Improving Homemade Winter Carp Baits Made From Cheap Soya And Semolina!

The famous carp fishing bait mix of soya and semolina is undoubtedly the easiest bait to improve in roughly a million ways! So for winter why not make your own potent pastes, pellets or economical homemade boilies with a big difference in attraction and stimulation properties that will make your fish far more likely to take your baits?! Here are just a few ideas of additives, liquids, ingredients and combinations to make things much more interesting for your fish and improve your catches big-time!

Firstly, very importantly in cold conditions, almost anything that improves digestion is of value. One more unusual natural additive called keramine has an outstanding free amino profile and is about 80 percent protein. Spirulina helps support the immune system like yeast for instance and both are well proven in low temperatures.

When using a soya and semolina boilie mix 2 why not try a 25 percent inclusion of mix brewers yeast powder. An outstanding additive for winter baits is soluble liver extract. Various milk products have also been in favour for years and years including the much more economical Lamlac, Vitamealo, and skimmed milk powders.

Molassed insect food comes under various names. It is excellent stuff and contains not only betaine but just the kind of amino acids that both attract carp and trigger enthusiastic intensive feeding! Carp bait is not merely about protein content but also about unique feeding experiences for your fish; so why not use it in your pastes, pellets, boilie mixes and ground baits of all kinds!

Egg biscuit is an ingredient that is much used all year round, but winter is an excellent time to exploit it for many reasons and it really helps baits release their attraction fast. Here is a trick I use with many ingredients of various kinds but why not try it with egg biscuit? Why not try gradually pre-soaking it in a little liquid Belachan or liquid mussel or maggot juice for instance, before adding it to your cold water mixes!

Sweeteners have always proved their worth especially in low temperatures. Why not be a little different and try dextrose and glucose for example with highly antioxidant Manuka Honey packed with active enzymes. All these sweeteners are highly soluble and help hydrate your baits and improve their performance. Sugars are addictive, mimic natural sucrose carp find naturally within aquatic based plants and provide instant energy boosts which obviously can improve carp metabolism in the cold and improve your chances of catching! Incidentally, using honey flavour with Scopex or maple flavours for example, makes things a little different to the usual for Mr Carp!

Now I am going to say something pretty profound about sweeteners and carp and metabolism and protein conversion as all these and more are very pertinent to cold water baits! For millennia carp have swum beneath bushes and tress of all kinds which have dropped their fruits into the water. Fruits contain seeds and fruits contain very nice packages of sugars as rewards to make any passing creature eat those fruits and so help disperse the seeds within the fruits. Those packages of fruit offer very many benefits to creatures besides just sugars however. But sugars represent an instant hit of energy and instant gratification and both of these factors are very important in regards to sweetened baits too!

Very many fruits are known to contain all kinds of properties which help and assist digestion. In western culture it has become normal to eat something sweet and fruity after eating a protein meal but priming your system with fruit before the proteins makes for more energy-efficient conditions for proteins to be digested. Obviously carp are opportunistic feeders - they have to be. In autumn it is natural for carp to binge on protein foods to create enough stores of energy before the winter when their metabolisms are far less able to convert (especially proteinous food) into energy.

Acai berry is now being hailed as the biggest thing yet in the worlds of fat-burning for slimmers and weight loss (come on give me break - what a joke.) Conversely in the body-building world acai berry products are being extremely heavily promoted for losing excess fat. Many impressionable vain people dream of building big muscles and look very toned with very little body fat, (or to use that crap American expression - ripped.) Acai is just another gimmick metabolism booster type product and just part of a much bigger formula of success required that you will need to tailor to your own desires, lifestyle and body etc!

Frankly you are more than likely to be ripped off if you are seduced into using such products because once you start you have to keep buying the stuff to maintain any effects. Is acai genuine value for money in the long run when so many other more economical options are available?! All the way through until today at 45, I can get a six-pack back within 3 weeks just doing 60 straight leg lifts, 100 sit-ups and 100 press-ups a day. I split those amounts so I do half of them in the morning and half in the afternoon and in all it takes less than half an hour total.

