Let's face it Rick, carp angling in this country has to a certain extent become a cult.
You are supposed to have a bivvy, bite alarms, bedchair, fish with boilies and to use bolt rigs, baitrunners and to put your rod in a pod. Things like bivvy slippers, welly wipes, bivvy tables etc etc have become part of "The Game". Such things are part and parcel of "The Game" and the equipment costs a great deal of money. So much money that carp fishing is now an industry. Fortunes can be made at it by the suppliers of the equipment. Carp magazines are funded by advertisers who supply this equipment.
If some enterprising angler were to come up with a simple technique or even bait that would put Benson or Two Tone on the bank quickly and easily, or for example virtually empty one of the going carp fisheries in no time at all, you can bet that the mighty carp equipment empire would do it's damndest to get that bait or technique banned.
Too much in terms of revenue would be at stake.
I'm too old now, but when I look at carp waters where anglers often sit for days, weeks or even months for one bite or even no bites at all, I often think there must be an easier way.
The incredible thing is that a lot of today's carp anglers accept this.
But carp have to feed to stay alive, and some of them must feed big time, and when they do, it can't be so difficult to get them to accept a bait.
Perhaps the approach is all wrong.
I could be wrong in my thinking of course but when I fished seriously for carp, I considered I was doing something very wrong if I, and other friends of mine were not catching several decent sized carp in a session.
I once caught 31 carp in one night, all of them over 20 lbs, and all of them on simple baits like sweetcorn.