<B>Many fishermen swear by chum or ‘ground baits' that really stink! But what makes them really work so well? </B>

They may have their own secret family recipe, or just buy it ready-made. Either way, they work! The question possibly to ask is, why? And what are ideal ingredients for such baits?

Well surprisingly, perhaps the answer lies in the way some ‘pest control' traps work!

In gardens, slugs are a problem eating plants and doing damage to vegetables. One proven method is to gather them up in a jar full of beer!

Where flies are a problem, ingredients are fermented in a jar and the flies drown in the jar. Have you ever asked why wasps and flies get to be a problem when you go out for a picnic and they descend onto the snacks warming up in the sun? (Salts, sugars and amino acids and alcohols are part of the reason and each are very attractive to carp also.)

Food ‘signals' are being spread through the air in forms like alcohols, sugars and amino acids. These are easily ‘picked-up' by the sensitive detectors in these wasps and flies. The same happens with your chum baits in water.

Therefore it makes sense to exploit this effect to the maximum to pull the fish as powerfully and effectively as possible. How much carp food, like fermenting debris on the lake bed, or rotting fish carcasses, in the case of catfish, do they feed on naturally each and every day!?

With catfish it may be you want to use fermenting fish, squid, chicken or congealed blood and liver as chum. With carp it may be sweetcorn, hempseed, maize, or proprietary bird food and pigeon food seed mixtures. These often work best when left soaked to germinate, cooked and left to ferment. The key is the ‘bio-activity' in these ground baits and chum.

When they start to give off powerful smells it is often the sugars, amino acids and alcohols produced by fermentation processes in the bait at work. Especially in the fish, squid blood and liver, chicken etc, it is the bacteria working digesting the food and breaking it down releasing amino acids. (Enzymes are very attractive in themselves, betaine is one good example. Many 'metabolite' substances are very attractive and stimulating to many kinds of fish and the choice is very wide.)

These fermentation processes create great carp and catfish attractors and human attractors too! 'Aging of cheeses. wines, spirits, meats etc are all related to the effect we want. (Look up the 'Maillard process' effects and benefits on developing additinal food flavours too!) If you have ever left squid in your car a few days by mistake, you will have experienced the true power of the above described effect!

When you consider different ways of ‘harnessing' this effect in your chum or ground baits or even hook baits, you will find your bait's ‘pulling power' is multiplied massively! Your bait dips, glugs and soaks will never smell the same again! So why not give it a go; the fish will love it!

This fishing bait books author has many more fishing and bait ‘edges' up his sleeve. Every single one can have a huge impact on catches.

By Tim Richardson.

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