The active ingredient in bananas - more attractive than salt!

Lets talk Ape and go Banana's over narna's, the one you peel the skin off and eat (not the synthetic stuff anglers think smells of bananas) has a good reputation of being natural and good for you.

Hey if monkeys like them then all creatures will find them good to eat - including fish!

Forget for a minute about all the scientific stuff of why certain fish prefer this or that and all that stuff and think; what is it that makes bananas (narna's) so good?

Maybe its the yellow colour...? hardly considering the flesh of bananas ain't yellow their sort of off-whitish and will turn brown when oxidised (whoops that's too heavy), okay - they turn brown when the air gets to them and they ripen!

For those who are more predispositioned to understand these things, it might be of interest to know the results of our recent test on bananas - the favourite fruit for monkeys and fish... want a revelation?
Well, we all know (or at least most anglers know) that salt (sodium chloride) attracts fish right? yeah the stuff you put on your fish and chips.

Well did you know that the potassium in bananas is more attractive than salt?

or to put it another way, for those so inclined to know; "potassium is more electropositive than sodium"!

Something you don't normally get in artificial additives and bait, just ask banana man... Chav Christian Barker.

Great thread Chris

I will vouch for the effectiveness of Banana SAC Juice, It works, infact Im off this evening to bag up on the stuff AGAIN!

Sooo should I be mashing em up like baby food and mixing them in method mix... or something? Hair rigging a slice like in angling books of old???

Mmmmm, food for thought (see what I did there).

I wonder whether it would be worth trying Lo Salt, which is potassium based, as an additive?

Paul Morley said:

should I be mashing em up like baby food and mixing them in method mix... or something? Hair rigging a slice like in angling books of old?

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How about mashing it up and using it as a paste? I dunno how soluble it is.

A couple of banana thoughts.
Banana was the flavour of bait used to catch the big carp from Billing Aquadrome before there were carp everywhere.

Someone just mentioned that the artificial banana flavour you buy from tackle shops doesn't smell like banana. Well it does exactly....but GREEN UNRIPENED bananas! Exactly the same flavour that banana split ice cream comes in and that most people assume is nothing like real banana!

To sample the difference try putting GREEN bananas on the barby to finish as a pudding. Split open after a short cook when soft and brown and squirt liberally with aerosol cream. Preferably brandy flavour. Heavenly!!!!!

john step said:

A couple of banana thoughts.
Banana was the flavour of bait used to catch the big carp from Billing Aquadrome before there were carp everywhere.

Someone just mentioned that the artificial banana flavour you buy from tackle shops doesn't smell like banana. Well it does exactly....but GREEN UNRIPENED bananas! Exactly the same flavour that banana split ice cream comes in and that most people assume is nothing like real banana!

To sample the difference try putting GREEN bananas on the barby to finish as a pudding. Split open after a short cook when soft and brown and squirt liberally with aerosol cream. Preferably brandy flavour. Heavenly!!!!!

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That's similar to the question I have about 'nanas.

For my part I think that there is probably a crucial stage in the ripening process when sugars start to develop hence the sweeter taste of ripened fruit. I have a theory, nothing proven mind, that fish are more attracted to sugars then proteins in some cases.

As for aerosol cream;- you're on your own there old fruit uke:

john step said:

A couple of banana thoughts.
Banana was the flavour of bait used to catch the big carp from Billing Aquadrome before there were carp everywhere.

Someone just mentioned that the artificial banana flavour you buy from tackle shops doesn't smell like banana. Well it does exactly....but GREEN UNRIPENED bananas! Exactly the same flavour that banana split ice cream comes in and that most people assume is nothing like real banana!

To sample the difference try putting GREEN bananas on the barby to finish as a pudding. Split open after a short cook when soft and brown and squirt liberally with aerosol cream. Preferably brandy flavour. Heavenly!!!!!

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Well John, if they taste anything like the deep fried Bananas that I once accidentally chose in the all you can eat Chinese in Preston (A Great place by the way!) then you can keep them! mg:

You ate in an 'all you can eat' restaurant? And he's me thinking you were all a la carte and above that sort of thing. I suppose people's standards do slip from time to time. We all fancy a bit of rough occasionally.

Strange bait, bananas. For a start off not all bananas sink if you throw lumps of them into the water BUT some pieces do, and that's from the same banana!!

