Big bream

[Chris 1]

Hello lads.

I am thinking of making my own bait soak for bream (plastic baits). could somebody tell me the correct amounts of Flavour and Glycerin to use please?

 

I am thinking of 20 mil Glycerin and 3-5 mil of chosen flavour. Does this sound about right?

 

Many thanks,

Chris.

[Dick Dastardly]

Hello lads.

I am thinking of making my own bait soak for bream (plastic baits). could somebody tell me the correct amounts of Flavour and Glycerin to use please?

 

I am thinking of 20 mil Glycerin and 3-5 mil of chosen flavour. Does this sound about right?

 

Many thanks,

Chris.

 

Welcome to AN Chris.Im afraid I have no experience at all with flavouring artificial baits.Ive only used them to counterbalance real baits.Be interested in the replies you get.

[Anderoo]

Yes, welcome to AN Chris. I'm no help either I'm afraid! Although hopefully someone here will be.

 

Flavouring fake baits is something I have a particular interest in, so I hope someone replies. For this season's bream fishing I've had fake baits soaking in brasem liquid for several months - but I used some of those on my last session, and it seemed to me that the flavour leaked away pretty quickly (a matter of hours). Maybe a bream's sense of smell is better than mine, but it was a bit disappointing. Fake baits would solve so many problems, but without them being attractive I just can't bring myself to use them.

 

I did see in one of the weeklies a few weeks ago that someone had caught a 16lb bream using fake corn soaked in betaine. I don't feel that I understand flavours/enhancers enough to be honest. People cleverer than me have explained it, but I always end up with more questions

 

Maybe the stuff the fake bait is made from is the key. Rubber may not take a flavour very well, but a tough foam might. Perhaps it's best to make your own 'baits' from the most suitable material?

[lutra]

Yep welcome to AN Chris.

 

Sadly Ive never try flavouring fakes, but i do remember reading about someone mixing vodka with their flavour to soak fakes in and claiming it help get the flavour into the rubber. Cant remember who or where though.

[Chris 1]

Many thanks for the welcome lads.

The only thing that I know about flavouring fake baits like corn is that I am told that lots of companys use Glycerin as the base carrier, you can get it from Boots chemists.

 

Another base carrier that I use is Pure "Fructose" availiable from health food shops. It is a very concentrated sweetener used in jam making (sugars from natural fruits) . Then just add whatever flavour that you like. I keep mine in old film canisters. It also helps to hold the flavour if you give the fake bait a bit of a stabbing with a needle.

 

I have had some success using this as a bait soak for double figure bream, so it does work.

 

Excellent thread by the way.

Incidentally, I do know that double figure bream do come out during the winter months on fake corn.

 

I am only up to page 25 on this thread just yet, but already it has changed my way of thinking. Especially on the baiting up front. I now go for lots of scent rather than lots of food content.

 

I can be fishing in 18 ft of water, so I am trying to work out how to get a blanket of groundbait to the bottom without it drifting away in the surface layers. I can only think of slightly dampening the groundbait so that it will hold together just long enough to get below the surface drift before it breaks up.

 

Once again many thanks for a brilliant topic.

[Dick Dastardly]

Yep welcome to AN Chris.

 

Sadly Ive never try flavouring fakes, but i do remember reading about someone mixing vodka with their flavour to soak fakes in and claiming it help get the flavour into the rubber. Cant remember who or where though.

 

That would fit in with my thoughts as well Brian.I would have thought that EA (Ethyl Alcohol) based flavours would have a better chance of permeating rubber than oil based ones.

[Anderoo]

Many thanks for the welcome lads.

The only thing that I know about flavouring fake baits like corn is that I am told that lots of companys use Glycerin as the base carrier, you can get it from Boots chemists.

 

Another base carrier that I use is Pure "Fructose" availiable from health food shops. It is a very concentrated sweetener used in jam making (sugars from natural fruits) . Then just add whatever flavour that you like. I keep mine in old film canisters. It also helps to hold the flavour if you give the fake bait a bit of a stabbing with a needle.

 

I have had some success using this as a bait soak for double figure bream, so it does work.

 

Excellent thread by the way.

Incidentally, I do know that double figure bream do come out during the winter months on fake corn.

 

I am only up to page 25 on this thread just yet, but already it has changed my way of thinking. Especially on the baiting up front. I now go for lots of scent rather than lots of food content.

 

I can be fishing in 18 ft of water, so I am trying to work out how to get a blanket of groundbait to the bottom without it drifting away in the surface layers. I can only think of slightly dampening the groundbait so that it will hold together just long enough to get below the surface drift before it breaks up.

 

Once again many thanks for a brilliant topic.

 

I'm glad the topic is useful Chris, I know it's been a huge help to me. With the baiting up, is there any way you can physically go out and see what it looks like on the bottom (boat + clear water? swimming, if it's safe?)? I suspect not, in which case I would still go for the spodded groundbait approach, but as you say, mix it slightly damper.

 

On my last session I re-tested the spodded groundbait in the margin, just for the sake of confidence (and also to see if it would get eaten overnight). The water was very clear and I could see the bottom in 6-7ft of water. What it looks like when you drop the spod in, is an upside-down mushroom cloud. The heavier bits and pieces fall straight down, and the lighter bits spread out a bit more, and the really fine groundbait makes a huge cloud in the water and eventually settles over an aera of about 3ft x 3ft. It took about 4-5 minutes for the whole lot to reach the bottom, but none of it drifted off on the surface.

 

In 18ft, with a damper mix, I reckon it would eventually get to the bottom and cover a larger area. It would be good to be able to test this. It would probably be a good idea to be more generous with the amount you put in, just in case.

 

I guess the only other thing is to ball it in, but that won't get the nice dusting effect.

 

(PS it was eaten, if fact the spot where it was was shining like a bald head on a hot day )

[Steve Walker]

That would fit in with my thoughts as well Brian.I would have thought that EA (Ethyl Alcohol) based flavours would have a better chance of permeating rubber than oil based ones.

 

Yes - but would it also leak out faster, I wonder? I suppose if you let it dry any solvent that had entered the rubber would evaporate and leave the flavour behind - if the flavour has fairly low solubility in water compared to ethanol it might come out slowly.

 

I vaguely remember a short practical course in histology at university - the science of fixing and staining tissues for microscopic examination. It mostly sticks in my mind because it was very, very, very dull, and often over-ran late into the evenings, and because I came out of it with a very interestingly coloured lab coat (probably mostly coloured with things that will give you cancer as much as look at you). A lot of it was about getting substances in solvents to penetrate things. I remember there was a lot of messing about with increasing and decreasing concentrations of things - serial dehydration in increasingly strong ethanol solutions, and stronger and stronger solutions of dyes and fixatives. I wonder whether dissolving an oil based flavour in ethanol in a number of steps from 5% oil to 100% oil and then soaking the bait in increasingly oily solutions would get you better penetration? Obviously rubber isn't flesh, but maybe worth a try?

[Dick Dastardly]

Yes - but would it also leak out faster, I wonder? I

 

Some times my stupidity even amazes me Steve!

 

I suppose the real problem is that fake baits are simply not made from a good flavour carrying material.Maybe as Anderoo said foam would be better? I would have thought that an oil based flavour would hold quite well in the correct foam?

[Steve Walker]

What about making a small blob of something designed to hold and gradually dissolve and release flavour and go on the hair next to the fake bait? Something that would dissolve very slowly and release a very concentrated amount of flavour? Very strong gelatin or even hard toffee? Gum arabic?