R
Robert Woods
Guest
Whatever we throw at barbel to catch them they do have some time off to feed on naturals in closed season. Think any bait in modest amounts will do them no harm. It's when people go mad and pile it in.
-
You need to be a registered member of Barbel Fishing World to post on these forums. Some of the forums are hidden from non-members. Please refer to the instructions on the ‘Register’ page for details of how to join the new incarnation of BFW...
Boilie Advice
- Thread starter Billy Lowe
- Start date
Ian Grant
Senior Member & Supporter
Robert, as was discussed on the other thread that was linked to in this by Colin, it comes down to sensible use of any bait that is manufactured, the exception is obviously anything thats alive.
I'll give you an example, since the product spirulina ( a form of blue green algae ) was discovered as a food source, ( which is supposed to have magical health giving properties for humans ) it quickly caught on with fish rearing enthusiasts. it contains just about everything a fish needs to survive, and flourish, and has proven major health benifits for the fish, the list is too long to go into here.
Some fish keepers decided that why mess about with all these balanced fish diets, and just feed them on Spirulina, sure enough the fish appeared to do very well on it, and as a plus the high levels of carotine in spirulina had produced some amazingly vivid colourations in the fish, which particularly suited the Koi enthusiasts.
It was some proffessor chap can't remember his name, ( couldn't pronounce it anyway ) urged caution because of the high levels of vitamin C, ( spirulina in the harvested and concentrated form has extremly high levels of vitamin C ) and it's now recognised that feeding fish exclusivley on a diet of spirulina, can have serious long term effects on fish from vitamin C poisoning.
The point is that it wasn't the spirulina that was at fault, it is an extremly usueful ADDITIVE for a fishes diet, used in correct quantities with other ingredients.
As i said in the other thread, personally i doubt in a natural flowing river enviroment, that it would be possible to get fish to exclusivley feed on one type of food source, it may become a very large part of their diet, but i do believe that fish have natural instincts which enable it to tell if a food source is making it sick, or even that as Darren George put it the reward is not worth the effort.
The same may not be true of some stillwater enviroments, - carp puddles if you like, where - and i know this is the extreme but they do exist, the natural background food has been exhausted, or possibly never existed in the first place, these places see the fish totaly reliant on anglers baits, and in such cases serious nutritional deficeiencies may occurr when even the variety of bait is reduced, and mostly a 'going' bait is used.
Shelf lifes, ready mades, whatever i doubt will do the fish any harm at all in the quantities that you are likley to use them and especially in a river.
Thats not to say you wont stuff everyones fishing up if you pile them in, but harm the fish - i doubt it, the only thing you'll do any great damage to is your pocket !!
Ian.
I'll give you an example, since the product spirulina ( a form of blue green algae ) was discovered as a food source, ( which is supposed to have magical health giving properties for humans ) it quickly caught on with fish rearing enthusiasts. it contains just about everything a fish needs to survive, and flourish, and has proven major health benifits for the fish, the list is too long to go into here.
Some fish keepers decided that why mess about with all these balanced fish diets, and just feed them on Spirulina, sure enough the fish appeared to do very well on it, and as a plus the high levels of carotine in spirulina had produced some amazingly vivid colourations in the fish, which particularly suited the Koi enthusiasts.
It was some proffessor chap can't remember his name, ( couldn't pronounce it anyway ) urged caution because of the high levels of vitamin C, ( spirulina in the harvested and concentrated form has extremly high levels of vitamin C ) and it's now recognised that feeding fish exclusivley on a diet of spirulina, can have serious long term effects on fish from vitamin C poisoning.
The point is that it wasn't the spirulina that was at fault, it is an extremly usueful ADDITIVE for a fishes diet, used in correct quantities with other ingredients.
As i said in the other thread, personally i doubt in a natural flowing river enviroment, that it would be possible to get fish to exclusivley feed on one type of food source, it may become a very large part of their diet, but i do believe that fish have natural instincts which enable it to tell if a food source is making it sick, or even that as Darren George put it the reward is not worth the effort.
The same may not be true of some stillwater enviroments, - carp puddles if you like, where - and i know this is the extreme but they do exist, the natural background food has been exhausted, or possibly never existed in the first place, these places see the fish totaly reliant on anglers baits, and in such cases serious nutritional deficeiencies may occurr when even the variety of bait is reduced, and mostly a 'going' bait is used.
Shelf lifes, ready mades, whatever i doubt will do the fish any harm at all in the quantities that you are likley to use them and especially in a river.
Thats not to say you wont stuff everyones fishing up if you pile them in, but harm the fish - i doubt it, the only thing you'll do any great damage to is your pocket !!
Ian.
Ian Crook
Senior Member
Ian, you are probably right, you normally are, and I would stress that the research carried out at Sparsholt was on captive fish in stillwater, not a riverine environment.
Ruth Lockwood (Yately Angling Centre and ECHO (English Carp Heritage Organisation)) asked me a couple of weeks ago: "If you were given a choice of using a biat which was scientifically proven to be good for fish but might not put as many on the bank" or using one which will put loads of fish on the bank, which would you choose?"
I said that if the question wre asked differently, i.e. would I use a bait that is good for fish over one which is bad for them I would choose the good one.
The reason was that she wanted to push a company which is marketing baits which are scientifically proven to be good for cyprinid species but not as effective as some popular baits, pellets for example..........she said most of the feedback she had so far leads to the impression that the important element to us anglers is catching fish above everything else, quite sad really..........
Ruth Lockwood (Yately Angling Centre and ECHO (English Carp Heritage Organisation)) asked me a couple of weeks ago: "If you were given a choice of using a biat which was scientifically proven to be good for fish but might not put as many on the bank" or using one which will put loads of fish on the bank, which would you choose?"
I said that if the question wre asked differently, i.e. would I use a bait that is good for fish over one which is bad for them I would choose the good one.
The reason was that she wanted to push a company which is marketing baits which are scientifically proven to be good for cyprinid species but not as effective as some popular baits, pellets for example..........she said most of the feedback she had so far leads to the impression that the important element to us anglers is catching fish above everything else, quite sad really..........
Billy Lowe
Member
Many thanks to everyone for the advice I'll pick a boilie from the various suggestions that I can easily source and give it a go.
I found the broader debate really intresting and very knowlegeable certainly some "food" for thought
I found the broader debate really intresting and very knowlegeable certainly some "food" for thought