Bait Addatives? Yea or Nay?

[Bobthefloat]

Try not to these day's, I ventured down the rabbit hole a few years ago and even had tea with the hatter.
I get a bit twitchy just boiling eggs now

[Santiago]

I just add ground up egg shells to my groundbait. This does the trick, especially when roach fishing. The dried up albumin slowly dissolves and is a powerful attractant . I've even had crayfish come to the surface beside my boat when I threw some when it floated before sinking!

[Olly]

That was for the calcium for their shells - I think!

[SussexMan]

The only instances of a flavour having an impact that spring to mind are where there a preceding period of another bait being over-used. For example decades ago one lake I knew saw every angler, without exception, fishing pure breadpaste. Slowly, inevitably, catch rates began to fall (not cease). The addition of simple custard powder to the breadpaste then produced a sharp, short-lived upsurge in bites until these, too, tailed off.
The problem in 2023 is that:
a) the hooklink arrangement matters far more than the bait flavour.
b) everyone is using a different flavour, so attempting to be original is impossible.

[Mike Crompton]

I sometimes sprinkle salt over my slices of Mr Warburton’s finest “Toastie”.
Perhaps I ought to be more ambitious and use sugar instead of salt!

[Wallys-Cast]

Honey was the old flavour for bread. I do wonder though if maybe the day they tried flavouring the bread was one of those days when you just couldn't fall off anyway and would have bagged up on anything.

I read in one of John Wilson's books about how simply colouring bait could make a big difference on a hard fished water and black bread could trick a fish into taking when white bread was ignored.

I still think, with bread as bait, the freshly baked loaf is the best. I must admit though, a fresh bag of Warburtons is very convenient and very versatile as a bait.

Wal.

[Dave Burr]

I sometimes sprinkle salt over my slices of Mr Warburton’s finest “Toastie”.
Perhaps I ought to be more ambitious and use sugar instead of salt!

The great attraction of bread is the amount of salt that's in it. I have heard that one slice has as much salt as a packet of crisps so your sprinkle may be superfluous or an act of genius

Adding a packet of Angel Delight to a paste mix is rarely wasted as they are full of appetite enhancers that bait makers ponder over for years trying to make a balanced bait. Any flavour would, with bread, be attractive to chub for example.

[Old Man River]

Peanut butter, Seville marmalade and a Middle Eastern spice mix.
The first two are also great on the crusty loaf if the fish are not interested. Essentially I do not use any additives to the bait.

Peter , I remember you using Spam fried in exotic eastern spices to great effect on the Wye, in fact before then I had myself been extremely sceptical about bait flavourings, your flavoured spam worked well, better than plain as I remember, much to my chagrin at the time.
I have changed my mind a little on the subject since then , having some success with your advised frying concoctions.
And ….
Only a few weeks ago I used chickpeas on a local water. I baited a swim with some chickpeas well soaked in a Paprika juice” I made myself, and some others as they come out of the tin
I caught several fish on the flavoured ones and not a bite on the plain ones.

Not scientific but on that day the flavoured baits worked , against all my expectations I should add .

David

[OldRod]

I have just read this post for the first time.
Fascinating Gents - thank you all!
I have never used additives, but my interest is piqued.
I did recently think about sweetcorn and its colour, and thought I would dye some, using a bit of Management's red food colour (cochineal, I think).
Interestingly (to me anyway) the inner flesh of the kernels took on the red dye, whilst the skins remained yellow, although a little paler, as I think some of the normal yellow colour "shines" through from the inner flesh of the kernel.
BUT, no discernible difference in numbers of bites.
The slow turnings of the wheels in my head continue.......

[Santiago]

Chilli oil from Patak's chilli pickle works wonders on worms; especially brandlings. Works when perch aren't feeding. Just a wee dip does the trick. Guaranteed to catch after a few minutes. I used to use it on slow days on the Thames and it's very noticeable how much it improves the fishing .