Flavoring for coarse fish

chav professor · Nov 10, 2012

For the most part, I had been skeptical about flavoring baits... of course as is apparent on the Chub paste threads, its difficult to be subjective. I first experimented with flavors years ago with Archi Braddocks Red surprise and had what I though at the time to be a phenomenal catch of perch on red maggots flavoured with Archies 'red Surprise'..... And thats where my experience had laid, to be reinvigorated.

Of course, I have dusted maggots with tummeric and felt this did no harm and flavoured bread crumb with Van den eynde 'roach'..... its good for the confidence. Couple this with a memorable days fishing, and the effect of what you did becomes cemented in your mind.

Flavorants are in the most part unavoidable, in fact they are integral to the majority of continental style ground baits. Indeed, the carp industry is awash with flavorants, attractants and palatants.

One experience that did stick out, was fishing a silty housing 'estate' lake (the sort that attracts hordes of youths and burnt out joy rider cars).... Its a great silver fish venue and its easy to catch a small bag of fish. I was using Archie Braddocks 'Floral surprise' on maggots and found that my catch rate increased drastically. this was not a one off! In fact, fishing with a friend, I could out catch on the flavored offerings time and time again - irrespective of swims (though I did have a preference). My theory was that the scent made the maggots easier to locate on the lake bottom......

40lb+ bag of silvers caught using Archie Braddocks 'Floral surprise'.

I am happy to fish a simple method and add a flavor if I can see the benefit. Has anyone else had good experiences using the odd flavor-ant/attractor for coarse fish using otherwise simple methods?

mark brailsford 2 · Nov 10, 2012

Hi Christian,
I have never been one for going out of my way for flavourings but one that I do swear by is Corn Steep Liquor, BLOODY AMAZING STUFF!! caught me loads of fish (well I think it helped!) and so, so versatile!

barbelboi · Nov 10, 2012

chav professor said:
I am happy to fish a simple method and add a flavor if I can see the benefit. Has anyone else had good experiences using the odd flavor-ant/attractor for coarse fish using otherwise simple methods?

Otherwise simple methods yes - I've regularly taken large weights of roach on plastic hemp and many other specimen fish on plastic baits (all unflavoured).
Jerry

Berty · Nov 10, 2012

Flavourings can make a red letter day or totally trash a day.......i never use any unless i know it is not of ANY chemical make up.

chav professor · Nov 10, 2012

Plastic baits are funny..... Something inherently attractive about plastic - dunno what it is. Plastic corn, plastic pellets, plastic maggots (mag aligner)....

I even like chewing plastic pen lids!!!

peterjg · Nov 10, 2012

I've used flavours for years with good and bad results. Here are a few which have worked well:

Garlic (in all forms): works well for carp - I didn't catch any more but it does seem to sort out the bigger ones - though I don't know why? Garlic salt in a paste has worked well for crucians and roach.

Geranium oil: 8 drops to a pint of a maggots - works well for roach (smells horrible).

A 50:50 mix of Hutchinson Monster Crab with Nash Chocolate Malt worked well for carp in home made boilies.

Pineapple for roach.

Mollasses for bream - they love the stuff (so I never buy it!).

A 50:50 mix of garam masala and turmeric for roach.

Cinamon - I make a liquid flavour and spray it on bread crust and flake for roach.

Grilled salmon oil - works very well on deadbaits for pike.

Has anyone any other ideas for flavours for roach?

peter crabtree · Nov 10, 2012

Apart from krilled maggot (deads) I never use any flavourings, bait is bait innit, they either want it or not..

dave oates 2 · Nov 10, 2012

Hutchinsons Secret Agent for Barbel and Carp.
And it gets rid of the Mrs!
dave

waveney_chubber · Nov 10, 2012

I guess most chub anglers have at some time have had a dabble with the plethora of natural and artifical flavours that abound the tackle shops and internet these days and I'm no different.
My first experience of the use flavours was right at the beginning of my chubbing career after watching Matt Hayes using them to great effect in his Winter Chub video. I remember quite distinctly rushing out to my local tackle shop to purchase a spay can of Rod Hutchinson's Seafood Blend, spraying it a fresh slice of bread, and casting it to await a bite. Needless to say I wasn't disappointed with its performance and I always feel that a flavoured bait is more attractive than an unflavoured bait.
I guess in part this comes down more to confidence than anything else but to fish effectively with any bait you have to have confidence. I feel very sure that they have made a big difference on some days when other anglers are struggling with either plain baits, or baits flavoured with something else.
There have been some great flavours available over the years and a few of my personal favourites for chub include = DT Baits Oily Chicken, Action Baits/Double T's Sausage Sizzle and Garlic Spice (Optispice), Nutrabaits Cheese Elite, Rod Hutchinson's Smelly Cheese, Blue Cheese & Garlic, Seafood Blend, and Monster Crab.
Unsurprisingly if your married and a chub angler, the use of such flavours is usually the recipe for a quick divorce. Most of these flavours are certainly not wife friendly by any means of the imagination and result in instant bansihment to the shed.
One additive that I would never go chub fishing without is garlic. For some reason chub & garlic just go together. I put it in my cheesepaste, flavour my meat with it, paste, bread, you name it, even though by the end of the day I smell like a pair of frenchman's underpants!
Other good powdered additives that appear to be to the liking of chub are green lipped mussel powder, liver powder, robin red, fennel, cinnamon, chinese 5 spice, and various proprietary curry powders such as garam masala and tikka masala.

