In past years, in the Summer and Autumn period when minimal bait was required, I always adopted a mix with a high percentage of fish flours. This gave me a consistent result during that time. With the arrival of the cold season, I would modify the mix by almost entirely excluding the animal protein, preferring to use Carboidarate (bird food mix). For over a year I fished almost exclusively from a lake in which I performed the longest experiment of baiting at intervals before going to fish. My objectives were varied: to test a mix with same liquid for more than one year, to act as a control, even capturing the same fish many times but more quickly, and with the same decoy, to confirm the effectiveness of a Fish mix in the winter months as well as the summer. My choice for the test environment was a small/medium lake with a population estimated not to be in excess of 20/30 carps, to obtain the best result (it would have been useless to have opted for fishing a bigger population of carp because we would not have re-caught the same one). I began the baiting in early March. For every sitting, I used approximately 1 kg of boilies - 22 millimetre- and totally homemade, and during the first fortnight I added Tiger Nuts. There is an argument that I could a have baited more generously, but, anticipating a long test period, this would have been excessively costly. In a week I baited twice, before going to fish. At the end of the session I was baiting for a third time. This sequence was consistent for all the four seasons. The first result. I began to see the first results in the beginning of May: two beautiful fish came to visit me in June, and I kept baiting in June but I didn’t fish at all. In July there were four fish, and there had also been a fish caught in May. At that time, I could not have imagined that the fish would have fallen for the same trick five times in twelve months. The month of August was a disaster. The water was almost boiling and the fish were apathetic. I kept baiting, however, pretty sure that I would continue to see the fruits of a job well done. In fact, during September the first rains came, and the fish became active again. October came, profitable as always. Other fish came up once again, as well as fish previously captured. After seven months, the fish were not tired of this kind of food, and some of them were already addicted. November came, with a sharp drop in temperature, and snow. I kept baiting with the same decoys, but with a smaller amount, and without success. The lake froze completely on December and I was totally unable to do anything. I started baiting again at the end of February and I fished again for the first time in April. Between April and May, various fish fell for the usual trick; the location had changed but they continued to fall for the same decoys. Also the beautiful fish, fell for the trap many times as they were conditioned to the decoy. Result. July came and I decided to calculate the results. I had recorded a total of seventeen fish of particular interest: of these, one fish was captured five times, other one four times, other one three times, seven fishes were caught twice, and six others a single time. I caught the fish in different locations at various times, finding that they remembered “a negative� experience in a specific feeding, preferring some others. All the fish were captured with the same decoy, made from mix and sweetener. I avoided artificial aromas because I had already noticed that, over a long period, decoys with the same aroma produced significantly less interest from the fish. During the test I always used the same rig: 35 lb with line alinier hook, a blow out rig and boilies of 22. There was no problem catching specific fish several times with the same set up.
Conclusion: I am sure that carp, even when accustomed to a good decoy, will continue to eat it, well “aware� that they are running the risk of being hooked again. With regard to tests with the fish mix in the winter season, I have not obtained any results: the zone’s altitude, cool water and the successive freezing, did not allow me to fish regularly in the cold season. In conclusion, therefore, if you are sure to have a good decoy in hand, do not change it, ever! The result will be always optimal and the less and less inhibited fish will actually be attracted to your decoys!