Additives

[Titus]

Originally Posted by Fred Bonney

Talking of perfume, I was pointed in the direction of tea tree oil, I have a bottle to give it a try, anybody made use of it ?

Be careful with that stuff Fred, research suggests it has connections with gynecomastia.

Gynecomastia - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Gynecomastia - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Gynecomastia - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

, there is also some evidence to suggest it will clear up your nits or any other body lice.

[mark brailsford 2]

Originally Posted by Fred Bonney

Well under control Mark, only my closest "friends" get a chance to sample the perfume!

Talking of perfume, I was pointed in the direction of tea tree oil, I have a bottle to give it a try, anybody made use of it ?

Fred,
Keep away from tea tree oil, that stuff is really bad for your (and the fishes) health! I could never understand why they promote the stuff in health food shops..REALLY NASTY stuff!!

[Fred Bonney]

Warnings noted.I'll check it out, thanks

[bigchub]

Olbas oil anyone?

[alan whittington]

Many years ago i flirted with flavourings,one of my favourites was evaporated milk and ice cream,added to plain brown crumb the bream surrendered wholesale,half a cap to a cat litter tray had people stopping dead in their tracks swooning,another experience was whilst fishing Stewartby lake for roach,i put a small amount of hemp flavouring on my maggots,my mate put red zing on his,i caught 25lb of roach,he had 18lb of mainly perch,at the end of the session we swapped pegs and immediatly carried on as we were,me a roach a chuck,him a perch,amazing,i used red zing on the rivers before my mate had ever tried it and always done well with chub and perch(red zing was a hot spicy flavouring).

[Sean Meeghan]

Like much angling "science", there's an awful lot of cobblers talked when it comes to flavours and additives. Much of the research that's quoted by the boilie companies is from aquaculture, the raising of salmon, trout, carp, etc for food or for sale. The problem is that these fish have to rely 100% on what is fed to them for their survival. Research might show that fish fed on a certain pellet formulation or on food with a particular appetite stimulator eat more, but this doesn't mean that fish in the wild will feed on baits containing the appetite stimulator more than any other food.

Tank testing of various flavours is also interesting, but all it shows is that fish recognise food signals from some flavours more than others. The flavours aren't tested against blood worm or damsel fly nymphs so how do we know that they will be taken in preference to these foods?

I've used flavours for many years, but I still can't say for certain that make my baits any more attractive. I can say for certain though that bait size and texture does make a big difference to catch rates. If you don't believe me try fishing expander pellets side by side with a hooker pellet like S Pellets for example. I use flavoured mash for much of my chub fishing and I think it improves my catches, but conditions when fishing are so variable that I can't think of any way of proving it scientifically.

[alan whittington]

Originally Posted by bigchub

Olbas oil anyone?

I prefer vic.

[chav professor]

I think by definition most baits have a flavour - even plain maggots have a scent of whatever they have been lying in or feeding on in the breeding factory.

If a fish eats a scopex flavoured maggot and gets away with it, surely the flavour just makes it easier for the fish to search out and find more of the same.

I also concur with what Sean mentions on texture - compare maggots with casters for example.......

I always seem to have better results if I use a flavour or additive in certain circumstances - it is difficult to comment now as I will flavour maggots when I use them on most occasions - also, cant imagine not taking at least a ball of flavoured cheese past or luncheon meat in addition to the plain offerings.
Chub simply adore certain flavours in cheese paste

[Fred Bonney]

I read to the very end of the report re tea tree oil, it seems there are considerable doubts about the research that found apparent problems.

A bit like I suppose, if you drink too much of anything it won't do you any good!

Like most research reports, and things in life in general, it pays to have an open and positive mind.

---------- Post added at 09:36 ---------- Previous post was at 09:33 ----------

It doesn't appear to deal with midges!

[barbelboi]

I wonder what the attraction is with unflavoured artificial baits that seem to score well either as a solitary bait or in conjunction with loose feed, etc. Maybe they give off an electrical charge (similar to static) that we are not aware of and the fish will investigate - or possibly, as they have no flavour, they are not associated with danger.
Jerry