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AN INTRODUCTION TO FLAVOUR SUBSTANCES IMPACTS UPON FISH FEEDING AND FISH CATCHES AND USING THESE SUBSTANCES TO EXPLOIT FISH DETECTION SYSTEMS AND NATURAL INSTINCTS FOR MAXIMUM CATCH RESULTS! 

'Ionic' compounds are of great interest to us fishermen in improving the attraction of our baits and ground baits - it's easy! Think of these as if they are composed of bar magnets where the negative and positive poles attract each other and cause them to stick together. They are usually highly soluble in water. Sodium chloride salt and bile salts are pertinent here in regard to carp sensitivities. Ionic liquids ionise the water. Ionization is a very complex subject and applying even a bit of meaningful background information in regards to flavours and so on for example, takes some doing for a non-chemist.. (continued.)

Cations / cationisation: Molecular compounds usually have a lower solubility in water than ionic compounds. Polar solvents examples are alcohols and acetone. (Ionic compounds dissolve readily in polar solvents.)

Obviously foods attraction is not all about protein or other nutritional rewards. Very often, other substances are attractive which have innumerable alternative effects in the carp’s body than those of amino acids for instance. Many can stimulate metabolism in different ways, raise energy levels, general activity and cause a state of excitement, rather like a shot of “Red Bull” rejuvenates late night revellers. By proportionate size the liver in carp in very large and is where glycogen is stored. This is the major store of immediately convertible energy for carp. ADP ATP Krebs cycle, insulin breaks down? (Baits of 30 % sugar can cause carp to go hyperglycaemic –they’re not exactly like humans in regards to sugar processing.)  I’m not the only angler whose caught fish and big ones too using a unique new version of  my bait each time I’ve fished a water and catching better or with certainly no worse results than anglers on popular commercial readymade food baits.

There is much confusion regarding bait for the average angler. For example, much of what has been written in the past about highly nutritional ‘food’ type baits may suggest that these baits are superior to less nutritional baits loaded with additional attractors, stimulators and enhancers etc. On many carp waters it must be the case that many baits whether boilies, pellets, particles or whatever, get eaten in combination during feeding, along with natural food as well. You might then wonder if carp can truly identify the most nutritional food sources among these and eat them in preference to others, being more energy efficient. It’s true that energy economy in regards to bait is a significant factor. However, the fact that so many over-flavoured baits keep catching fish in the face of the modern onslaught of expensive ‘food’ style baits on the same waters shows there is far more to this than meets the eye.

The fact is that you could keep changing the flavour (‘label’) the flavours components, base and even possible ‘bioactive’ components, enhancers, stimulators and sweeteners etc, incorporated into a flavour each time you go fishing to the same water and catch consistently. The argument for ‘instant’ or ‘attractor’ baits use as opposed to that of ‘food’ baits is very compelling, as their results keep coming. The famous ‘Tutti Fruitti’ is a famous example.

One of the unknown variables with attractor baits (and others) is just how many achieve a hooked fish the first time they are found by a fish, while at the same time temporarily producing a repellant effect the second time the same fish approaches the bait. Perhaps after a week a month or whatever period, the bait is again acceptable. Individuals and entire populations of fish in a water may well respond to baits and their flavour levels and concentrations in the same or different ways. It may be that your baits are being eaten after flavours and particular attractors have washed out.

Certain ready made bait mixes and ready made boilies have proven to have surprising effects on carp in tank tests. For example, a fish may immediately consume a boilie displaying high intensity feeding behaviour characteristics the first time it is experienced. However, upon introduction into the tank of a second bait of the same type may only produce the effect of  fish immediately moving to the opposite end of the tank! What can this example tell us?

If your preference is to use popular commercial baits, you might never really know to what extent your baits are ‘blowing’ and becoming repellant. For example, how much exposure to betaine, or corn steep liquor or ‘Robin Red’ (quite apart from any flavours) might it take, before such ingredients might perhaps become ‘warning signals’ as opposed to feeding ones? I’m not alone in having fished a water where the majority of anglers are using commercially produced nutritional food baits working on the ‘long-term’ effects of such baits. But I have found that fishing a new bait each week can produce just as many fish throughout the year if you keep changing to baits and attractors especially more suitable for a particular season or temperature range. Much might depend on your fishing style (innovative or stereotypical) and also things like the confidence you develop in particular baits and also in using different alternative and old ‘re-vamped’ older style baits.

