Tench and Bream Flavours and Additives

I am very interested in the area of flavourings and additives for tench and bream, The Bait companies tend to target the carp anglers with all sorts of liquid foods, flavours and additives both natural (Eg Krill) and non natural (Nash Scopex classic or Mainline response )
Im interested to see if anyone has used non natural additives such as the intense flavours above which are based on Propyl Glycol and Ethyl Acetate in their spod/method/pellet flavouring approach....Or is this just used for Boilie making?

I used monster crab and scopex boilie flavours last year mixed into glycerine at a rate of 5ml flavour per litre of glycerine, dyed it red and used as a ground bait additive as well as putting it on the feeder like goo. Even in this highly diluted state the smell was very strong.

I had some very good tench sessions but I am not convinced it was anything to do with the flavouring although it indicates that tench are not put of by the chemical flavours in small quantities.

Brasem, Scopex, Strawberry and sweet groundbaits like Van Den Eynde Secret and Special, molasses and white bread crumb all have their place when tench and bream fishing.

My opinion is - (and its' just my opinion!), why use chemicals? I find that liquidised sweetcorn attracts tench and bream to the swim. Very cheap and very effective! I liquidise loads of natural items and the results speak for themselves.

I also use a tip that I got from a guy on eBay to make sure that all the flavours get to exactly where my bait is placed. Its worth a look - Catch more Carp, Barbel, Tench or Bream ! Proven method !!! is his listing. It would be unfair for me to give the details away but basically he suggests freezing your baits! It worked for me.

jacksharp said:

Brasem, Scopex, Strawberry and sweet groundbaits like Van Den Eynde Secret and Special, molasses and white bread crumb all have their place when tench and bream fishing.

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I'll go with them Jack severed me well down the years. Not entirely convinced that it’s down to them why I caught/catch, but as they give me confidence by using them, I do.
One you can’t get these days early 80s creation was called Red Cap and had my first double figure bream using it in brown crumb.

Trout pellet paste one of the best bream baits going does not catch many tench though the bream always get to it first they like it so much it is one of the only things that makes them move it seems.

sweet fishmeal is a brilliant skimmer and bream attractor....meaty flavours for tench...Chef

Hi jaspon.

Propylene glycol is used as an aircraft antifreeze, is known to exert high levels of biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) during degradation in surface waters.
Ethyl acetate (catalysed with sulfulic acid) is the ester of ethanol and acetic acid; it is manufactured for use as a solvent, used in nail polish etc.
Isoamyl Alcohol etc. considerably more expensive than real bananas and totally inedible.

Unfortunately many artificial additives are designed for one purpose and one purpose only - to catch the angler. If they smell strongly pungent (attractive to humans) then they are probably overpowering for fish olfactory. They will also denature the proteins and amino acids in expensive boilies and paste baits.

Artificial "nature identical" additives (not that they are identical) are poisons. there are many perfectly edible real-food alternatives that attract and catch fish with less chance of spooking/blowing/safer for the environment.

Sweet for bream (sucrose, lactose, honey, mollasses mix, natural baits like sweet corn) and spicy (garam massala, turmeric, fenugreek, sweet chilli and fruity type mix) for tench. :thumbs:

I think it was tinker I had a conversation with re strawberry flavour for tench. I am in the process of soaking down the sensas strawberry pellets he advised were available. I am going to make into paste tomorrow. I have always done OK with strawberry for tench. Will let you know.

Brasam and lots of it - wonderful stuff. Also sweetcorn flavouring added to maggots.

john step said:

I think it was tinker I had a conversation with re strawberry flavour for tench. I am in the process of soaking down the sensas strawberry pellets he advised were available. I am going to make into paste tomorrow. I have always done OK with strawberry for tench. Will let you know.

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Next time you take the wife shopping have a browse at the cake baking section of the supermarket. You can buy strawberry, pineapple and other fruit flavourings that can be added to hook baits or groundbait mixes or to some of that chilled ready to use pastry to make a paste bait.

Then you can wander down to the herb and spice section to stock up on garlic salt, five spice, fennel and aniseed before casually browse the ethnic cooking section for all sorts of interesting flavours to experiment with.

Finally, before she notices that you are missing harvest some of those plastic storage containers to keep everything in. You can get some around 7" x 4" and smaller ones around 2" x 4" that snugly fit inside the larger ones. You can store 20 or so boilies in the large box along with the small box containing half a dozen boilies glugged with the fruit fllavourings or some spice and oil.

Loading your groundbait with liquid molasses works for Bream, Tench like it too.

I've flavoured maggots and rubber maggots/casters for years with the intense flavours and sweeteners marketed by the bait companies. Most have caught but a few have really stood out. Maplecreme and banana by Rod Hutchinson have caught me a lot of Tench over the years. His Roach Attractor and Protaste were something else for Roach. It was a real shame when he stopped producing bait flavourings, i.e it took me a few years to find a Banana flavour that worked as well as his.

Therein lies a problem. Company A banana flavour is different from company B which is different from company C. There's more than one way to skin a cat and so it is with flavourings. The same smell can be reproduced with different ingredients added to different solvents. Their taste will be different as will their water solubility. Not all banana/strawberry/peach/lobster/ham etc. etc flavours are the same.
But then again, there's only so many solvents out there so to the fish a ham may taste like a peach and so on.

