I have been in the carp bait business for getting on for five decades, and in that time I have been able to test and use all manner of different baits with which to catch carp. My first boilie recipe was dead simple, a birdfood bait based upon Robin Red, Nectarblend and wheat gluten as a binder. The attraction came not just from the ingredients, of which the Robin Red was the most significant, but also from the attractors namely
Geoff Kemp's Perfume Spray and Hutchinson's Maplecream. The bait was more or less instant, first time out the missus and I enjoyed fishing the like of when was beyond our wildest dreams; indeed the first fish we caught was a long 20lb-Leney pictured.
As if that wasn't enough, Tat caught her first twenty on the same bait a year or so later. This recipe was sneeringly regarded as a poor one as it did not comply with the whole concept of nutritional recognition, which was rapidly becoming the go to concept for carp baits. Generally speaking, at the time pure birdfood baits were regarded as inferior when compared to the high protein HNV baits that were thought of as the Gold Standard at the time. Birdfood baits were thought to stop working after a few visits: the fact that out bait recipe continued to catch fish a
year or so after we first tried it gives a lie to that!
That said there was a growing support for better baits based upon proteins such as Casein and Lactalbumin, while fishmeal baits were evolving quickly following HNV guidelines. There was no escaping the fact that more nutritional base mixes were gaining a lot of followers and I had been tempted by the claims made by some fairly influential anglers for a much more complex bait, a so-called High Nutritional Value (HNV) bait. I dipped a cautious toe in the HNV waters, as our Robin Red bait was working pretty well.
Some anglers took the HNV concept to another (higher) level using complex milk proteins rather than fishmeals. Here is a recipe for one such mix:
15% Rennet Casein
15% Acid Casein
10% Lactalbumin
10% Whey Protein concentrate
20% CPSP90
20% Red Factor
10% Robin Red
10% Vitamelo (or equivalent)
Use liquid foods to add you own personal signature to your bait. The Sanchi Tamari Soy Sauce (pictured) is a terrific liquid food. I use litres of the stuff, both as a glug or bait soak, as a binder for paste baits and also in with the eggs when making boiled baits.
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My good friends Bill Cottam and Tim Paisley were partners in the groundbreaking commercial company Nutrabaits and their launch product line included a pure Milk Protein base mix, Hi Nu Val. Look at the ingredients listed on the label.
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This is a 500g mix of 8mm Hi Nu Val boilies. Back in the day I used this bait to the exclusion of all others, especially on
Salamander Lake, where I had outstanding results flavouring it with Black Pepper Essential oil. I started using it in about 1985/6 and it was a resounding success. That said, pure milks are horrendously expensive, and Mrs T. guarded the family coffers most carefully!
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Red Band® for fishing
Vendor:HAITH'S to HOMERegular price From £4.48 GBPRegular priceUnit price per£4.48 GBPSale price From £4.48 GBP -
ROBIN RED® (HB) - Hook bait (Lure) Mix
Vendor:HAITH'S to HOMERegular price From £8.99 GBPRegular priceUnit price per£8.99 GBPSale price From £8.99 GBP -
Nectarblend
Vendor:HAITH'S to HOMERegular price From £4.87 GBPRegular priceUnit price per£4.87 GBPSale price From £4.87 GBP -
Haith's® CLO (Cod Liver Oil)
Vendor:HAITH'S to HOMERegular price From £6.99 GBPRegular priceUnit price per£6.99 GBPSale price From £6.99 GBP
I have developed a fairly keen instinct for what works in a bait and what doesn't. Many anglers are now coming round to the idea that flavours pure and simple, as not as attractive as once was the case. I am not sure where they get this idea from, but it is not one that I share completely. There are some flavours that are still outstanding attractors and the trade is always developing new ideas to stay ahead of the game and many of these new wave attractors are excellent. These small pop-ups from Handcraft Hookbaits have rewarded many a carp angler with amazing results.
1 comment
Interesting piece, an awful lot of us with hindsight disappeared completely down the Rabbit Warren with HNV based on Milk Protein ingredients in the early ’80s. As both naive newbie and ultra keenie much of the bait focused articles of the time were all singing the same song.
So, I concocted my own little 80%+ Protein balls, although we always ignored the eggs, by weight probably half the mix and ~13% protein. Away I went certainly caught my share, some good ones among them but then so did other baits.
Still impressed upon my mind is the flavours actually seemed the key. Good ones, big fan of GKs (don’t recall Perfume Spray?) both Dairy Cream and Evap/Ice Cream truly outstanding. Ditto and obviously Rod’s Scopex and contrary to some opinion pieces just kept on going catching some fish repeatedly.
40yrs later, this much we now obviously know…
I did, however, use my standard HNV Milk Protein base with an expensive Liver Powder given much hype by the supplier without a flavour. I could barely get a Carp on it while my other rod with flavoured alternative would roar off regularly. Was later able to speak to the supplier in person, was amazed I couldn’t get on with but confirmed his other customers also added a flavour. So what was really pulling the fish?
As Ken is well aware many if not most of the names of that era based their mixes around Casein (see Kempastini’s Book of Baits for e.g.) as much as half the mix. Casein, of course is available in grades from inedible for industrial purposes to fit for human consumption. Without the now established suppliers of top quality human grade product some tried to source their own and hard not to be influenced by price. Recall Ritchie Mac’ attributed the best part of a blank Longfield season to a sack of ‘bad Casein’…
In spite of all the fish I caught using Casein back then, I question now to what extent Carp can digest it and absorb the protein it contains at all? In the field of Sports Nutrition it is regarded as a slow release Protein anything from 4-8hrs and prone to curdle in the gut, with debate how much is utilized by humans, at all. We of course have both a true stomach and long intestine. Carp have neither, merely a simple short, convoluted gut.
Bait buffs of the time were aware of the issue, Biological Value as then termed and made attempts to pre-digest Milk Proteins to improve nutritional value. Such products were already available Bengers, Davina etc… but at a considerable cost. Today, we have the Hydroslates but their water solubility means they’ll never be adequate bulk replacements in a boiled bait. Food Industry itself debates the palatability of such in animal feeds but is an ever refined multi-billion pound industry.
So, if I was ever tempted back down that route again, unlikely, I’d ditch the Casein for more readily digestible Whey Protein.
Final note Ken will surely remember Kevin Maddocks, one of the most outstanding Carp Anglers of that era. Interesting, that he would not use Casein in his mixes, at all, preferring Calcium Caseinate as his bulk ingredient. His published recipe is, I believe, in both Kempastini’s and the Redmire Pool books?
Carp Food for Thought then, cheers Ed.