This exercise is something anyone can do, although doing around 3 miles a day of aerobic exercise to boost your metabolism and fat-burning etc, plus being realistic and building up your sets gradually over time will help encourage you to make your goals if you are a beginner trying to get ripped! I have always found that having a decent 6 pack is great if you are a martial artist because your power, speed and balance etc are improved. But while I was working as a landscaper, garden designer and watering system designer and installer for 16 years, being very fit was essential for the job anyway! Do beware that fitness is a very relative thing and that developing a superficial 6 pack will not necessarily indicate that your overall health is great!

The truth is your internal health is far more important than your looks because your internal health supports your internal balance and vitality while your outward looks are a lot less important in supporting your vanity for example! If muscles were everything that mattered in a men masculine warrior then Shaolin warrior monks would be building huge muscles and eats loads of proteins. But traditionally, their staple rice food is of a form specially chosen for the kind of muscle it produces. Even the monks I have met who have studied at the Shaolin Temple in China for over 30 years do not look like body-builders but more like Olympic gymnasts!

To stay in shape and healthy I do not take any special proteins or metabolism boosters although I have in the past 30 years tried loads of things related to fishing baits! Now I have pretty much totally cut wheat, refined sugars and saturated fats out of my diet. (Doing this is very tricky!) I am very particular about what the food I eat, exactly what it does internally and its actual biological and physiological and psychological values to me as an individual.

I rarely drink sugared drinks like beer or Coke etc although I drink red wine, and I avoid coffee, chocolate and gluten products and soya products. Beer is good for developing yeast infections and diabetes and the hops in it affect the body in terms of a glutamic acid dump and feel good hormone release in similar ways to cocaine. You can get an even better high without the downs from great food - especially super foods! Try a (lactose free) hemp seed bar and see how that feels! Raw vegetables and fruit give loads of bioactive substances carp really respond to internally

I aim to drink 2 to3 litres of water a day so my body is always hydrated and less stressed out and is able to detoxify itself much better - which is vital! Drinking lots of water is ital in building muscles too of course - which is partly where creatine comes in although you do not really need it anyway!) I also avoid having over about 3 eggs a week as over-doing eggs definitely clogs up your system and affects digestion of other foods! Well over half the battle of staying in good shape is doing it from inside out with a healthy diet (and not simply popping pills and protein powders and doing exercise.

Most of the impacts of fat-burners and metabolic stimulants are dependant upon your own bodys unique capacity and ability to build and maintain muscle, your unique DNA, diet and personal rate of metabolism (which is different in each individual,) and your exact exercise regime plus other factors. If you maintain more muscle you will be helping raise your natural metabolism level which of course makes things that much easier to start with!

A very big point about stored fat is if you are consuming more carbohydrate and sugar than you burn off you will convert these into fat - which will obviously not make you look toned so studying packets to check not just for saturated fats, but carbohydrates and sugars is very productive. Although protein powders with sugars are OK you need to make sure you do enough exercise to burn off that sugar or it will become fat! Although special exercises to burn fat in particular areas of the body can be used, unless your intake of carbohydrates and sugars is reduced enough, no amount of acai berry or avoiding fatty foods will help if you have problems getting toned if your diet is out of balance with your activities and general lifestyle need for calories!

If a study of super foods that can be utilised in carp baits and even used to improve your personal health and fitness is the result of this article then I will be very pleased and if you really get the point after feeling and experiencing the benefits then you will soon be telling others people about them too (and so on the message goes!)

People (just like carp,) are all individuals and this fact is something which most carp fishing bait writers seem to ignore almost completely! We are all genetically unique because that is how fish and humans evolve and adapt in order to survive. Even crocodiles (which existed even before dinosaurs hit the scene) have changed over time if only in small ways, but some individuals reach incredible sizes such as the giant 30 foot long monster documented in Africa.

At times when natural prey has been scarce, it is only logical that an old giant of that size will have actually consumed more people than any other known crocodile because his need for protein is higher than that of his smaller mere 15 feet long brethren! In this respect you can see how bigger carp can often be vulnerable to capture at certain times simply because of their need to consume more proteinous food! (The problem of course is that the majority of anglers seem to want to catch such large wary fish using very conventional baits, tackle and tactics that such fish have experienced before which is why being different in your thinking and subsequent actions is such an advantage!)