(I have not mentioned particle baits like hemp, or tiger nuts or even sweet corn here, but one of the keys to finding the right consistent fishing formula is being different to the majority and in innovative use of taste substances to alter palatability. Flavours for example can certainly do this; think flavour soaked half-skinned tiger nuts for instance.) It is noticeable that cheap low food value flavoured baits often need substantial amounts of free baits to be introduced in a swim to keep results coming, although conversely, they have well proven themselves when fished as ‘single baits.’ It frequently takes only a handful of highly nutritional food baits to produce satisfactory results and fortunately you can often use far fewer very expensive milk protein based baits for great results compared to bulk use of much cheaper fishmeal ones.

Milk protein baits are definitely much overlooked and milk based baits in summer and paste in winter is under-used. Small quantities really work and if bigger fish are your goal, they are worth using. Having said that, I made a batch up, heated them up in a sealed box over 2 weeks, removing the moisture from them regularly and fished a small fish water on the Isle of Wight while on a holiday trip. The results were just staggering compared to the usual popular baits being used. These baits had no flavours, attractors or enhancers or palatants added at all. Individual extracts have very influential effects. For example, there are various sources, grades, qualities and anatomical origins of many extracts, like squid extract for instance. Some come from the squid mantle, others are composed of particular   squid liver extracts, others from both parts. Some squid extracts are from different species of squid which may have significantly different concentrations and ratios of  essential nutritional substances and key feed stimulatory substances.

For example betaine, amino acids like alanine, arginine, lysine, methionine, valine, inosine-5’-monophosphate, glutamic acid, taurine, amino butyric acid etc. These things add up in giving you an added edge, or a build-up of undesirability, or reduced attraction or palatability or improved long-term biological nutritional value. The freshness and quality of extracts and meal products used in baits commercially and in homemades is often very critical to their success. Your results on any commercial ready made bait may depends on things like, how much bait incorporating any particular ‘squid’ meal version, or extract has already been used and hooked fish previously, apart from the balance of amino acids in the bait, for instance. The same may go for anything from green lip mussel powder to milk derivatives, liver powders, fish powders, shellfish extracts, bird food ingredients etc.

If your bait has a flavour such as crab, salmon, lobster, or mussel, it may be that the level used, or the flavour concentration used or the base of the particular flavour used could be on any part of the range from new and stimulatory to an label established and ‘blowing.’ The lines appear blurred regarding flavours and cheap carbohydrate base mixes and food baits with added flavours. These days often cheaper baits will have an economical attractor which simultaneously raises the food signals and food receptor stimulation released from the bait and the widespread popular use of corn steep liquor, betaine hydrochloride, liquid yeast and so on are highly effective in improving results at less expense.

Modern food baits have hydrolysed or digested or otherwise treated ingredients which really set them apart from a cheap soya flour and semolina bait. These baits stimulate true feeding responses because the amino acids and polypeptides released into the water have great concentrated potency when acting upon carp chemoreception systems of taste, smell and carp are ‘hard-wired’ to eat certain individual and especially certain mixtures of substances like amino acids. These do get mentioned quite a bit in regards carp bait, but things like taste enhancers like nucleotides are also proven feeding triggers among others. (Gravy granules, ‘Bisto’ and many soups and those powdered flavours in pre-packed noodles contain these for example.)

If you have ever tried fishing an easy water by using bread paste with added extras like various flavours, the difference in attraction is obvious. I find using the term ‘flavour’ is slightly misleading and confusing and I’m not the only one! N-butyric acid is termed a flavour as is natural vanilla extract, nature identical strawberry flavour and esters like n-butyric acid and others like it. (Many flavours and components are products of fermentation, esterification etc.) The problem is that many modern flavours have all kinds of substances added which really classify them as not simply additives, but foods in themselves. At what point does a flavour stop being a flavour due to refined marine extracts or free amino acids being used for instance; it’s something to ponder and will help you clarify things for yourself.

You can obviously catch fish on an instant highly flavoured bait despite someone fishing next to you with a balanced amino acid profile high nutritional value bait. One of the biggest reasons baits are made to be nutritional is not just to offer high attraction and stimulation, (exploiting carp’s chemosensory systems very effectively) but added longevity of bait effectiveness. In the days when their were few carp anglers and little bait was applied to carp waters, the nutritional value of baits could make a tremendous difference to results. In various waters over the cause of the seasons and years carp often had nutritional deficiencies which could in effect be exploited, even in so-called rich waters.