You may find a flavour that works really well on one water but doesn't produce on another. It could be that the level needs adjusting. One water produced really well on boilies with Shellfish Sense Appeal but on maggots it was nothing special. It's a fascinating subject with so many variables that if you're that way inclined you wont live long enough to get bored.

Flavouring isn't the b all and end all by any means, but . . . I've seen so many instances over the last 30 years where flavoured maggots caught more fish or bigger fish than unflavoured you'd have to be blind and a complete fool not to take notice.

jacksharp said:

Brasem, Scopex, Strawberry and sweet groundbaits like Van Den Eynde Secret and Special, molasses and white bread crumb all have their place when tench and bream fishing.

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You won't catch me using Van Den Eynde groundbaits like Secret, Special and Expo for fishing for tench or bream, maybe Fishmeal Supercarp and Strawberry Fishmeal Supercarp.
Though I'm not sure if the strawberry flavouring makes any difference??

IMO fishmeal baits out fish bread based baits. You can of course add particles - whole, chopped or pulped; hemp, sweetcorn, wheat and maples are all good, also maggots, casters and worms.
Custard, aniseed, condensed milk, molasses and fennel, can all boost a bait's allure.

Oh and banana flavoured SAC Juice has proven to be a bit too effective at drawing in snotties (when targeting chub).

cg74 said:

You won't catch me using Van Den Eynde groundbaits like Secret, Special and Expo for fishing for tench or bream, maybe Fishmeal Supercarp and Strawberry Fishmeal Supercarp.
Though I'm not sure if the strawberry flavouring makes any difference??

IMO fishmeal baits out fish bread based baits. You can of course add particles - whole, chopped or pulped; hemp, sweetcorn, wheat and maples are all good, also maggots, casters and worms.
Custard, aniseed, condensed milk, molasses and fennel, can all boost a bait's allure.

Oh and banana flavoured SAC Juice has proven to be a bit too effective at drawing in snotties (when targeting chub).

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They work for me Colin. I love the smell of a bream/roach sweet based groundbait. Smells like summer to me! :thumbs:

jacksharp said:

They work for me Colin. I love the smell of a bream/roach sweet based groundbait. Smells like summer to me! :thumbs:

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There's no denying they work, but I think there is a huge number of far more effective groundbaits on the market these days.
I do like the smell of many Van Den Eynde products, especially Secret (mixed with fennel powder), which evokes lots of happy memories of bygone days catching tench and carp.

But I'd rather catch more using something like the horrible smelling Hemp and Hali' Crush or Fishmeal Supercarp.

If you was to target bream and bream only you will catch bream but you will also catch tench and carp and... if present.
same goes for most if not all species, if the bait you are using contains the key ingredient sought (insert what ever it is here) then they will take it.

Oh, and if anyone ever discovers a "bream deterrent" I would be VERY interested!

The only additive that goes into my tench groundbait is dried Dutch pigs blood that I get from a sausage supplier I mix this with rusk and pearl barley and hemp that has been in soak in a blood solution for 24 hours at least. This I use for pre-baiting with a small amount of my hook bait. It works for me . When I am fishing I just use hemp and a few free offerings of hook bait. If pre-baiting stop pre-baiting the swim at least 48 hours before you intend to fish. In this way hopefully our green friends will be waiting and hungry for our bait.

jaspon said:

I am very interested in the area of flavourings and additives for tench and bream, The Bait companies tend to target the carp anglers with all sorts of liquid foods, flavours and additives both natural (Eg Krill) and non natural (Nash Scopex classic or Mainline response )
Im interested to see if anyone has used non natural additives such as the intense flavours above which are based on Propyl Glycol and Ethyl Acetate in their spod/method/pellet flavouring approach....Or is this just used for Boilie making?

Click to expand...

Mate, do yourself a favour and invest in some Laguna SAC juice (you will find them on here!) Brilliant products and used by many on here to great effect! try the sweeter flavours for Tench, they have a very sweet tooth, try Banana, its really getting rave reviews from the likes of Christian Barker AKA The Chav professor, also now known as ''Banana Man'' to folk in the know


Forgot to add, Chris' products are natural
Also, try one of my all time favorites, Corn steep liquor (CSL) in your groundbait and on your corn/maggots, cheap, natural and very, very effective

---------- Post added at 09:35 ---------- Previous post was at 08:17 ----------

tiinker said:

The only additive that goes into my tench groundbait is dried Dutch pigs blood that I get from a sausage supplier I mix this with rusk and pearl barley and hemp that has been in soak in a blood solution for 24 hours at least. This I use for pre-baiting with a small amount of my hook bait. It works for me . When I am fishing I just use hemp and a few free offerings of hook bait. If pre-baiting stop pre-baiting the swim at least 48 hours before you intend to fish. In this way hopefully our green friends will be waiting and hungry for our bait.

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You should add onions and seasoning, make into a sausage shape, cut into slices and fry until it starts going crispy on the outside.

cg74 said:

You should add onions and seasoning, make into a sausage shape, cut into slices and fry until it starts going crispy on the outside.

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I use black pudding as bait in the early season I also cube it a fry it to make it a bit harder but the fish seem to prefer it as it comes. It is quite cheap I get about 48 cubes per four 10mm slices £I-25 in Asda. Roberts brand, and of course if I do not catch in a morning session I take it home and have it with a couple of rashers in a nice fresh roll