I have caught a very small number of carp on a 10mm slice, but then cut in half, and this hair rigged. What I haven't worked out is if a larger piece might lift off the bottom (IF it floats on the surface!) but either way it would lay quite nicely on top of soft bottom weed and with a reasonable smell and colour.....well, who knows ......

I suppose it warrants a proper trial in some respects with fruit of differing age to see if the older, sweeter jobbies work better and let's face it, for the cost of a couple of bananas for a days fishing it might just be worth the effort................if you're bored!!

Ray Roberts said:

Mmmmm, food for thought (see what I did there).

I wonder whether it would be worth trying Lo Salt, which is potassium based, as an additive?

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Interesting, i have a tendency to use frozen sweetcorn, defrosted in a chinky tub, liberally sprinkled with salt and sugar while still frozen. The wife started buying lo-salt last year sometime, and catch rates did go up. I thought i was just getting better, but thinking about it, i'm probably not.

The trouble with lab test tanks and theories; they don't always translate well on the bank, at best you can only test certain responses introducing various ingredients via the filtration in a 6ft x 4ft x 4ft swim. In a real situation if your swims full of fish and they're really 'avin it' - they will probably take anything that looks edible like a bit of banana skin for example?

Feeding lumps of banana on the hook has never worked well in my experience. Adding banana to your feed as an additive in groundbaits or as a mash may be better but it will probably take time to work.
I believe this is due to the fibrous make-up and insoluble ingredients present, having tested this 'theory' compared when using banana 'maggot shapes' with tiny slivers of skin as hook bait made little difference.

I'm of the opinion that solubility (and time needed to become soluble) is the key to attraction, that 'washed out look' has little to do with appearance more to do with solubility Imo. Solubility certainly plays a part in stimulation because fish have the innate ability (all fish to varying degrees) to detect ions in the water that excites their olfactory senses. However from a visual point of view; they are more likely to trust their own instinct once feeding confidently anyway and a stimulatory attraction (unless negative) seems to make little difference.

Many things are attractive to fish and some are not, some are even repulsive.

Salt has always been regarded as being attractive to fish and recommended as a good additive for our baits.
I proposed last year on this very forum suggesting that all minerals have a role to play in attraction - not just the sodium in salt which is made of two components sodium + chloride.
Chloride bound to sodium has a neutral aspect and in solution; chlorine negative and sodium positive will more or less cancel one another out (NaCl, representing equal proportions of sodium and chlorine). Its only when they are in solution (water) that they can be detected by fish. Anyone understanding the chemistry will confirm this.

Potassium (the key component of banana) is more electropositive than sodium. Even so, because its 'bound' within the banana and not in the solute its therefore not solvated (dissolved in the water) - its macro and far two big a molecule to excite and attract.

In this regard; extracts made from a real food item (particularly Glycerite - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia made without alcohol) are full of nutritious soluble and solvated components. Its essentially why they're so more potent compared to the real whole fruit/food. An extract of banana will contain potassium and everything that is attractive to fish - more so than the banana itself.


If anyone's more confused than ever then your probably not alone, fishing is after all just a pleasurable day out for most and apologise for spoiling your fun!

mark brailsford 2 said:

Great thread Chris

I will vouch for the effectiveness of Banana SAC Juice, It works, infact Im off this evening to bag up on the stuff AGAIN!

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Good stuff Mark, our natural Glycerites (all our fruit SAC juice) - dont blow your nose off and they don't spook fish! Banana SAC juice is a Glycerite extract and contains natural levels of potassium citrate and other soluble ingredients.

Ray Roberts said:

Mmmmm, food for thought (see what I did there).

I wonder whether it would be worth trying Lo Salt, which is potassium based, as an additive?

Click to expand...

I think Lo Salt contains potassium chloride? and 30%+ salt to counter its weak, unsalty flavour and thaumatin added to reduce bitterness.
Potassium citrate (the potassium naturally found in fruits and vegetables) is probably better/safer than potassium chloride found in lo salt.
Thinking about it, isn't potassium chloride also used in heart surgery and lethal injection to stop the heart? Something I will look into...

john step said:

A couple of banana thoughts.
Banana was the flavour of bait used to catch the big carp from Billing Aquadrome before there were carp everywhere.