It is no surprise that using a bait that did this could out-fish other commonly used baits of the time going back to the 1970’s and eighties in the UK for instance. The fact that carp can be caught on virtually anything at least once shows that simple curiosity is very often a factor in achieving a ‘take.’ (I.e. a piece of black foam as a hook bait, cast to a showing fish for instance, but I’m sure there is still more to this that is presently recognised.) Palatability (taste) of  bait is very important in ensuring it gets eaten as opposed to rejected and this is another benefit of well balanced food type baits oozing tasty amino acids and other stimulants.

The choice is your whether to focus on using expensive food baits or cheaper ones! It seems obvious from the use of even cheap flavours which range in the thousands in their variety and diversity, that many flavours having no nutritional or metabolic value for example, will still catch carp. This is despite many containing compounds which you would not consider helpful if used in human foods and even proven harmful (as in many ‘E’ numbers for instance). Some cheap flavours contain formaldehyde type substances for instance. It’s a fact that many cheap flavours contain preservatives that are repellant to carp, but many catch due to ‘curiosity’ behaviour. Components of flavours have been identified that have proven that bit more stimulatory and far less repellant than others and thankful there are very many excellent proprietary flavours designed by Flavorists and anglers. These flavours often have an enriched taste and smell profile with characteristics such as improved concentration of  attractive components compared to the amount of solvent base used for example and improved viscosity and solubility etc.

Although most anglers relate to solvents as things like acetates (esters) and acetones (ketones etc) solvents used in flavours can be ethyl alcohol or even water. Water solubility in all temperatures is extremely important and a good indicator of this is often the stated volatility of a flavour or flavour components molecules in air. (This is how we smell those potent bottled flavours on the fishing shop shelves for instance.) On many waters, high carbohydrate baits with added flavours go on and on catching and frequently, this often occurs on over-stocked carp waters where bait is a significant part of the diet. But the sometimes at first confusing fact is that many fish in both under-stocked rich waters and those in poorer quality over-stocked waters get caught repeatedly on baits where a synthetically produced flavour is really the most significant form of attraction. (Don’t worry, nature identical flavours, natural flavours and all kinds of combinations in between and many bases etc will be covered later.)

In some ways you can duplicate this effect without using liquid or powdered flavours. Just notice results of fishing white bread flour on the hook compared to using a bait with yeast extract, or blue cheese or parmesan cheese powder, or vanilla powder for example. In fact, my first foray into improving baits when I was about 11 was in adding ‘Marmite’ to bread paste when float fishing for small carp and crucian carp. The improvement in catch results was startling. (Funny how you remember little details like that after decades.) Of course part of  bait success is using something that has not been used before much if at all, but as it turned out by changing the flavour, taste and nutritive attraction of such a simple bait made it a long-term winner in the very early days. In those days, one of the best ground baits I stumbled across was very cheap, this being a big consideration. (Most of my baits were flour or bread based then.)

Mixed brown and white bread crumbs with vanilla flavour foe cake making ‘borrowed’ from the larder really did pull ‘proper carp’ instead of just crucian carp and tench and roach etc into the swim. I did not realise the number of attractants in bread at the time, nor possibly why adding a flavour might be effective, other than making the bread smell nicer. I did notice that I found the taste of such a flavour to be actually unpleasant and bitter tasting. Some flavours are bitter or sour tasting but this does not stop them working, although this also does not indicate all these flavours are your best bet, far from it. You might expect an acidic flavour to taste sharp like that of lemon juice for instance, but this is not the case. ‘Minamino’ is one of the most effective additives in carp bait history, and is sweetened significantly; all those amino acids and sugars prompts me to wonder what the pH of this product actually and how much it has a bearing on its success.

So here we’ve touched on the areas of attraction and stimulation and how these can differ in regards to carp response and on nutritional aspects too. All these will be covered in great detail later. Flavours are an aspect of carp fishing and many other fishing areas that intrigues anglers, I’m guessing because they are an easy and simple way to change a bait and are so stimulatory to us. We often form opinions about which is ‘best.’ Flavours catch fish period. But how many catch more fishermen than fish? Sometimes on certain waters, using ‘no conventional flavour’ is actually the key to success. The idea of a flavour dispersing through the water and attracting fish following its trail and increasing concentration to its source and finding your hook baits, is taken for granted now. Flavours go well past Asda or Wal-Mart vanilla in alcohol and water and even the use of pure nail polish remover, alcohols or that ‘pear drops smelling substance’ if you know what I mean! 

