Sweet ingredients in baits have always been successful, but what are the reasons for this, and how can you exploit these to catch more carp?
The addition of concentrated sweeteners has a noticeable improvement on bites over unsweetened ones. Baits with taste enhancers like sweet or milk ones that promote the effects of milk sugars in your baits also seem more productive but then this is not surprising; carp palatial receptors have proven feed stimulatory in laboratory tests by scientists in Japan. Not only this, but sugars can be utilised for energy like humans carp having insulin. Very sugary baits are very effective and I've used such sticky baits and pastes with great effect and such baits are 'instant' without artificail flavours etc.
On the subject of sugars, carp feed very much on aquatic plants and these provide a very important part of the natural diet, in digestible cellulose; for soluble fibre and energy providing sugars.
Carp also feed on the most often abundant snails, mussels, shrimps and aquatic insects etc. These apart from their protein fat and mineral rich soft part have shells. Now is the really interesting part. If you add crushed shells to your baits, like cockles, mussels, prawn shells, you will open up the texture of your bait releasing amino acids faster.
But this also adds the 'chitin' content of the bait; a massively underestimated and naturally vital dietary component. When digested by acids this bimolecular polysaccharide supports many vital functions, process and structures in carp, from strengthening the immune system to maintaining a healthy and balanced liver function, to skeletal structural growth and repair. One clue is that chitin contains nitrogen; a building block of protein.
CHITIN and CELLULOSE are the two most abundant bimolecular molecules on the planet and these both being polysaccharides, might explain carps' attraction / or 'confused attraction' for sweeteners and sugars; e.g. monosaccharides etc. Glucose, honey, brown sugar, molasses, fructose, saccharin etc are proven carp attractors.
Carp can produce insulin in fat cells, and therefore can derive energy from sugars, so hard shells ingested do have a beneficial role, quite apart from just changing the texture of your bait. Bacteria release specific enzymes that release components of chitin to the benefit of the fish. In fact, complete digestion of food (most especially the protein foods consumed) would be impossible. Carp have such a short digestive tract, they need all the help they can get!
A simple addition, like a teaspoon of turmeric, paprika, other red peppers, fresh ground black or white pepper, or crushed garlic, for example, make great, proven, naturally derived stimulator attractors. They can trigger carp feeding response and digestion, especially of proteins.
It is not the odor or smell or flavour of these (like garlic) that necessarily has a stimulatory effect, but the effect active components in these ingredients have on the carps’ sensory systems, nervous system, and on various vital processes within the carps body. (Many are associated with chemical reactions providing energy.)
The red / hot peppers are exceptionally effective additives as they trigger the protein feeding response in carp, for example through triggering the electro-neuron receptors along the lateral line of carp; from a great distance in the water! This will motivate the fish to travel towards its source! (Your bait!)
Very many natural plant extracts, of the leaves, stems, roots, seeds, beans, berries, rhizome, etc, make amazing carp attractors. They contain substances that have powerful effects on a carp’s body in tiny amounts. Like drugs, there are always effective, new totally natural carp attractors waiting to be discovered, and there are many that are known to be very effective in carp baits, but are not very well known at all!
Most of these extracts when used as bait ingredients, give the carp a biological, nutritional or physiological reward for eating it too! Interestingly, many of these extracts are already used in tiny doses, to promote health and well-being in pet and bird foods. Your homemade baits whether, dough baits, packbaits, boilies, pellets or even dips, will definitely have a great ‘edge’ with a little bit of ‘sugar and spice!’
The author has many more fishing and bait edges up his sleeve. Every single one can have a huge impact on catches.
By Tim Richardson.
Source: http://www.ArticlePros.com/author.php?Tim Richardson
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