Someone just mentioned that the artificial banana flavour you buy from tackle shops doesn't smell like banana. Well it does exactly....but GREEN UNRIPENED bananas! Exactly the same flavour that banana split ice cream comes in and that most people assume is nothing like real banana!

To sample the difference try putting GREEN bananas on the barby to finish as a pudding. Split open after a short cook when soft and brown and squirt liberally with aerosol cream. Preferably brandy flavour. Heavenly!!!!!

Click to expand...

Unfortunately not "exactly" John. Artificial "banana flavour", typically is made from a chemical used as a nail polish remover: ISOAMYL ALCOHOL and is reacted with concentrated battery acid (sulphuric acid) to make it smell of banana (known as banana oil) - its never seen banana in its life. Its also artificially coloured to attract and catch... you know who!
Would you still buy it if it wasn't yellow and didn't blow your nose off?

nicepix said:

That's similar to the question I have about 'nanas.

For my part I think that there is probably a crucial stage in the ripening process when sugars start to develop hence the sweeter taste of ripened fruit. I have a theory, nothing proven mind, that fish are more attracted to sugars then proteins in some cases.

As for aerosol cream;- you're on your own there old fruit uke:

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I tend to agree Clive, fish are attracted more to sugar due to its solubility than to some proteins except when that protein has been cleaved and is an amino acid. (Proteolysis).

Mr Cholmondeley-Corker (PaSC) said:

We all fancy a bit of rough occasionally.

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That's what my wife said all those years ago Matt!

I read somewhere that bananas are the most complete natural food in the world. IE, if you only ate bananas you would survive longer than on any other single natural food. They contain almost everything to sustain life except from some proteins which eventually you will die from lack off but, you will stay alive for a long time. You might have trouble with your toilet duties though. Anyone like to try this to prove me wrong, I would be interested to know how you get on. Just keep posting and when you stop, we will know how long you lasted.

I have tried bananas mixed as a paste with flour or bread. I put one half in the micro wave to heat it up to kill any bacteria and the other half I left natural. By the time I got to the river the unbaked ball had gone completely black. This fished better than the other ball of baked paste and if I remember rightly had a couple of bream on it and then the eels moved in, they absolutely loved it and I hate eels so, that was the end of the experiment. Eel lovers should try it. Banana and bread or flour mixed into a paste and left to go black.

A couple of extraneous banana-related thoughts.

1) Excellent bait (half of a 1/2inch slice on a size 8 hook) when semi-ripe and freelined down shallow, wade-able rapids for the Carnatic Carp of the River Cauvery in South India. Took me a few small mahseer of 1.5 to 9 pounds on the same tackle and in the same water, too.

2) Nesquick Banana flavour drink - Nesquik The powder got put into a lot of carp baits in the late 1960s and 1970s. When I was at school during the the second half of the '60s and with Farnham A.S.'s then ultra-cult Cut Mill Pond just a few miles away, I used to cycle and fish the lake on many a summer's weekend day / weekday early evening. I had a couple of then very nice fish from the lake (18.25 and 9) after a lot of effort on non-Nesquick baits. Remember that some of the seemingly permanently oilcloth-tarped and encamped hard core fishers on the lake used to fairly pong of banana.

We used to use Nesquick banana flavoured paste at Billing in the 60’s and then changed to Angel delight in the 70’s. Not sure if it worked any better but most of the carp we took (and one or two carp in a session was a very good session) were on unflavoured or honey flavoured bread....................

When I was a young lad I watched a guy at Teignmouth, who turned out to be a Swedish seaman have some nice mullet on small cubes of banana. He said he had fished all around the world and most species of mullet would take bread or banana, he said that he thought it was the slimy texture that did the trick, maybe not.

No comments regarding Swedish seamen please, I wasn't that sort of boy.

Ray Roberts said:

No comments regarding Swedish seamen please, I wasn't that sort of boy.

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It would have made a great line for Kenneth Williams in Round the Horn though Ray.

nicepix said:

It would have made a great line for Kenneth Williams in Round the Horn though Ray.

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Yep, you wouldn't be sure of the spelling on radio either..........

barbelboi said:

Yep, you wouldn't be sure of the spelling on radio either..........

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And what about Captain Pugwash?

"Have you seen any Swedish Seamen, Staines?" "I've seen one." Roger the Cabin Boy said. "Made an awful mess on his poop deck."