, either as a boilie or a paste, perhaps on a local, well-stocked day-ticket lake where bites might be easier to come by than on more challenging venues. This would surely be a cast-iron test of any bait’s effectiveness. None of those I spoke to had even considered conducting such tests, yet I’ve carried these out each and every time I’ve come up with a new base mix recipe.

I’d like to think that reputable bait manufacturers and suppliers would always know the exact nutritional profile of their bait, especially its oil and protein content. They should also be prepared to impart information about their recipes freely, without necessarily giving away all their secrets at the same time. I believe it pays to ask a few basic questions of our bait suppliers, and by doing so we should gain a better understanding of how and why a bait works best, and what the optimum times are to apply it. In my opinion, suppliers of pre-rolled boilies should also be prepared to supply the same dry base mixes, flavours and additives they use to make up their finished boilies. Customers will then have the option of making their own hookbaits and popups, all nice and fresh for when they require them.