Evening all,
I have been making my own boilies/pastes for a year now & would like them to have a specific nutrient profile closer to barbel essential needs. Even so, trying to find reliable data is tricky.
Can anyone point me in the general direction of the daily nutrients (amino acids, fatty acids, vitamins & minerals) that barbel need to sustain good health. I appreciate that across any given season/year, composition/concentration/health will influence their needs.
Many thanks in advance
Jon
Jon, i'll try hard not to overcomplicate this, because it is so easy to do.
Firstly trying to uncomplicate every thing - what are you looking for ? a food or a bait ?
Using the best anology - aquaculturists require to feed their fish a food which will enable their fish to grow and flourish, by supplying them with - ALL of their nutrinional needs, BECAUSE THESE FISH ARE NOT GOING TO GET IT ANYWHERE ELSE. They are totaly reliant on their keepers to give them what they need.
Achieving dependancy on a food is something in a natural flowing enviroment such as a river that will never happen, and somthing from a point of view of attracting and catching fish - Barbel we don't need to do.
Were you able to replicate in one food the nutritional requirements of a Barbel, you will have achieved no more than they can readily consume within their natual enviroment, aside from the convenience factor of all their needs in one package - and there may be obvious advantages to that.
I have read, and have backed up with my own experiences that within that natural background are components that are extremly attractive to fish - and Barbel, and if educated to their constant presence in an area, in high levels within the food - NOT QUANTITY OF FOOD - become recognisable to the fish as a source of nutrition that cannot be obtained from their natural diet.
In my opinion there must be recognisable signals from these components that when detected by a fish - Barbel - mean they recognise a good source of food.
The components i'm speaking of a Protiens and fats, both of which make up the essential ingredients of any living creatures food.
High concentrations of either will i believe - in fact certain be highly attractive to fish.
The high fat content of lunceon meat, is what i believe makes this such an attractive bait, but because like all animals the fats that are not used for energy requirements will be stored, and may cause health issues in the fish.
There are though essential fats, - Fatty acids as you put them which are used for other purposes, which come under the general heading of Lipid fats,
getting complicated now !
One of the primary functions of lipid fats is to enable the transportation of Amino acids derived from the protein profile, around the body of the fish.
Proteins or more correctly the amino acids they contain are used for growth, and muscle production amonst other requirements, and are not stored and excess will be excreted.
Proteins in regular amounts are essential for the well being of the fish, and what i believe has caused evolution to enable fish to recognise their presence.
Proteins are highly complicated structures which vary in their amino acid profile.
These attractive components ( proteins and Fats ) will never in themselves deliver all the nutrional reqirements of any fish, but we are back to the fact that fish will never in a natural enviroment become dependant of an anglers bait, they will get plenty of the other essentials they need from natural food sources.
Duplicating the exact nutritional requirements of a Barbel would be very difficult it think, though i think by giving the a broad mixture of ingredients within the bait would tick most of the boxes.
Would you end up with a blindingly good bait though ? given that you are giving them nothing which they can't find in their natural food.
A bait is just that - a bait intendfed to attract a fish so we can catch it either by instantly doing so by smell or taste, or by recognition over time that a food we deliver to them has a definate feel good factor to eating it.
In a nutshell Jon, i'm saying give them what they want, - what they find most attractive not neccesarily what they need for a complete nutritional profile, they'll get plenty of that eating natural food.
What would you fancy an 8oz Sirloin or a plate of beans ?
