Dead Meat: Superior Designers?

By Steve Stayner

Some Barbel enthusiasts claim the effective days of popular tinned meat baits are well and truly numbered. Assuming they're correct, then sooner or later the designer paste and boilie brigade will reign supreme, and the days of 'baggin' half a dozen or more Big Barbel on a 50p can of luncheon meat could well be gone forever.

Do we believe that our own favourite brand of processed meat really is a dying bait, and that fish in clear-water daytime conditions are quite likely to bolt in the opposite direction at the merest glimpse of it? Does such a value-for-money bait now genuinely serve little more purpose on some rivers other than to spook the most wary of Barbel from the security of their daytime cover? Once in more angler-accessible open water, are the fish then tempted to take baits that don’t scare their pants off and which are claimed by some anglers to be more beneficial for them? Whilst many anglers would undoubtedly answer yes to these questions, just as many others would argue otherwise. So, with its number one spot debatably under threat; is the most successful big Barbel bait in history about to be replaced by designer paste – either raw or boiled?

A serious threat, or not?

Some anglers still in favour of using meat baits take the issue very seriously and can become rather irate when the subject arises. These people look upon designers as a major threat to the ethics of Barbel fishing and many stubbornly refuse to use them. Others use them occasionally; some almost exclusively; and just as many remain undecided whether to try the new-wave approach or stay with the more traditional baits.

Although they've been around for quite some time now, 'designers' still hold a certain amount of mystique for many anglers, and the same old questions which arose when they first appeared are often still asked today. What follows next is a light-hearted way of raising some of the concerns about the bait, which is now so 'in your face' that it simply cannot be ignored.

Fact or fiction?

Dear Steve,

As my parents are divorced, I now live with my mum, brother, sister and the dog. My mum keeps saying that the family budget is tight and I think I know what she means now. Please allow me to explain!

By far my greatest hobby is Barbel fishing and I'm very concerned about these designer paste 'thingies.' The other day I asked my mum for £20-00 to buy three packets of a well-known paste bait. She promptly asked, in an angry manner, why I needed three packs.

I tried to tell her that, over the next week or so, I would have to throw about £18-00 worth into my favourite swim before I would begin to catch on it.

Well, she didn’t believe me, and before I could say I'd need more a couple of weeks later, she smacked me hard around the ear and sent me to the corner shop with 50p for a can of luncheon meat.

However, my main concern is not for my red and swollen ear, but for the fact that those so called experts say that luncheon meat, on most occasions, doesn’t catch big Barbel any more. I have noticed, though, that those people who say this most are the ones that either make the paste, sell it, or receive it free and promote it.

All my mates packed up carp fishing because of the price of boilies and stuff. Is Barbel fishing heading the same way? If so, then I can’t afford it and neither can my mum! Please advise me because, like you, I fish for most of my Barbel on the Dove.

Signed: Mr Yon Gangler. Aged: 12yrs.

While this particular letter is nothing more than tongue in cheek fiction, some of the issues of its content are often still hotly debated. I can only offer my own personal views as to the effects that these baits would appear to be having on certain areas of the Dove, and while these opinions may be regarded as limited (because I rarely use commercial designers myself) they are not completely without foundation. The following is a rather condensed reply to the issues raised in the letter.

Dear Yon,

I do sympathise with your predicament because few could argue that commercial designers can be expensive to use. The best way of reducing the need to pre-bait regularly (and lessen the risk of another thick ear) is to use them in areas where they are already well established.

One such area of the Dove I frequently visit receives over generous helpings of commercial (and home made) designers in both paste and boilie form. Though I would never dispute their effectiveness and ability to take large numbers of fish on many occasions, I see little evidence supportive of claims that they are big Barbel selective. The main reason for my scepticism being that most anglers who use them in this area appear only to catch the average size of fish often attributed to maggot feeder tactics.

Providing all the information I receive is accurate, from a big Barbel to bait point of view, results in this area indicate that designers may be under achieving when compared to those who regularly use large meat baits. This is not to say that big fish are not occasionally captured on designers, because they certainly are. However, it may indicate that if the Dove specimen Barbel hunter is to achieve his goal with any fair degree of consistency, then he can still use tinned meat baits with a high degree of confidence. Whether this may change in the future only time will tell. But for now at least; the most successful and arguably cheapest big Barbel bait in history is still very much alive on the Dove; and its only 50p a tin! I hope your local corner shop’s still open!

Tight lines…

BAKER’S – Born and "bred"

For those anglers wishing to try a commercial designer on their favourite venue, one that appears to be a cut above the rest (certainly for numbers of Barbel) is the Special mix and search-4 flavour manufactured by John Baker.

John has clearly gone to pain staking lengths to ensure that once the fish are on it they come back for more. Coupled with the Barbels' obvious liking for it, surely a major contributory factor to the effectiveness of this bait stems from its huge popularity and constantly expanding distribution of use. By now, the resident Barbel population in the majority of venues is likely to be already familiar with it and, with such a mass of pre-baiting having already been done, for this reason alone it is well worth a try. In addition, a good secondary advantage for buying this product is that you can always use the search 4 liquid (as many do) to flavour good old luncheon meat.

And don't forget the carp mixes!

Many less experienced Barbel anglers may be unaware that designers are really nothing new and that, in fact, huge numbers of Barbel have now been falling for this type of bait for well over two decades. Effectively, these new-wave designers merely stem from some of those older boilie mixes formulated by pioneering anglers such as Rod Hutchinson to catch carp. It's really only as recently as the last five or six years that the bait's effective appeal to Barbel has emerged from a blanket of secrecy. Along with the increasing popularity of our favourite species comes an expanding commercial enterprise and suddenly, and rather coincidentally, the market expands with mixes formulated and labelled primarily effective for Barbel.

One thing I feel remains certain is that once the resident Barbel population within a venue regards any one particular designer as an appealing and constant food supply, they will readily accept any other which appears similar. This gives us almost infinite scope with which to experiment, and anyone wishing to do this may be interested to know that there are a few carp base-mixes well worth trying. To name but a few, I would definitely recommend these Rod Hutchinson mixes. 1. Seafood blend. 2. Super fish and liver. 3. MC mix. 4. Addicted. Either one of these excellent mixes can be used without additives or, as an introduction to using flavours, by adding Rod's liquid flavour Scopex at the levels he recommends. Rod's awesomely effective additive, Secret Agent, is well worth trying as an optional extra. However, I will warn those individuals who may like to experiment that the after effects of this blend of amino and organic acids will linger on your skin for days after use.

Summary

Whether we Barbel anglers like it or not, designer baits are here to stay and, I believe, far too effective to ignore. Even if we disapprove of them ethically, there is no doubt at all that these baits catch Barbel. As for designers being selective of the bigger fish, the evidence I have so for witnessed on the waters I fish indicates that they most certainly are not. As for suggestions that meat is a dying bait. On the waters I fish, particularly the Dove, the evidence supporting such claims again proves inconclusive.
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Steve Sayner

Copyright2001Ó Steve Stayner