I naturally have a high metabolism which means I find it difficult to store fat because I burn it faster than most people. If I build up more muscle mass it simply increases this effect and this makes it very difficult for people of my body type to put weight on in muscle or fat. Here is a tip; cod liver oil is effective for fat-burning in humans and it has many very interesting properties and characteristics that make it ideal for carp in moderation. One reason hemp oil is effective in winter apart from its viscosity and more commonly known properties, is that it lowers blood cholesterol; thus speeding up metabolism!

Although most carp anglers like to see big carp, building fat in carp is most definitely not healthy! All too often, big carp that have been fed high volumes of high oil boilies and pellets have enlarged livers sticking out like ugly belly lumps and I hate to experience catching big fish like this (which are basically sick!) If you must use high oil pellets (like a sheep) just remember to soak them in hemp oil or some other substance that will help lower carp cholesterol levels and boost liver function for instance. Pellets soaked in bulk fish and marine oils such as halibut oil should only be used in the summer months when carp are able to most fully metabolise such oils so the majority of it gets burned for energy (and not stored unhealthily!)

The incredibly dumb mass use of high oil pellets outside of the highest water temperatures of summer (when carp metabolism and digestion rates are highest,) creates excessive fat stores in all too many carp. This fat is not simply lining their bellies but their vital internal organs and impacting on their metabolism too and is all simply excessive baggage and stress on their systems and organs. Do you want a winter carp that is feeding or one that has no need to eat at all for 5 months of the year because it contains so much stored fat?!

Building muscle in some people is very easy due to their genetic inheritance, and some fish will put on much more body mass than others on the same diet and volume intake of protein based food as their fellow fish. Some of the smaller leaner fish in your lake may well be twice or three times as old as their much fatter heavier brethren; so why not value them all the same!

Fish weight gain and personal best fish such as new forties or fifties are becoming more and more meaningless measures of fishing success as often the biggest fish may be easier to catch than their smaller brothers. After all big fish have a higher need for protein-rich food and are particularly vulnerable to fishing baits in the autumn and spring time when temperatures suddenly rise and oxygen saturation is elevated. This stimulates their metabolisms and gives them a more energy-efficient window in which to feed and digest proteinous foods essential to meet their basic nutritional requirements!

(Note: Rich waters with low stocks of carp mean that successful baits do not necessarily need to contain the proportions of protein that fish in highly stocked waters will better respond to!)

Other variable factors about putting on body mass gains, losing weight or building muscle include the frequency you eat compared to the frequency you exercise (and rest), how you combine your foods and supplements, your lifestyle and job, how much water you drink etc. Although acai berry has higher levels of anthocyanins than cranberries or blueberries for instance it is very likely if you eat fresh strawberries, grapes, blackberries, blueberries, cranberries, stimulating teas, nettle, spices, fresh herbs and other stimulants and so on, you will be stimulating your metabolism and burning fat without the need for special acai products that are ten times the price (or more.) The same can be said about eating protein bars and protein powders when you could be eating cheap white meat like turkey and chicken instead of protein powders at 20 pounds a kilogram!

Similarly, you are well advised to start using very economical poultry protein instead of many other fish and expensive milk protein powders because it has come to represent an incredible value for money high quality protein source that is being used very successfully to replace fishmeals and other protein ingredients in aquaculture.

In winter things like the additive Robin Red, capsicums, chillies, red peppers and paprika etc get loads of attention. Why not be different?! Few anglers use coarsely crushed black pepper in their mixes. This is a great additive for winter fishing as it is an excellent general metabolic (including digestive) stimulant. I have used ordinary black pepper powder for decades in cold water baits even back in the seventies in bread and yeast based ground baits.

Aniseed oil is another metabolic stimulant you can combine with fruit oils for instance to create something a little different!

Try using both the liquid and dry powdered forms of various ingredients and additves to extend and improve leakage and overall bait performance (for example liquid liver and liver powders.) If you are used to making cheap baits with just semolina and soya flour or corn flour and soya meal for instance adding just a sweetener and a flavour try these: liquid yeast, liquid liver or original Minamino liquid. Liquid proteins are an incredible addition to bait performance and there is an enormous number of them available (some being far more effective than others!) Some are so watered down with other liquids they severely lose their effectiveness so beware. Most usually the most concentrated cost the most but represent the best value for money in terms of catch results.

