Hi John,
I can see you standing on the edge of a precipice John, and you're going to jump aren't you
You have 2 options essentialy - a food bait or attractor type bait.
The type of bait that's best to use i think much depends on your style of fishing, i.e. are you moving a lot from stretch to stretch, or mostly fishing one ?
If you move from stretch to stretch or even different rivers, you'll never be giving the Barbel enough time to recognise your particular bait, so the attractor route would probably benefit you most, even so a degree of nutritional signal to your bait is essential, but i'm sure overly powerful attractors in the form of flavourings, will work against you.
In this case, and i know it's not the answer you were looking for, i would go with meat, which has a nutritional signal any fish that swims will recognise.
Your options of flavouring are absolutly endlesss, but i would still keep it fairly low, you can soak it in fish oils, flavour it with spicey / savoury flavours or both, and allow the oils to pull the flavour into the meat, and by doing that will keep for ages in a cold fridge, and allow the meat to marinate, and draw the flavouring deep into the meat.
The only problem is it's not particularly selective, especially with Chub, and Bream, they love it too !
However if you are visting only one venue, then a food bait is the way to go in my opinion.
That doesn't necsesarily mean an HNV bait, but a fair degree of protein within the bait is a desirable thing.
So my recomendation of a proprietry base mix would be Live system by CC Moore - here..
CC Moore: Live System Base Mix - Baits from CC Moore
One of the good things about CC Moore is that they do broadly tell you what is in the mix, unlike many other companies.
I don't use this mix, mine is a custom made mix, but is not too dissimilar.
It will be the change from fishmeal that you are looking for, has a good nutritional content, and judgeing by the ingredients a respectable protein content.
There is not a bait in existance that will keep Chub and Bream away if they are present, but some will attract them far more than others, such as meat or fishmeal based baits, whereas Barbel seem very happy to feed on good nutritional value mixes that don't have them.
Most importantly in my opinion this mix ( and i have smelt it ) has no massively identifying smell other than a blandish yeasty smell that is described in the link i gave you, i think the creamy undertone that's described is from an ingredient called Lamlac, which is a calf rearer milk powder, used often to hand rear orphaned animals, it's similar to baby milk, but much richer in taste and smell.
I would guess wheatgerm is also included in the mix, which is also a highly digestible food product.
So on the face of it - as i say i don't use it so i can't say from experience - it ticks all the boxes for a good all year round bait, being of a good nutritional value and, made up from very digestible ingredients.
All that though is not the only the value of this mix, as i said it has a bland smell, which will allow to to include other ingredients to add a custom flavour, which you can, change slightly or dramatically if you wish, by putting in and taking out of addtives.
These i would include as standard to your mix....
Robin Red....
you can leave it out on occasion if you wish, which will dramaticly change the flavour profile, but even in high quantity has not got such an overpowering smell that could instantly put fish off, however in say a 3 egg mix i would stick to 1 - 3 level teaspoons, and varying that from time to time is enough to tweak the flavouring of your bait, to prevent the fish becoming over cautious.
Ground Black Pepper, this is another i would usually always include ( Telling all my bloody secrets here !
) Vary the amounts from time to time, a healthy shaking is what i usually put in, it needn't be too accurate.
All manner of Herbs and spices such as from the Schwartz range or similar, supermarkets do their own brands as well.
Again you needent be too accurate, but these can deliver a fairly powerful smell to your bait, so just don't overdo it.
You can mix and match, any of these additives, and anything else you can think of along those lines, Curry powders or pastes etc.
As far as flavourings go, your bait should end with a fairly subtle smell, and though your nose may be able to detect that spicey or savoury note, it should never be so powerful that you can easily identify any one ingredient.
I've used the same basic bait mix for over 6 years now, just by every now and again making very small changes to the flavourings, regularly but never dramatically, unless visiting a new venue or one i've not fished for some time.
Steer clear of those powerful liquids is my advice, or use them very very sparingly, that goes for even the 'food types' to be of any value as a food you'd need to put a lot in, and it wont be long before it will blow, though it may be of some use to add a tiny amount to give a very subtle signal to your bait, but if you can smell it you've put too much in.
I'm absolutly certain you'll catch on that mix, and the variable flavourings i've given you John.
If you're after big ones, you know my approach John, very very little and as often as you can get it in
and the longer before you fish the better.
Then it's down to plain old watercraft mate ! Find 'em or more importantly let them find you, and don't spook 'em
If they're there they'll come
If they're not you're going to blank no matter what, like i did this winter LOL !
Ian.
