I agree baits work differently on different waters. I barely used corn when I lived in the north west - it never seemed the best option. Around here, it's a top winter roach bait on one lake and summer bream bait on another. On two other waters, tares are a great winter roach bait, despite their "summer bait" reputation.
Archie Braddock - now 80 years old, I believe - is still doing it. Out fishing into dark several evenings a week, he did a presentation in a pub for a couple of dozen of us recently where he displayed his rigs and mounted baits and talked through his barbel methods and tactics. I've still got bottles of bait flavours from his range. He's writing up his decades of diaries into a book with chapters on all the species he has fished for.
Archie Braddock - now 80 years old, I believe - is still doing it. Out fishing into dark several evenings a week, he did a presentation in a pub for a couple of dozen of us recently where he displayed his rigs and mounted baits and talked through his barbel methods and tactics. I've still got bottles of bait flavours from his range. He's writing up his decades of diaries into a book with chapters on all the species he has fished for.