The fact is that exploratory attraction and actual feeding stimulation of your bait can have dramatically different results. You can make a simple low protein bait taste far more palatable by including free amino acid mixtures and catch as effectively as if that bait were a ‘balanced profile food bait.’ The duration of success over day weeks or months may well be different between such baits on any given pressured water. Whether a flavour has been produced naturally by various means like distillation or fractionation from real fruits for example, or using chemical reactions to produce nature identical and synthetic flavours, many produce fish, at least short-term (or maybe only once!) Many flavours are simply not much more than ‘investigation triggers’ and are certainly miles away from true feeding triggers which do actually lead to a bait being passed back to the throat teeth, so giving the high chance of a ‘take’ for us carp anglers.

When fishermen think of fishing bait flavours they often think of the ester, alcohol or other solvent based types which were originally familiar and popularly used in baits. Such flavours as strawberry and vanilla are still used by anglers making their own baits, even today, but things are not simple – components of both these flavours are part of many other flavours too and with various bases... The basic flavour of a bait’s basic constituent ingredients or components is often over-looked and little thought-about. Many times a fishing bait flavour is used purely for the angler to increase his sense of ‘confidence’ when often such an added ingredient to a mix is just not necessary for excellent results.

Often the flavour of the base mix itself is enough of a turn-on for the fish. This must be so and is experienced in the case of baits used where added flavouring has been omitted by mistake and as in the proven effectiveness of leached or washed-out baits. Most anglers do not realise that this effect washes out the base mix flavours too, so rendering your hook-bait much more like free baits. Many pressured fish feed on free baits after a period of  2 to 4 days or more, when they have been leached-out and are then considered very safe. This must be taken into account also!

Flavour components of food are often characterised by their water-soluble components and many of these are mentioned in bait advertisers’ information. For example nucleotides, amino acids, and peptides. But there are others, such as organic acids, organic bases such as betaine, creatine, etc and inorganic ions. Each of these components has at least one of the basic tastes classified as saltiness, sweetness, sourness, bitterness and "umami"(‘basic’ savoury or meaty.) However, the quality of flavor is changed according to the concentration of the components, pH and the way they act upon each other.

Research shows that flavor and water-soluble components of foods based on chemical analysis and taste tests, in vegetable and animal foods are the nucleotides. For example as Disodium Inosinate (IMP), Disodium Guanylate (GMP), Disodium Adenylate (AMP) and Monosodium Glutamate. (MSG is the salt form of the amino acid glutamic acid.) Is it any coincidence that both IMP and MSG intensify the intensity of the taste of amino acids, along with the familiar betaine hydrochloride.

Taste enhancers and nucleotides play a big part in bait making and enhancing of base mixes and flavours in general. These are often over-looked, but can truly make a huge difference in catch results, even if salt is the only one used. Today many flavours are vastly more than combinations of fruit esters for example, combinations that have proven by trial and error to catch more fish than many others tested. Even the powdered flavoured ingredients like those of popularly used milk shake powders contain flavours with many different components both volatile and semi-volatile. Some elements of flavours are not even volatile in air at all, so when we smell them we may not be aware of them at all. Many flavours are more investigation or curiosity triggers than actually ‘feeding triggers’ as such.

Many natural flavours have extremely powerful effects beyond simply ‘taste’ or ‘smell.’ They can contain a huge list of components with all kinds of properties many with potent health and food and energy optimising benefits. So many are health protective. Some have links to natural processes which have yet to be more understood, for example, is there more to salicylic acid, in regards to it being a keratin softener? Tangerine peel contains salvestrols for example; salvestrol Q10 has demonstatably killed cancer cells.

Some flavours components have no significant taste but are very effective; such as spice extracts containing ‘volatiles’ and resinous compounds. Some flavours act as ‘bitter-blockers’ and as masking agents, vanillin being a famous commercial example. Many essential oils used in carp fishing are very familiar, but there are many more alternatives to try. For example: caraway oil, carrot seed oil, parsley seed oil, camphor oil, angelica root oil, fennel seed oil, coriander seed oil, cumin seed oil, clary sage oil, celery seed oil, cardamom oil, hop oil, betal nut oil, coconut oil, mandarin oil, lemongrass oil and even algae oils...