barbelboi · Nov 10, 2012

waveney_chubber said:
I guess most chub anglers have at some time have had a dabble with the plethora of natural and artifical flavours that abound the tackle shops and internet these days and I'm no different.
My first experience of the use flavours was right at the beginning of my chubbing career after watching Matt Hayes using them to great effect in his Winter Chub video. I remember quite distinctly rushing out to my local tackle shop to purchase a spay can of Rod Hutchinson's Seafood Blend, spraying it a fresh slice of bread, and casting it to await a bite. Needless to say I wasn't disappointed with its performance and I always feel that a flavoured bait is more attractive than an unflavoured bait.
I guess in part this comes down more to confidence than anything else but to fish effectively with any bait you have to have confidence. I feel very sure that they have made a big difference on some days when other anglers are struggling with either plain baits, or baits flavoured with something else.
There have been some great flavours available over the years and a few of my personal favourites for chub include = DT Baits Oily Chicken, Action Baits/Double T's Sausage Sizzle and Garlic Spice (Optispice), Nutrabaits Cheese Elite, Rod Hutchinson's Smelly Cheese, Blue Cheese & Garlic, Seafood Blend, and Monster Crab.
Unsurprisingly if your married and a chub angler, the use of such flavours is usually the recipe for a quick divorce. Most of these flavours are certainly not wife friendly by any means of the imagination and result in instant bansihment to the shed.
One additive that I would never go chub fishing without is garlic. For some reason chub & garlic just go together. I put it in my cheesepaste, flavour my meat with it, paste, bread, you name it, even though by the end of the day I smell like a pair of frenchman's underpants!
Other good powdered additives that appear to be to the liking of chub are green lipped mussel powder, liver powder, robin red, fennel, cinnamon, chinese 5 spice, and various proprietary curry powders such as garam masala and tikka masala.

To shorten the above.............chub are pretty much omnivorous

Jerry

Titus · Nov 10, 2012

I have recently finished a bottle of Floral Surprise I've had for years. The 'fl' had worn off the label and the 15 year old schoolboy in this 50 something body couldn't help but chuckle every time I saw it.

waveney_chubber · Nov 10, 2012

barbelboi said:
To shorten the above.............chub are pretty much omnivorous
Jerry

But do show certain preferences for certain types of bait at different times of year and I also do believe that they also have a preference for certain flavours and additives over others hence my post.
I don't think its simply a case of chub will "eat anything". If this is the case then why do some rivers respond better to meat and others to cheese for example?

barbelboi · Nov 10, 2012

waveney_chubber said:
But do show certain preferences for certain types of bait at different times of year and I also do believe that they also have a preference for certain flavours and additives over others hence my post.
I don't think its simply a case of chub will "eat anything". If this is the case then why do some rivers respond better to meat and others to cheese for example?

Do they? On the day maybe but I've never met a river yet that didn't respond to both.
Jerry

waveney_chubber · Nov 11, 2012

barbelboi said:
Do they? On the day maybe but I've never met a river yet that didn't respond to both.
Jerry

I guess that's speaking from my own experience. On one river I used to fish in the past, they wouldn't even look at meat even though I tried it extensively over a period of 4-5 years. In the same swims a change to cheesepaste brought almost immediate bites. Chub can be the most annoying of fish some days! I have also noticed on some rivers that the chub are far more predatory in their nature than on others - could this be the reason they prefer the meat option?

Berty · Nov 11, 2012

They probably associated the meat with danger on that river.......but what i can never understand is anyone continuing to use meat extensivly for 4 to 5 years if it ain't doing the business, lives to short and there are so many options.

aebitim · Nov 11, 2012

I too was very impressed with A Braddocks fabulous feeder fishing and went the flavours route for a while. Fishing flavoured baits alongside unflavoured baits sometimes made a difference. When fishing a silty estate lake it became apparent thet a cube of bread flavoured with spicy sausage could be fished as a pop up which produced fish when a paste flavoured with the same stuff didnt. I then tried paste made with cheese against paste made with flavour and the paste with the flavour sank more slowly. Today I still use enhancers and in the right place at the right time they can be very effective, but find the most usefull thing about them is being able to change the density of the hookbait.

john conway (CSG - ACA) · Nov 11, 2012

I’ve probably posted this statistic before but the CSG have recorded over 414 different baits and bait cocktails that have accounted for over 13,000 4lb plus chub between 1972 and 2008. I keep saying I’ll re-run this exercise to bring it up to date i.e. 1972 to 2012 since the chub count is now over 17,000.
Like most Chub anglers I keep trying different baits and flavours but I always drop back to the old time baits; cheese, bread, sweetcorn and halibut pellet, that and crust being the main carrier for my multitude of cheese paste.

Philip · Nov 11, 2012

john conway (CSG - ACA) said:
I’ve probably posted this statistic before but the CSG have recorded over 414 different baits and bait cocktails that have accounted for over 13,000 4lb plus chub between 1972 and 2008. I keep saying I’ll re-run this exercise to bring it up to date i.e. 1972 to 2012 since the chub count is now over 17,000.

Nice to see you back John I would be very interested to see those statistics if you get round to it.

---------- Post added at 20:14 ---------- Previous post was at 20:11 ----------

peterjg said:
Has anyone any other ideas for flavours for roach?

I cant say how accurate it is from first hand experience but Aniseed has been written about for years as a "Roach" additive....

barbelboi · Nov 11, 2012

Philip said:
Nice to see you back John I would be very interested to see those statistics if you get round to it.

---------- Post added at 20:14 ---------- Previous post was at 20:11 ----------

I cant say how accurate it is from first hand experience but Aniseed has been written about for years as a "Roach" additive....

Very true Philip, I remember when aniseed was banned from some LAA matches - some of the better Chemists still stock small bottles for around a fiver.
Jerry

Flavoring for coarse fish

chav professor

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mark brailsford 2

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barbelboi

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Berty

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chav professor

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peterjg

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peter crabtree

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dave oates 2

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waveney_chubber

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barbelboi

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Titus

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waveney_chubber

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barbelboi

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Berty

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