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Keith: pack bait ideas

Following the recent programme featuring Frank Warwick the Tight Lines inbox has been inundated with requests for recipes, links and general information of the pack bait method that Frank described.

The first thing this proves beyond any doubt is that we are obsessed with carp and new ways of catching them. It also proves that we may not know as much as we think we do.

I go back a fair way with carp baits as I was working in a tackle shop during the 'special baits' era of the late 1970s / early 80s.

The shop was on the South London/Kent border and this was a real hotbed of carp angling, vying with Essex as the home of the best carpers.

Indeed there were occasions when it was more like a civil war with invasion parties from north of the Thames invading some of the stately homes of carp fishing: Dartford club waters such as Brooklands Lake and Horton Kirby and Leisure Sport's Darenth and Sutton at Hone.

Their catches were reported with glee in the angling press at the time and anyone with a smidgeon of imagination can think what it would have been like if the internet had been invented!

Many of the baits those anglers used were based on proteins, with balanced diets of ingredients, plus attractors and flavours.

Of course they didn't only attract carp; bream, tench and roach loved them too so to make them impervious to the smaller fish milk proteins were added, allowing the baits to be boiled to a firmness that prevented smaller fish having a chew. Boilies were born.

Since those times in many instances fish meals have replaced milk proteins, primarily on a price basis as even back then some of the 'proper' stuff was selling at £10+ per kg.

Cheaper

Fishmeal was cheaper and as more 'farmed' carp were stocked, it had also played an important part in their earliest meals in the form of pellets.

Science has proven that an excess of fishmeal in a carp's diet, to the exclusion of other foods, has caused major problems. It's ok, like most things, in small doses, but too much is bad for the fish and there is even talk of a similarity between fish eating fishmeal and cows eating animal by-products, the prime cause of BSE.

So, a switch to pack baits, should they prove successful could be a major boon for the welfare of our fish stocks and also open the doors to a completely new approach to baits from the major companies.

The first boilie makers were anglers who were bold enough to make and sell their own baits and that industry is now massive. Pack baits could be another string to their bow. For now anglers with enough resourcefulness can be 'in on the ground floor', like those Kent and Essex boys 20-odd years ago.

The idea arose from the USA 'Paylakers'. These are a group of anglers that tour the 'pay lakes'; day-ticket waters remarkably similar to our own commercial carp fisheries, where matches are fished for pretty decent sums of money.

Many of these pools are simply rectangular holes in the ground, maybe a couple of hundred yards long by fifty wide, with a rope down the middle to prevent overcasting. They are stocked with carp and in the matches the angler with the heaviest weight wins, just like home!

The main difference seems to be that in the UK our commercial fisheries are dominated by regulars, people who fish the same water week-in, week out, learning and winning as much as they can.

In the USA there are a group (The Paylakers) who tour the fisheries, like the old pool-room hustlers, taking the dough of the locals. This is the source of the pack bait theory.

I've found loads of recipes and lists of ingredients simply by googling 'pack baits' and most of the ingredients are either available in any decent supermarket, or reasonable substitutes can be found.

Literally, if it will absorb moisture, can be moulded around a hookbait (their favourite is Sugar Puffs!) and cast twenty-five yards, it will probably work.

Ingredients

Frank assured me that, above all other ingredients, the Paylakers he met, the guys who absolutely dominated the match Frank fished, on natural water, a river, catching carp that were not fished for on a regular basis, lauded good old tomato ketchup as king!

Thinking about it, it ticks all the boxes: it's red, and we know from our experience that red is as good a colour as any, if not better, especially during warmer months. It contains sugar and salt, two more things that work in our 'conventional' carp baits. Lastly it has vinegar, a naturally-occurring acid.

Carp and other cyprinid species are attracted to acids and the localised fall of the water's ph will usually be investigated by hungry fish.

So what groceries should accidentally fall into your trolley this week, for experimentation? First, remember it is still the dead of winter and not even pack baits are magic.

I'd wait until the potential of this new and exciting idea is more likely to bear fruit, maybe around April-time. But for a start I'd suggest couscous, polenta, porridge oats, wheatgerm, tiny pasta, quick-cook rice will all be decent bases.

To that there are any number of options, especially in the 'World Foods' aisle. Nut meals and flours, spices, colourings. Leave no stone unturned.

As for 'special' bits, many of the Paylakers' baits use KoolAid, a powdered soft drink. It's not readily available here, but sherbert is and so are other similar goodies.

Karo Syrup (dark) which is the Paylaker's main binder can be found here in health shops but there are several alternatives in your supermarket: Golden Syrup (the thinner kind), treacle (that's GOTTA work!) and even exotics such as maple syrup - I'd never stop licking my fingers!

I fancy Corn Steep Liquor and have already found some with a pineapple flavour, from a bait company.

Once your pack bait is made it should soften once cast out and leak off flavours and colours, enticing the fish to have a go: once they do and find the hookbait in the middle, with no method feeder, no recognition of wariness, they can't fail too feed...can they?

I suppose the appropriate phrase should be: "The proof of the pudding is in the eating."

Keith answers your email...

Email Keith Arthur here

Hi Keith, Great show as always but as you can imagine I was very interested in these 'pack baits' (being a long time carp angler), is it just one of those fads that comes and go's or maybe there's something in it??? I've been trying to source these ingredients over the internet but most are American products that I don't know whether there is an English equivalent? The Karo syrup seems to be corn syrup that I see can be bought at larger supermarkets or maybe health shops. I'm not sure about 'grits' though? Have you any ideas?Would you be able to send me the recipe of Franks 'pack bait'? I only caught the first half of the show as I had to go out so perhaps I missed something? Any info would be greatly appreciated!! Many thanks, Paul Farron

KEITH SAYS: Hi Paul, This subject certainly created a mass of questions; yours is just the sample I selected. I entered 'grits' into a search engine and found a company in Milton Keynes that sells it - and everything else Frank mentioned. It is imported from the USA so is not cheap as duties etc are imposed on the import.

I am pretty sure that polenta will work, maybe it will require a longer period of soaking in the corn before the syrup is added. Just today I bought some creamed corn from my local supermarket. It has a large, happy, green chap on the can. If you search 'pack baits' on the www you will find many other ingredients and Frank has been having success with stuff purchased from his local Asian grocers: the range of flours and meals is almost endless. The best advice I can give is to be adventurous: you may just crack it!

My first 'go' will be with couscous, creamed corn and corn steep liquor with a pineapple flavouring. I can't wait and, by the way, Steve Ringer was watching and has already accepted Frank's challenge.

Hi Keith, I've won some bait in a competition - it's called catmeat flavour groundbait and paste - also catmeat pellets and chunks and it's all made by the Yorkshire Bait Co. I was wondering if it's best used in summer or winter. I normally fish day ticket commercials for pleasure... many thanks, Ron Benson

KEITH SAYS: Hello Ron, Yorkshire Baits is a fairly young company who produce some innovative products for catching carp from commercial fisheries. Rob Hitchens, the man who virtually single-handedly started the 'paste revolution' is one of those behind it and my good pal Perry Stone, one of the best southern 'baggers' is also a user.

I would suggest that the baits you describe will be far more effective in summer, BUT the chunks can make a very effective 'single hookbait' either on the pole, waggler or bomb at this time of year.

I'd hair-rig a chunk and dust it in the groundbait and feed nothing at all on cold days when the water is on the clear side. Please don't fall into the trap of using it when you can't catch on anything else, because it will fail. Use it when there is a good chance of fish and it WILL catch you plenty. Perry tells me this variety tends to sort out the 'lumps' and is great in the margins in Spring.