Bait additives

[mikench]

I'm talking of powders one adds to pellets and glugs to bait! Markcw recommended, indeed he gave me a bottle , of F1 liquid! I added it to meat and pellets and I am convinced it improved my catch rate!

I have added a vanilla powder from Decathlon to my micros and reckon they had had a good effect!

What additives, if any,do you swear by?

 

[tigger]

What additives, if any,do you swear by?

Salt n vinegar on me fish n chips, gravey on me pudding and chips and curry on me chips ....sorry Mike, couldn't resist bud :wh.


I put no plugs or anything to my groundbait but I do add corn, maggots and other bits to my breadfeed.

 

[mikench]

I might have guessed! I would go along with all your additives Ian but can you show me a barbel caught on steak pudding and chips!!!??? Would it hair rig! I'm hooked on all Hollands products but I'm not a fish!!!

 

[stillwater blue]

Coriander to maggots and/or ground-bait when I'm after roach and it does seem to make a difference.

 

[barbelboi]

What additives, if any,do you swear by?

Only one.............

 

[103841]

I put a spoonful of turmeric on a pint of maggots, not sure if it catches more fish but it sure does make them maggots smell nicer.

 

[tigger]

I might have guessed! I would go along with all your additives Ian but can you show me a barbel caught on steak pudding and chips!!!??? Would it hair rig! I'm hooked on all Hollands products but I'm not a fish!!!

I'll act like a fish if you get me a pudding and chips lol.
Me mrs just got me some actually, instead of gravey on the chips and pudding she put me some curry on the chips, good food when your out of sorts .

 

[markcw]

Apart from the Sonubaits F1 liquid, I will use turmeric on maggots, apart from degreasing them it leaves a slight tinge on them, If groundbait is banned and I am am fishing meat on that particular venue, I will sometimes coat my meat in groundbait, Years ago when I made my own groundbait , it was a couple of bags of brown crumb, with a bit of white crumb as a binder, Custard powder, or Angel delight and desiccated coconut, The coconut broke free when the groundbait was on the bottom and floated slowly upwards,this was used as an attractor. I had good success in colder months coating meat with Knorr Marinade In minutes granules,I have not seen it in the shops for a long time now. It smelt very similar to Archie Braddocks Winter Mix.

 

[no-one in particular]

I am not really into modern baits and glugs etc but I have tried bread dipped in honey which didn't seem to make much difference but I would try it on maggots maybe. Sweetcorn soaked in a hot water/jam solution which turned them red was very good for bream. I bought some red food coloring once to dye bread red but never got round to trying it for some reason but I have read this can be very good.
The best one I tried was some fermented yeast poured over maggots, I tried this several times a few years ago and it definitely made a difference.
I reasoned why bread was so good because fish can smell the yeast in it, flour paste never seems to work as well.

 

[Alan Tyler]

I reasoned why bread was so good because fish can smell the yeast in it, flour paste never seems to work as well.

Another reason might be salt.

 

[Keith M]

When my mate Budgy used to drive us down to the river Kennet back in the 70s during the colder months (a 90 mile drive) my job was to continuously knead our bread/cheese paste around a large raw scored onion to get as much onion juice into the bread/cheese paste as I could during the journey, and it caught us some lovely huge Chub.

In the past I’ve used Archie Braddocks ‘Sugar & Spice’ powdered flavouring on my luncheonmeat and also some Wasp-grub flavouring from a spray can a few times on my maggots but I’m not sure whether it made much of a difference although it did give me a lot of confidence which can’t be a bad thing.

And during my big Carp days when we made all of our own boilees we used dozens of different bait flavourings like Strawberry, Pinapple, Plum, Bun-Spice, Brandy, Ice cream mivvie, evaporated milk, Sea Food etc. etc. and caught Carp on all of them.

Nowerdays If Im Carping I very occasionally use some Active-8 or ‘Source’ boily dips or paste wraps on my shop bought freezer boilees or my Pellets.

I also sometimes mould different Seafood/Crab pastes around my Barbel baits to give a nice flavour trail drifting downstream and leading up to my hookbait which I’m sure makes a difference especially during the colder months.