Some flavour oils have direct or indirect beneficial effects upon effective digestion and energy release among others: For example, detoxifiers like carrot seed oil, juniper berry seed oil and celery seed oil. (Celery extracts are very commonly used in foods and are noticeable in yeast extract products like “Marmite” for instance.) New flavour concepts are emerging all the time. Vanilla spice and chocolate chilli, cocoa and spice etc. What about synthetic menthyl acetate? The natural form for instance has a very distinctive a cool minty odor and taste familiar with peppermint and peppermint oil is a proven stimulating carp bait flavour. (Note: This ester is not soluble in water but has a high boiling point of 228 degrees Celsius, is soluble in oil and alcohol and just because esters are ‘volatile’ does not guarantee they are water soluble!) Use of this ester in very high levels may cause brain-altering effects (a bit like a glue-sniffers’ high; not healthy though!) Home production is not too difficult, but to identify individual esters made is very costly!

Herb extracts are very commonly used in fishing flavours. We know about thymol and eugenol for instance, but what about carvacrol or anethole (basil?) The flavours designed for the food industry are not all suitable for fishing baits, but some are definitely winners if you try off the beaten track of commercial fishing bait flavours. Remember, fish senses will detect possibly more off-putting flavour components while we do not smell them. Sometimes this is the difference between 2 pineapple or strawberry flavours which may smell and taste alike, but one really works well while the other does not. (Despite having the same pH.) There are so many oils which may be beneficial used as part of flavourings. The combination of oils with other substances is common these days. Some flavours have a slowed release into water, for example the release of the ester ethyl hexanoate in an oil emulsion, where the oil acts as a ‘reservoir.’

Some flavours are actually far more miscible or soluble, actively ‘mobile’ and more volatile in water than you might imagine and extremely powerful carp feeding triggers in their own right. Some perform far better in summer than winter. Some stand out even really producing more fish with high pressure and low water temperatures. Some of the very few most well known original top flavours are even ‘enzyme active’ and can contain extremely low levels of very special chemicals which would actually be poisonous if used in higher levels. But then this is the case with most of the powerful ‘mind-altering’ drugs known today.

There are many secrets of flavours well beyond the scope of any but the biochemist or marine biologist. The key point about flavours is that the very best can actually change the condition of various cells involved in food detection (internal and external chemoreception,) nerve pathways sending signals to the brain, fish brain chemistry, mood and behaviour to one of; “let’s move and look for food and eat right now!” Hemp is a good example. Hemp contains traces of ‘THC’ which stands for delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol. This is the psychoactive component of marijuana. The amino acid taurine, in squid and other proteinous ingredients is itself a neurotransmitter with links to actual fish food receptor and ‘message’ delivery processes. Certain growth promoters as used in fish farming are also neurotransmitters and are effective in baits. Some interesting uses of types of some flavours and components are used or produced in the body naturally. Alcohols, certain acids, (e.g. butyric) glutamic acid is the most abundant excitory neurotransmitter in the nervous system and plays a key role in cellular metabolism. Other examples of neurotransmitters are easily missed. Everyday foods like milk products and grain or cereal products contain opiates, which can become ‘habit-forming.’ The pancreatic polypeptides in the fishing bait free amino acids preparations (and the original such as ‘Minamino’) are also neurotransmitters. How many anglers consider these preparations in themselves to be flavours? Many flavours and their components attract water (called hygroscopic) and significantly add potent weight to effects of a bait’s flavour and attraction.

Who really knows how inherent flavours within a fishing bait and additional added flavours really react together in the bait and when mixed in water? Relevant examples of hygroscopic substances include honey salt (sugar) malt extract, yeast extract, LO30 fish protein, corn steep liquor, ethanol alcohol and many familiar acids. ( Have you ever wondered why your throat feels the way it does when swallowing vodka or a strongly alcoholic drink; now you know part of the reason...) Flavours are inherent in fishing bait materials even if they’re termed as ‘neutral.’ After all, maize meal, semolina or rice flour are not completely tasteless.

Here is one basic example before we go into an introduction into fishing flavours. The extremely sweet protein called Talin is very significant in connection with nerve pathways and special signalling gating mechanisms which in the end affect brain activity and fish behaviour for example. Talin is an integral part of many modern specialist carp bait flavours with good reason. But more of this advanced stuff later... Certainly in the UK and Europe, flavours seem to be inextricably linked especially to carp baits... (Section continues - this extract is copyright protected.)

By Tim Richardson.

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