Vitalin

[Weeman]

Hi all,

I fancy giving vitalin dog food a go as a ground bait / particle carrier for barbel and chub mainly, maybe carp as well.

Anyone got any good tips for preparation? Does it need soaking for long before use?

 

[Jeff Woodhouse]

Not really, just treat it as normal groundbait. However, if you want, you can get a finer mix by putting it in a food mixer and blitzing it for some minutes. Afterwards, riddle it off in a maggot riddle in case some cornflakes haven't been crushed so well.

Mix with ground fishmeal or ground trout pellet and if you like add colouring or use a mix of 1-3 of molasses/water making it nice and sticky and dark brown. You get molasses from a horse feed supplier at about £5-6 for approx a gallon of the stuff. Cheap as chips.

 

[chub_on_the_block]

Never used it, other than when an engler I met gave me some left-overs. Binds well and stinks. But he had no luck with it and it seemed to kill the swim for days afterwards. Maybe coincidence, but i was getting more joy with Betaine Green + brown crumb + a method mix + mollases additive.

He was making his balls ogf groundbait up the night before and freezing them. Could then catapult them as far as the catapult would allow. Worked a treat from the balls he left me, but my more expensive mix seemed to work better for tench/bream.

 

[chav professor]

I found vitalin a bit hit and miss. Call it confidence, I prefer a good quality hemp/pellet ground bait, perhaps mixed with crumb laced with goodies.

I often boil up some hemp and keep some back. I drain some liquor and hemp at the bottom of the saucepan and blitz it in the liquidizer. This is stored in a plastic bottle in the freezer. I think it works well in ground bait mixes.

If you do choose to use Vitalin, soak it in boiling water straight from the kettle to break it down quicker.

 

[Peter Jacobs]

I've never used it either as I consider it to be virtually 100% "feed" so you are effectively feeding off the fish in front of you, and as someone else has said, it has been known to 'kill' a swim for days afterwards.

Better in my experience ot use a Continental-type of commercial mix that has a lot less food value but much more attractant and stimulant qualities.

Just my view, others will differ and defend its use on the grounds of its low cost.

 

[peterjg]

Grind up the Vitalin, mix it with gravy powder and dried milk powder then wet it so that it is a slop then chuck it in - it clouds up the water and is a great attractor for roach.

 

[nicepix]

I use similar as one ingredient in a mix, never as a carrier on its own as I think it is too rich for that especially in still water. The cat food can be stodgy if not diluted with something else. My idea of groundbait is to attract rather than feed. The feed comes from particles added to the groundbait carrier. A lot of cheap pet food is made up of vegetable protein and I don't think that is as attractive to fish as animal protein. Chicken layers pellets or trout pellets might have half the protein content as cat food, but it is animal protein and better in my opinion.

Dependent on the swim I'm intending to fish I will soak some groundbait overnight so it can be mushed up the next morning. This can include milled wheat and maize, soya powder, molasses and chicken pellets. Living on a farm I can get industrial quantities of milled grains, molasses and soya powder free gratis. There are two 20 tonned hoppers of wheat and maize and a 1000 litre tank of molasses virtually outside my front door. Milled wheat and maize makes a great groundbait base if soaked in hot water overnight.

I try to make the groundbait as light and fluffy as possible given that it might have to be catapulted out and carry particles. If I don't use molasses I'll sometimes add flavouring from supermarket cake baking products; vanilla mainly for roach & bream, or sometimes strawberry for carp.

 

[Weeman]

Thanks for the replies chaps.

I'm thinking that maybe vitamin is not what I'm after…..maybe something with pigeon conditioner as an ingredient.

 

[Day Breamer]

Liquidised vitalin is fantastic for carp, especially if mixed with some tuna and salt, really seems to pull carp in like a magnet.

I have toyed with it alot for bream too, and whilst they do seem to like it it also seems to be quite filling for them so i would really only recommend it for pre-baiting if using for bream.

When i use vitalin i like to saok it in hot water onvernight, to allow the mix to absorb all the water, other wise it can be a bit hard and dry, you can also add any flavouring like molasses into the water and leave over night... darkens it up lovely whilst leaving a lovely attractive 'slick'.