Making Homemade Carp Fishing Baits Flavours And Sweeteners!
Flavours are often used conventionally as a ‘label to differentiate your bait from others, perhaps even on a similar base mix. The orthodox thinking of most anglers on ‘the bank is that flavours effect your bait pretty much solely by making it smell good Perhaps in a fruity, fishy, sweet or other appetising way. True, flavours can do this and at least this is how we as humans experience many flavours.
Many of the flavours which have stood the test of time in an increasingly competitive carp fishing market are feeding triggers of extraordinary dimensions. They can stimulate a search and feed response from various ranges in the water and impact on multiple carp senses and responses simultaneously. My personal opinion is that this is the whole point of a bait anyway.
Most flavours can catch carp very effectively even if only for limited periods when used directly as a neat soak. Although the very much less water soluble propylene glycol flavours have been very much used in the UK, being a cheaper alternative, their use is now far less prevalent. In the States and many parts of the world, propylene flavours and those supermarket cooking flavours based on acetic acid are used by the majority of anglers to good effect still.
However, the fully water soluble alcohol and glycerol flavour, for example are much more popular in the UK for pressured carp water fishing. Many Americans will mention the still popular ‘supermarket flavours as part of their homemade bait recipes. This goes for even those fishing competitively in pay lake tournaments; although many are learning there are much superior options available.
Almost invariably the 2 most commonly used cheap supermarket flavours seem to be Strawberry and vanilla, but chocolate and coffee are also popular along with other fruity ones. It might be a surprise that many Americans use ‘Cola or ‘Red Bull or ‘Cream Soda, or ‘Cool Aid to flavour carp baits in dough or boilie baits. Flavours are most often complex combinations of quite volatile ingredients.
Anglers have been able to achieve good results on many such alternatives from ‘Slush Puppy flavour, milk shakes, ice cream flavours and melted ice cream. I think at the last count the ‘MacDonalds strawberry flavour formula had approaching 30 different components. Everyday drinks make ideal flavours for many wide and deeply scientific reasons. From ‘vodka, ‘Tia Maria, whiskey, brand, liquors, condensed milk, coconut milk, in fact many nut and seed milks, like sesame seed ‘Tahini. Yeast extract and peanut butter blend with other ingredients and make great flavours; these 2 examples will enhance your baits taste and ‘palatability effects too.
In solution, kelp and seaweeds powders for example, add taste enhancing factors and very carp attractive minerals and certain important vitamins. There are many sugary concentrates that carp love and sugar extracts from various industrial processes and bye-products. Adding these gives a very attractive ‘difference to using simply straight liquid flavours.
For example, malt extract maltose, lactose, and fructose. Liquorice extract is another very sweet alternative if you are trying to avoid the usual use of the more commonly used sweeteners from fishing bait suppliers and supermarket ones like sodium saccharin, ‘Splenda and the like. You can make up your own sweeteners and flavours etc by all kinds of means starting from simply mixing 2 substances together. Of course you can be as creative as you like becuse you are aiming to stimulate carp receptors not human ones.
Once you have observed carp consuming duck or goose excrement your idea of what is attractive to carp has got to change. All those adverts pointing out the flavorist lingo of top notes and subtle tones, rich deep profiles etc of a pineapple or strawberry flavour are not particularly helpful and really intended to sell the bait to you.
