An Aladdin's cave of carp bait 2014 - Part 1

Here we are nearing the start of a new year and I find it hard to believe that it is nearly 15 years since I first started working for John E. Haith of Cleethorpes, as it was then. Now it is simply Haith's Ltd and the old premises in Cleethorpes has been replaced by a modern corporate super-HQ and factory in Grimsby.

Much has changed at the company, but one thing that has not changed is the quality of the products available to the specialist angler that the company provides. When I started work for Haiths at the turn of the century I coined the USP, “An Aladdin’s Cave of Carp Baits”. As it was then, so it is now.

So as we head towards the new year I want to take a look at the plethora of products we offer covering virtually all aspects of carp and specialist bait including some very exciting new products that we have introduced this year.

ROBIN RED

Naturally we start with our flagship product, the amazing Robin Red, arguably the finest carp attractor ever. Robin Red was first used in boiled baits (boilies) way back in the 60s, and it is still going strong today. While other attractors have come and gone, Robin Red has stood the test of time, and it is now widely used by the bait industry to add both taste and smell to what might otherwise be fairly bland baits. Ideally used at between 10-15% of the total mix, Robin Red will also give your baits a deep, satisfying red colour as well as giving it a significant advantage over other baits. Robin Red enhances the smell and taste of every type of boilie, be it fish meal, milk protein or bird food.

Robin Red is a potent blend of spices, sugars, peppers and oils that will draw carp, tench, barbel and chub from miles around. It is hugely versatile, as it can be used in all manner of applications such as in boiled baits as part of a base mix recipe, in ground baits or in a Method Mix. It can also be used to add extra pulling power to seeds and particles and a couple of ounces added to, say, cooked hempseed adds considerably to the overall effectiveness of the bait carpet. Or why not try adding a couple of tablespoons of Robin Red to a tin of sweetcorn, or chickpeas? In fact, there is nothing in the carp bait world that won’t benefit from a good helping of ‘the red stuff’!

Add Robin Red to cooked hempseed for even greater pulling power

THE NEW ROBINS

We have introduced three new attractors to the Robin range in the shape of Robin Green, Robin Gold and Robin Orange. The new Robins share some of the ingredients of Robin Red and those ingredients are included at exactly the same level as in Robin Red. The ingredients are blended in the same order and sequence as Robin Red, and the different Robins are machine-blended for exactly the same time. In effect these are three new bait ingredients made using the same Robin Red technology.

The idea behind these new ingredients is to allow bait makers to utilise much of the attraction of the original product, Robin Red, without the subsequent – possibly unwanted – consequence of having the bait finish up a deep red colour. Thus naturally yellow base mixes can be coloured orange, green or gold, and still maintain the taste and attraction offered by Robin Red, which would otherwise create red baits.

Since the release of the three new Robins both the retail customer and the trade have been very receptive, clearly seeing the potential for a powerful attractor that is built around the Robin Red concept and technology, but one that can be tailored to identify a finished bait with a colour other than red, and from the feedback we have been receiving since their release the new Robins have found a unique niche in the bait world.

As an initial experiment I asked my friends at Nutrabaits if they would help me test the new Robins by including them in batches of one of their prime sellers, Enervite. This is one of Nutrabaits flagship mixes, introduced at the launch of the company in 1987. It has been going strong ever since. Evervite leans heavily on Robin Red to form part of its attractor package, so it was an ideal test bed for Enervite with Robin Orange, Enervite with Robin Green and Enervite with Robin Gold.

I took the baits to Bounty Lakes in France to test them, employing big beds of bait comprising pellets and the vari-coloured Enervite in equal quantities. As a control element I also used the original Enervite with Robin Red as a separate bait carpet. The two areas were baited quite independent of each other so that the catch results were not affected by one area of bait competing with the other. The results were very encouraging with the new Robins accounting for as many carp as the original version. This is just one of the carp caught during that trip.


READY MIXED COLOUR FOOD

Robin Red and its new stable mates are powerful attractors of carp but they are not the only game in town! The trade in particular uses another of our products to produce startlingly different base mixes and finished baits and in fact quite a few of the bait barons actually rate the ready-Mixed as highly as they do Robin Red itself; high praise for a product that has been ‘below the radar’ for some time! The Ready Mixed is a potent mixture of spices, oils and crushed seeds, augmented with a touch genuine Robin Red. It’s attraction is perhaps more subtle than that of pure Robin Red, and in fact one very well known bait company owner tells us that he actually prefers it to Robin Red!


RED BAND PIGEON CONDITIONER

Red Band Pigeon Conditioner is a complex blend of several different mini and micro seeds and a scattering of mini pellets. For many years it has been regarded by the carp world as the Number 1 mini-seed blend, thanks to its complexity, its ease of preparation and its cost. In addition the well-known carp attractor aniseed oil is blended into the mix to add still further to the attraction. Not to be confused with ‘ordinary’ pigeon conditioners, Red Band is an essential part of any carp angler’s bait armoury.

This photo shows Red Band undergoing a hard boil. You can see the many different seeds in the blend including sunflower seed and pearl barley

Red Band should ideally be soaked and cooked for best results and an overnight soak followed by a hard boil for 20 minutes will give a sumptuous particle bait that carp adore. Back in the early days of boiled baits many of the top carpers would create boiled baits by using fine-ground Red Band. This was added to other birdfoods such as Nectarblend, Softbill Food or Red Factor. The dry mix can then be added to beaten eggs, rolled into balls and boiled.

Try blending Ready Mixed 50/50 with either Nectarblend or Red Factor, adding a little water, or perhaps liquid foods, a bit at a time until you have the required consistency. Prepared thus it also makes for a superb paste bait and here you can see a paste bait created by blending together cooked Red Band and Red Factor.
 
HAITHS CLO

As you can see from the photo, our version is a bit more complex than CLOs offered by other manufacturers. The Haiths version concentrates more on supplying the dietary fats a carp needs whereas other versions seem more focused on the protein content. To be honest the bait world is awash with protein ingredients and we felt that by aiming for a slightly lower protein content and a higher degree of digestible oil and fat, our CLO would be a better all round ingredient for any base mix, be it Fishmeal or birdfood.

It would seem that once again the trade agrees with us as many of the top names in the bait trade have shown a keen interest in our version of this famous ingredients. Try it yourself, all you home rollers. I am sure you will just love it. It binds superbly and adds considerably to the overall nutritional profile of your base mix.

Written by Ken Townley