Keith

 

[Tee-Cee]

For maggots I tend to rely on keeping them in tip top condition by changing the bedding regularly. Maize meal as good as anything but as I say it does need changing...
Not to say I don't try various additives if plain mags don't work, but I separate some off rather than flavour a large amount. Garam Masala has done okay on occasion when the sudden change has produced a few fish(almost) immediately but not gala days by any means. Even a quick dip into sweet chilli sauce has produced a fish or two in winter....
On cold winter days I resort to flavours if nothing is moving ( when a 3" perch would be good), more to keep myself interested than anything else and expectation is never a bad thing, well for an hours or so, anyway! I also feed a separate part of a swim for any trial..

I seem to recall a 'flavours trend' some years ago (an old thread on FM?) perhaps when some magical potion was launched to induce anglers to part with hard earned...................

As I say, ANYTHING worth a try on cold frosty mornings!

ps Likely as not, quality bait in good nick along with careful thought to best presentation, as good as anything.

 

[carpinbob]

Usually use Mainline bloodworm ,for pellets ,sweet corn and groundbait. Not sure if it catches more fish but the last time out went very well Indeed.

 

[mikench]

Only one.............

And I'm certain the fish don't get a sniff!

 

[seth49]

I’ve been adding a bit of the bait tech special G glug to the water I use to pump my expander pellets, seems to make a difference.

Also like pineapple flavour in summer on the pellets, and either Garam masala, or turmeric on the maggots which seems to help, especially in winter.

Also I riddle the maize meal of the maggots the night before I go, and replace it with krill powder.

 

[rayner]

Apart from Archie Braddocks liquids I've steered myself away from additives. This year I've been using Dynamite pellet soak. The one I've been using is betaine green. I have another bottle of red krill but haven't had the top off that yet.

I'm unsure if it's the colour or the smell on the pellets that's made a difference. I do think the additive has added something.

 

[Jeff Woodhouse]

I’ve been adding a bit of the bait tech special G glug to the water I use to pump my expander pellets, seems to make a difference.

Also like pineapple flavour in summer on the pellets,

Nothing wrong at all with that. I use the Preston vacuum thing with just water whilst I'm pumping, then drain off all the water from the pellets before emptying them into a small pot. I then add a few drops of either pineapple, or scopex, or even Bait Tech Nutty Oil to the pellets and let them soak that up. In fact anything can be added after and I recently got my hands on some Marukyu Sanagi extract, crushed down chrysalis shells from the silk moth trade. Smells OK, but then I'm a bigger sucker than the fish for these things.

 

[Ray Roberts]

Another reason might be salt.

I use Lo-Salt as an additive on; bread, meat and corn and hemp/tares. In my opinion it definitely gets me more bites when the going gets harder.


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[Peter Jacobs]

Personally I am completely sold on using additives to both my hook baits and ground baits as well.

The only time I use plain baits is when using worms or plain bread, bur typically I even flavour bread both for flake, punch and crust. Sometimes for a change I’ll use unflavoured corn too, but not too often.

I tend to stick to the old adage of, sweet in the summer months and spicy for the winter, although not always as a sweet bait on a warmer day in winter can be very attractive.

For bread baits I usually add a spray of tangerine flavouring or a smear of peanut butter, both being very effective and always use a spray of the same in my punch crumb, especially on a commercial venue.

 

[daniel121]

I think Keith M nailed my opinion this one in one sentence below

but I’m not sure whether it made much of a difference although it did give me a lot of confidence which can’t be a bad thing.

Over the years I've had my fair share of belief in wonder baits, additives, secret pastes and such like. In answer to the OP's question I'll split into two;

The past - I've had fads on yellow food dye, I was convinced it helped me catch bigger roach. Strawberries crushed in groundbait and strawberry flavours for Bream. The list is endless I've been fishing over 60 years.

Present day - betaine but honestly I'm pretty plain nowadays. But nowadays I'm just happy to be on the bank, of someone close by fancies a natter even better.