A very effective additive is PPC liquid (it contains phosphorylcolamine.) A very conventional method of using it is to mix it with Minamino in equal measures. Incidentally, if you were wondering how it might be that certain natural substances that plants and some flies and aquatic creatures produce luminescence or fluorescence, here is just one method. For instance, some forms of protein can be in a liquid crystal stage which just like computer and watch displays produce light. I believe that certain fluorescent liquid bait dips available contain such proteins while others are designed to reflect ambient light of a particular spectrum bandwidth. Obviously these things can help carp find your bait by sight.

Homemade garlic puree is a great additive; try it with blue cheese powder or crumbled blue cheese or other strong mature cheeses (which obviously have plenty of bacterial activity!) Garlic contains the prebiotic inulin and I believe this also indirectly helps protein metabolism.

At a time when Robin Red is so over-used why not be different? A more unusual spice and herb combination to use is fresh and dried coriander and basil. These are effective yet much over-looked! Why not try basil essential oil; is extremely potent so you only need a few drops!

Why not try making and using fresh raspberry puree and banana puree. Obviously raspberry is a proven flavour and so of course is banana. The high levels of natural antioxidant anthocyanins (like those in strawberries etc) add to the impact of natural raspberry flavour. Additionally, real banana delivers lots more than just organic acids etc for flavouring and taste and so on Banana contains inulin which is a very effective prebiotic.

For free baits, contrary to conventional popular belief, breadcrumbs are very good. Breadcrumbs have suffered much from idiotic snobbery over the years yet many of the early carp baits and so-called special baits many of us used to great effect were bound with bread crumbs. Today bread crumbs appear in so many stick mixes, method mixes and ground baits for carp it simply makes no sense at all to be snobbish about bread; it is only one of the most enduring carp baits in history and in winter I have found bread used on its own or in combination in many ways and forms to be a genuine winner!

Look for the bird food called CLO with added cod liver oil; and add some liquid lecithins to your baits. (See my good friend Phil at CW Baits for premium grade high PC liquid lecithins which I have found to be an excellent additive and feeding trigger!)

If making long-term biologically nutritionally valuable baits is your thing, perhaps include citricidal in your autumn, winter and spring mix. Citricidal is grapefruit seed extract and I have it on very good authority it may well turn out to be the most potent antimicrobial substance yet discovered!

Here is a more conventional idea: Why not try crushed mixed nuts instead of just crushed tiger nut meal or peanut meal for instance. Also if you are looking for something a little different maybe try leak on almond essential oil at around 1 to 6 drops per 6 eggs. This is not a very popular oil (yet) simply because it has not been made fashionable in the press!

Clove essential oil is a popular essential oil most used in the autumn, winter and spring time in low temperatures. But why not cut it using eucalyptus oil - this is personal method I have used to very good effect and one that I never heard of anyone else using! (Try about 12 to 30 drops total per 6 eggs.)

If you still insist on using fish meals in winter ensure they are of the low oil kind and have as high a digestibility as you can get! At this time CC Moore for example still supply low temperature fish meal (with a 94 percent digestibility.) Unfortunately due to over-fishing this and other fish meals will not always be available; so do look for sustainable protein alternatives now!

When using fish meal why not try adding liquid lecithins alongside asafoetida essential oil! Try about 30 millilitres of liquid lecithins with about 10 drops of this essential oil per 6 eggs in a boilie mix or simply add it to your ground baits in any other way you fancy; it is very unusual!

In low temperatures in particular bait leakage is very important and carrier ingredients that are intrinsically attractive to carp are invaluable. (Have you really noticed just how much liquid CSL bread can carry for instance?!) There are loads more substances with much more power I could go into further to help you to improve your catches. (For much more valuable information on making homemade baits and boosting and adapting readymade baits of all kinds see my unique bait secrets ebooks and articles at Baitbigfish right now!)

By Tim Richardson.

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