Just thought that I would share this excerpt from a recent article. I'm not sure of it's relevance, but it does contain some interesting points..
‘Processed’ Carp Food – A Quick Bite...Recent debate about carp bait or “crap bait” has focused on its possible relevance or irrelevance to a carp’s diet. I think that the whole “debait” highlights that there is still a lot of confusion, and possibly some ignorance, about what is the ideal carp bait. In terms of nutrition, are some people getting it right, while others are getting it wrong? I do think this is the case! I am not pointing fingers at anyone in particular, but merely stating the possibility.
With bait companies disagreeing among themselves, just whom do you believe? And, which is best: fresh (which is a bit of a misnomer) or shelf-life (long-life) bait? After all, there are only so many ingredients available and most bait companies use the same raw materials, but in different proportions. Without fear of contradiction – whether fresh or preserved – I am happy to go on record that I believe that both forms of bait are processed.
Right here goes; gulp. Just because a carp eats an angler’s bait, it doesn't mean that it is good for it. It could just be that it was an acceptable food source at that particular time. Let me explain.
On pressured venues where you are fishing for bites, the use of fresh bait (perceived to be a HNV [high nutritional value] bait) as opposed to shelf life baits (thought to be inferior due to the lesser quality ingredients and preservatives that are used during manufacture) may not catch you anymore carp. Both, however, are acceptable to the fish when they are feeding.
Clearly, carp are not intended to live on processed foods. Such foods have been chemically altered by adding flavours and preservatives and as such don’t occur in nature. (So, therefore, by definition a boilie is unnatural.) Instead, carp should feed on raw or natural foods. Correct me if I am wrong!
Enter the boilie... Boilies have to be the most successful carp bait ever. The reason for this, I believe, is that from an angler’s point of view they are selective baits. From a carp’s viewpoint they smell and (sometimes) taste nice. The carp does not choose to eat boilies because they provide something extra to its usual diet.
So is a fresh or frozen boilie any better or safer for the carp? Both contain high levels of the same (good quality) processed ingredients, don’t they? There are, of course, the obvious functional benefits of a boilie such as durability, but this means more to the angler than to the fish.
I have heard some carp anglers claim that fresh boilies are more selective than shelf life versions because the carp knows that they are better for its health. I doubt this theory very much! The likely reason is that some carp prefer certain boilies to others, while some will not eat boilies at all - it's simply a matter of taste.
I do use boilies, but only ones which I know to contain the best, freshest (note that most powdered ingredients are processed by spray-drying) ingredients. Raw foods contain beneficial nutrients and enzymes (which work synergistically in the body), but these are destroyed during processing – rendering the finished boilie, in effect, a synthetic food. Using frozen instead of ready-made boilies may just be damage limitation and nothing more, who knows?
We have conditioned carp to eat our bait (in whatever form), which is made easier because carp are greedy creatures. Just as I like doughnuts because they taste nice and not because they are good for me. My environment may have conditioned me, but I can make an informed decision not to eat doughnuts. Unlike a carp, which feeds opportunistically on what it finds tasty and cannot possibly understand the nutritional value of different foods?
Perhaps nobody really knows what makes the ideal, manufactured, carp bait. Maybe there is a simpler approach to carp bait, which will become apparent in the not too distant future. After all, it wouldn't be the first time that someone suddenly announced that they had it all wrong, would it?
