Carping on 4 

By Gary Webb

HOMEMADE BAITS

As I have stated before most items can now be bought readymade from the tackle dealer this includes hooklinks, rigs and of course boilies. For those out there who like to be different and put their own personal stamp on things this months article will explain how to make your own bait. This subject however does carry some element of danger from (her in doors) as depending on the flavours you are going use this can result in the whole house smelling either of strawberry fields or at the other end of the scale the hold of a smelly trawler. This I can ensure you does not go down too well and is normally a recipe for some form of confrontation. Bait ingredients can either be purchased as individual items most of which will be fine powders. Some of the most common ingredients used are Casein, which is extracted from raw milk, Lactalbumin, which is derived from the whey of cow's milk, Sodium Caseinate, which is a soluble form of Casein, Wheat Gluten, which is extracted from wheat flour and is a good binding agent. Soya Flour, which comes from ground soya beans, once again a good binding agent and because of its natural oil content it, will assist in the rolling process, Egg Albumin, which is a good binding agent and egg replacer. Other ingredients include Robin Red, Sluis Mynah Food, Sluis Universal, Red Factor, Copellin Meal, White Fish Meal, Kelp Powder, Sardine Meal, Anchovy Meal, Shrimp Meal, Gluten, Cod Levine, Tuna Meal, Semolina, Liver Powder, Pruteen, Meat and Bone Meal, Beef and Hide Meal, Trout Pellets and Hemp. Luckily bait ingredients can be bought pre-mixed from most bait manufactures such as Richworths, Solar, Mainline etc, all that needs adding to these base mixes are eggs, colouring and flavours.

Utensils. The following items will be required to ensure a successful outcome from all your hard work, a set of kitchen scales, mixing bowl, flour sieve, saucepan, plastic bread board as colourings can stain surfaces, whisk, wooden spoon and some method for measuring out liquids.

Step 1: To make a standard 16oz mix firstly weigh out your ingredients and either place in a bag or separate bowl. Six large eggs together with the correct levels of colouring, liquid flavour, enhancer, sweetener and oils are beaten up in the mixing bowl. It is essential to ensure that all ingredients are well blended. Introduce small amounts of the base mix by hand into the beaten eggs and stir slowly using the spoon until eventually a dough like consistency is achieved. Allow the mixture to sit for a few minutes to absorb all the liquid. Unfortunately the next stage requires both hands to knead the mix and if colouring is used this initially stains the skin. Continue to knead the mix until you have achieved a plasticine like consistency, it maybe necessary to add more of the base ingredients however do not make it too dry as this will make rolling the bait harder. A word of warning if you are not going to roll the bait straight away then you must place the ingredients into a freezer type bag to prevent the whole lot drying out.

Step 2: Break off a lump of the required size and roll the bait in the palm of your hands until a round ball is achieved, this process should be repeated until all baits have been rolled. Next checked to see if the baits rolled have started to form a dry skin this is required to stop the baits sticking together during the boiling stage, it maybe necessary to sprinkle a light dusting of the base mix over the baits rolled to ensure they do not stick.

Step 3: Bring a saucepan of water to the boil and place a few of the rolled baits into the sieve, it is important not to try and put too many in at once. Lower the sieve into the boiling water ensuring all baits are immersed and cook for a period of between 1 and 5 minutes depending on hard you want the skin to be. During the cooking stage ensure the water remains boiling at all times.

Step 4: Once the required boiling time has elapsed lift the sieve and shake off any excess water and empty the contents of the sieve onto an absorbent towel to dry. It is at this point that I ensure that none of the baits are touching each other on the towel so that they can dry off completely.

Step 5: Allow the baits to cool down thoroughly and then place into a heavy-duty freezer bag, expel the air and seal. It is a good idea to ensure that the bag is labelled with the base mix, flavour used and the date. This will allow you to use the bait in date order and if necessary make up several different mixes.

Pop-Ups: If you require to make pop-ups there are several methods that can be used, firstly a lump of bait is moulded around either a cork or polystyrene ball and then boiled in the same way. Alternatively the unboiled bait can be placed into a microwave or slowly baked in the oven to make them buoyant. It is advisable to leave any baits that are going to be used as pop-ups until the end as this will prevent them being mixed up with your other baits.

Additional Equipment: As you can well appreciate this process is quite time consuming and if you intend to make up a lot of bait at home then additional items of equipment can be purchased to speed up this procedure. These are a bait gun and rolling table. The bait gun consists of a large plastic tube into which the kneaded bait is placed. This tube is then placed onto the gun, which has a large plunger and spring, as the trigger is squeezed the plunger compresses the bait inside the tube which is then forced out of a predetermined size nozzle into a long sausage shape. The sausage is then placed onto one of the eight channels of the rolling table. The rolling table contains a top and bottom and when placed together form perfect round balls. When all eight channels are filled the top is placed onto the bottom half of the table, after a couple of backward and forward movements of the table top it is removed to reveal perfectly rounded baits which are then boiled in the same manner. Gardner Tackle supplies a large range of different size tables both in bait size and the amount that can be rolled at anyone time.

To summarise there is a vast range of baits available from the major bait companies both shelf life and frozen many of which will have been field tested by reputable anglers. However like everything else in the carp world they do not come cheap. The major advantage of buying bait is convenience and more time can be spent fishing. Making your own is time consuming but it gives you a unique bait that no one else will be on. If you get the mix right and the carp are having it, what better feeling can there be then catching on something you have taken the time and effort to produce yourself. I can ensure you it will not take long for other anglers to try and find out what it is.

Recipes: Listed are a few of the recipes that I have personally used and caught fish, I have included the three main types.