Something that I do feel ever so strongly about, and always will is the effectiveness of freezer baits. In my view, freezer baits are far more effective than shelf-lifeready-mades. I don’t think that this difference is down to the presence of  preservatives in the shelf life as you might expect. I think that the difference is down to the freezing process itself. Under the microscope you can see that freezer baits contain tiny ice particles, which represent the first stages of digestion. Once thawed, freezer baits leak off flavour and attractors much quicker and are easier for the fish to digest – meaning that they can eat more and faster. I’d go as far as to say that an angler can take an ordinary bag of shelf life’s, freeze them once and immediately improve their effectiveness. There is no doubt in my mind that the freezing process alters the structure of a bait. You can see this yourselves by comparing the number of freezer baits that break upon exiting a throwing stick to the number of ready-mades.

Fewer and fewer carp anglers now make their own baits – they find it a lot easier to buy a bag of ready-mades than to make their own. Some still like to experiment though, and buying base mixes gives a certain degree of freedom. It does tend to work out cheaper as well. It won’t surprise too many people to find out that I’d suggest that baits with a decent proportion of fishmeal are at their best during the spring, summer and autumn. Fish can deal with oilier baits much easier during the warmer months. There are exceptions and compromises that do work during the colder months such as Nash Squid All Season and the Solar Club Mix. A lot of the fishmeal-based baits can be effective in winter, though only as single hook baits. As soon as the fish start eating any amount of freebies it causes digestion problems and can lead to a slowing in winter action.  


A large part of the reason that fishmeal baits are less effective in colder water is due to their bulk-oil content. Avoid bulk fish oils at all costs in cooler water as they can render your baits very unattractive indeed. Don’t worry too much about omitting liquids from your baits because, what a lot of people don’t seem to understand is, the actual constituents of the base mix arefar more attractive than the liquids. A carp isn’t actually attracted to a foodsource by smell – it’s more like a taste. If you seal the natural attractants into the base mix by using an oil in colder water you’re immediately reducing its effectiveness. Conversely, in the summer months bulk oils are very efficient. In particular, I’d highlight an oil that I actually developed myself– Ming Oil. I developed the oil back in a time when I was experimenting a lot more. Ming Oil was fantastic in tank tests that I conducted on a group of carp and nowadays I would find it hard to use summer bait that doesn’t contain it. Other than the Ming I rate salmon oils from various companies, all of which are effective fish catchers.

Anglers now seem to want baits that stink to high heaven. This tends to mean the inclusion of artificial flavours, which I think is often to the detriment of the bait. I make the analogy that if you gave someone a cup of tea with loads of sugar in it they would more than likely spit it straight out. It’s avery fine line because, from a selling point of view, anglers are always very confident if their baits smell nice. That is fine, but you can take a bag of base mix, just add eggs to it and it’ll catch carp. Again, this is down to the difference between the way that carp smell things and the way that humans do. For us to smell a flavour it has to mix well with air, whereas for a carp to smell it, a flavour has mix well with water. I think that smell is the wrong word to use when we’re discussing carp; taste is more appropriate. The key with this is a flavour that smells like strawberries to us won’t taste like strawberries – it may even have a chemical back note that is unattractive. It’s undeniable that there are some very effective flavours about when they are used sensibly – in small doses. I rarely make my own bait any more, but when I did I thought that if I could smell the flavour in the finished baits then it was too strong. I think that the perfect compromise between taste and smell would be touse an essential oil in combination with a flavour. This is especially relevant when tackling silty lakes. Often the silt will overpower the artificial flavour but the inclusion of an essential oil ensures that there is a taste and smell left. 

Bulking ingredients like semolina and soya flour have had a bad press over the years. They aren’t the best ingredients available but their inclusion helps to keep prices down. While the two ingredients aren’t particularly attractive themselves, they are pretty digestible. Milk proteins often form part of successful base mixes. They were very popular in the late 1980s but I think that the fish proteins now available are many times better. Milk protein ingredients such as casein and lactalbumin are certainly higher in protein, but the modern fish proteins are much more digestible and as such, allow the fish to convert them to actual poundage. Lots of modern baits still contain milk protein ingredients like casein as their inclusion can allow the baits to stay intact longer underwater and they improve the nutrient profile of most baits.There should certainly be a limit on the length of time that it takes for a bait to break down. I’ve always used baits that break down after roughly 36 hours in the water. To me, these type of baits should be pretty digestible. I can generally tell which baits are more digestible by rubbing them between my hands. If the bait crumbles then I’m happy to use it, if it is rubbery and doesn’t crumble then I’d avoid it. 


The pet-food industry is worth looking at for baits. It employs full-time scientists to ensure that the products are optimum for pet health. Anglers often look down their noses at baits like Chum Mixers but in fact, they are designed to offer a good balance of nutrients – they’re at least as well balanced as some carp baits! Quality is difficult to monitor in carp baits, especially as the freshness of ingredients isn’t always known. In an ideal world all baits and bait ingredients would carry best-before dates on them. The late Alan Smith tried this with his company Sensible Baits. He came up against the problem that any other bait company would – people will only buy the freshest products. Alan ended up having to come into the shop to collect all bait with older best-before dates.  

Trout pellets certainly are a bait that should be used fresh because there is some concern that the oils that they contain can go off if left unused. Used sensibly, trout pellets are an excellent food source and bait. There are distinct dangers with the overuse of trout pellets. One of the worst examples of this was down at Harefield some years back. The venue was seeing huge quantities of trout pellets and soon after, suffered a fish kill. When the fish were given a post mortem it was found that their livers were coated in oil. In terms of quality, I think that Halibut pellets are better than ordinary trout pellets so they are perhaps worth bearing in mind if you’re thinking of using a few more. Carp pellets are certainly the best option in terms of carp health,they have a much lower oil content and have been designed with cyprinids in mind. Unfortunately the trade off seems to be that while healthier,  carp pellets are less effective.

Over the last couple of years there seems to have been a real craze for bloodworm pellets. To be honest, I think that it’s all a little bit over the top because these pellets and products bear absolutely no resemblance to real bloodworm! The UK bait industry is in great shape today. There do seem to be a few ‘flash-in-the-pan’ bait companies, but the main players do have a real commitment to developing baits that are good for both fish and angler. I think that the blokes behind these companies do still care about fish health in the main and the weight and condition of our quarry is promoted as a result.”