Almost every carp angler you meet on the bank seems to want better bait for less money that they can really have confidence in all year round in all fishing situations. Using baits based on cheap highly digestible fishmeals is a really safe way to do this and the best part is they are proven big fish baits anyone can make - so read on details of some cheaper big fish recipes and deeper secrets!

The basis of so many commercially produced bait recipes over the decades has been low temperature prepared fish meals that retain enormous nutritional attraction and are vitally, very highly digestible so the fish can actually digest the nutrition and other rewards of eating these baits. There are very many fish meals to choose from and my special bait making secrets ebook go into all this kind of thing much further, but you can go for just these for starters:

LT94 fishmeal, herring meal, tuna meal, anchovy and sardine meal, salmon meal and halibut pellet powder for instance. All these and others have been very well tried and tested over the years and there are other cheaper forms with different qualities of food value and digestibility etc.

Of course, trout pellet powder used to be a great favourite bulk ingredient for making balanced and high nutritional value carp and catfish baits too, but now there are very many other more nutritionally attractive choices available. You can seriously boost the attraction of your baits by adding a form of soluble fish protein in both powdered and liquid forms and examples include L030 and CP70 both of which are very commonly used in commercial bait-making. I have found a very outstanding product from my friend Phil at CW Baits which is an awesome premium grade salmon protein (you can find CW Baits on line.)

Binding fishmeal baits is easy as almost any cereal contains gluten which is the glue literally that will stick your bait together. Obviously there are certain ones which will have a far higher level of nutritional stimulation in terms of essential amino acids, minerals and vitamins and other important factors and this includes betaine content. I use maize products a lot to keep my bait costs down and very useful product is the high protein fraction of maize called maize protein 60 or Super Gold 60 in the Ccmoore range.

Robin Red is a legendary additive and it has been used by the big bait producers for years. However it is in certain circumstances very likely over-used to the extent it even acts as a warning of danger so if you want something a little different that the carp most likely will not have experienced before, why not try the Robin Red substitute called Cypry Red from Willis Worms. Denzil the boss of this company has been field-testing and refining his baits and ingredients for 38 years now and I can tell you for certain he knows the deeper aspects of all his products intricately! His Robin Red extract liquid is a great edge and I have done very well too using Ccmoore Red Venom liquid!

There are many things you can use to differentiate your baits from both commercial readymade baits and other homemade ones to get more competitive edges and you can turn your fish meal baits into instant attractor baits too using many crafty methods and substances to this to get far more bites! Obviously in terms of baits it really helps to be different o carp are less suspicious of the bait in the first place and I do very much to differentiate my baits especially from commercial baits!

But for starters you might try using a non-standard bird food combination. Many mixes incorporate Niger seed and crushed and whole hemp. I find using millet and sesame seeds and crushed roasted peanut meal is a great edge as are their various nutritional attributes which differentiate them from so many more standard baits! Using whole shrimps and krill extract are other edges but these are used in commercial baits so I get other sources of things like cantaxanthin, carophyll Red, krill oil etc.

I always use a high PC liquid lecithin to improve bait digestibility and overall performance and I know this really is a fantastic competitive edge and multiplies catches all year round even though I replace any bulk oil with higher levels of essential oils plus betaine in the colder months. Note: I get my special grade of high PC liquid lecithin from CW Baits as it is a proven feeding trigger and I use it in conjunction with their premium grade Scottish salmon oil.

Many milk proteins are used in baits not just for nutritional reasons however - some relate to bait performance in some very surprising ways! However, when some of the longer-established bait companies are having to pay 9000 pounds per tonne now in 2009 for caseins, you will see why I say fish meals are cheaper baits and why pop-up mixes are often costlier than sinking bottom bait mixes!

Many commercial mixes contain a stimulatory mineral and vitamin source such as seaweed products. There are many things you can use instead and you can change the palatability of baits containing marine and salty type tastes to make them more alternative and unique. One of the most over-looked additional edges in simple homemade bait-making is the use of special complexes of taste and digestion compounds that literally hook onto the fish receptors even internally to really make them consume more bait and so give you more repeated chances of bites! The Ccmoore B plus concentrate is one very proven additive as are the SBS Flavatract and Flavone type powdered compounds I was using a couple of decades ago with great success too.

There are very many ingredients, additves and liquids which will make all the difference to your baits in terms of instant attraction and bait longevity and not all are found in tackle shops etc. In fact I have sourced many of my best ingredients and liquids from other sources at a fraction of the cost but obviously you need to know exactly what you are looking for to enhance particular parts of recipes in various ways to really hook those fish even more. For much more information on making cheaper baits that will compete with most standard form readymade baits get my unique bait secrets ebooks found at my site Baitbigfish!

By Tim Richardson.

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