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Anyone using milks this winter?

I’d like to think more visual lighter colours do help in coloured water.
It’s all theories though Terry as nobody really knows whether it can aid quicker interception of a bait in these conditions.
my “theory” is that winter fishing is about deep dark holes in coloured very cold water and a lighter coloured bait may well help/encourage them to find it that bit quicker or even make a little more effort to move for it. Could be wrong mind but nobody really knows for sure.
 
Lob worms are brilliant in flood/ coloured water conditions and they are about as well camouflaged as a bait comes! All down to scent and smell (or the fish equivalent) in my opinion
 
Stuart Wright said:
Lob worms are brilliant in flood/ coloured water conditions and they are about as well camouflaged as a bait comes! All down to scent and smell (or the fish equivalent) in my opinion
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I’d say a lively lob is quite a visually appealing bait as well. I’m not for a second suggesting they won’t find a darker more camouflaged bait I just believe something that stands out visually in these conditions may help a little with faster interception if they are in the area. Although it hasn’t been working at all this winter for me so far ☹️
 
My two most used barbel baits.
top obviously supermilk with a hint of jb sweet flavourings which I only use in winter.
bottom is Rich’s special spiced barbel boilies. Used all other seasons.
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Richard Isaacs said:
I’d like to think more visual lighter colours do help in coloured water.
It’s all theories though Terry as nobody really knows whether it can aid quicker interception of a bait in these conditions.
my “theory” is that winter fishing is about deep dark holes in coloured very cold water and a lighter coloured bait may well help/encourage them to find it that bit quicker or even make a little more effort to move for it. Could be wrong mind but nobody really knows for sure.
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Depends on depth of water and level of suspended particle density really doesn't it @Richard Isaacs. Maybe on southern rivers where in a 'flood' you're fishing into 10ft of brown-ish water instead of 4ft, there still may be some light penetration (maybe). But on the Severn, say, with 20ft on, you could fishing into 35ft+ of highly coloured brick-red water. No light would get to your bait then!
 
Thanks for all your comments.

I had made a few kg of milks. The intention to use on more pressured smaller rivers like Warks Avon or mainly Summer low water conditions on the larger ones.

Anyway. Will try out if and when the current conditions change!!!!
 
Terry Simner said:
Depends on depth of water and level of suspended particle density really doesn't it @Richard Isaacs. Maybe on southern rivers where in a 'flood' you're fishing into 10ft of brown-ish water instead of 4ft, there still may be some light penetration (maybe). But on the Severn, say, with 20ft on, you could fishing into 35ft+ of highly coloured brick-red water. No light would get to your bait then!
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Which possibly brings it back to my point of individuality. Milks suit my winter fishing well and have done for some time. Whether they see the bait or not is yet a mystery but I’ve caught well using them. Fished the great Ouse quite often in the past which is a tad deeper than 4ft in most places 🤣
 
I use my own milk protein based bait which I sell under my bait company (Total Chub Baits) and I have to say it has been a marked improvement over the standard baits I used to use. It works instantly without the need for pre-baiting and in all water conditions, summer or winter. However this does not mean its a 'wonder bait' by any means and is no substitute for watercraft.
I also have another bait in development which is a spicy meat based bait and a accompanying flavour called Optispice (you barbel folk might find this one more to your suiting!). Some of you may be familiar with Optispice as it used to be sold by Tony Miles & Trefor West when they ran Action Baits.
 
Sounds inconclusive to me, I started to go down this route a few years ago and rang John Baker who advised me to go with cheaper base mixes first. Confidence is the key for me, if I'm confident the fish seem to like it (most of the time) !!
 
Richard Isaacs said:
Used them for many years usually from the first frost on wards.
I sweeten them up a bit with a jb flavour and they have produced the goods for me on lots of winter coloured water sessions in the past. they’ve not produced for me this season mind but I’ll put that down to the fish not being there rather than a fault with the bait. Do they work better than other good winter baits? I wouldn’t of thought so but they will be as good. I use them purely because I’ve got confidence in my mix from a few good fish out.
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Used to always use them for carp, then Premier Baits and the fishmeal explosion happened circa 1990.

For barbel I like a quality, nutritious fishmeal. Absolutely no flavourings except Squid anchovy sauce which is stocked in most big Tesco shops.

Milks do catch lots of fish absolutely. But there are better baits that cost significantly less in my opinion.
 
Just my opinion. But when I continued on milk proteins (Hi-nu-val) I found that the fishmeal users had better results.

This was around 1990, and fishmeal became the bait to get on. This happened even on the most milk protein orientated water in the land, Darenth Tip Lake.
 
I’m not and never have been a carp fisherman but I believe (correct me if I’m wrong) carp will evaluate a bait and only take once they are happy to do so particularly on pressured lakes. I think bait choice in this case is way more relevant and could be the difference between success and failure. I’ve fished for barbel for many many years and watched them feed many times and evaluate they do not. When they are confident enough to come out of hiding they will literally hoover the river bed and take its contents despite the bait choice.
when people say to me a bait doesn’t work for barbel I say bull****. The only evaluation process I’ve ever seen a barbel take on is evaluate whether or not to poke her head out and actually feed at all. That’s my opinion.
 
Richard Isaacs said:
I’m not and never have been a carp fisherman but I believe (correct me if I’m wrong) carp will evaluate a bait and only take once they are happy to do so particularly on pressured lakes. I think bait choice in this case is way more relevant and could be the difference between success and failure. I’ve fished for barbel for many many years and watched them feed many times and evaluate they do not. When they are confident enough to come out of hiding they will literally hoover the river bed and take its contents despite the bait choice.
when people say to me a bait doesn’t work for barbel I say bull****. The only evaluation process I’ve ever seen a barbel take on is evaluate whether or not to poke her head out and actually feed at all. That’s my opinion.
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Yes..
Barbel often dont have time to evaluate a bait, especially in a flow or in competition with other fish. The primary urge to feed especially in daylight is safety, from predation that is why you see them darting in and out of cover so often in clear water which is why they feed bolder in low light or flood. I have had as I an sure we all have those little tap tap on the tip, where they are inspecting the bait, I have changed the bait to meat and sometimes have induced a bite, let's skip the starters and go straight to the main coarse?
 
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