The baits, which differ according to the type of fisheries that are desired to be hunted by fishing or by simple means compared to industrial hunting, are one of the most important components used in fishing according to the feeding habits of fish. Bait selection, which requires as much attention as at least choosing the right hunting tool, using it correctly, and determining the right fishing location, is divided into various categories according to the sources of production.
The baits used for fishing, which can be basically divided into two main categories, can be separated under certain sub-headings. Although the baits used for angling, in general, are quite simpler, baits as octopus and crab can be preferred for different species in some regions as well.
Artificial Baits
Artificial fish: These products aim at attracting the hunter by acting as live fish in the water, reflecting the sunlight and attracting attention underwater thanks to the soft and special materials placed inside them. According to the physical structure of the water in which you will hunt and according to the type of fish you want to hunt you can choose artificial fish with different colors and in various sizes. It can be used easily in lakes, rivers, and seas and can be used more than once according to the quality of the material it is manufactured. Among the species targeted by artificial fish, there are fish attacking its prey, such as acorns and swords.
Spoon fishing: Especially in the back of the ships in motion or by throwing into the water and dragging, spoon fishing rods are expected to act just like an artificial fish in the water where hunter fish chase it and get caught. Spoon fishing rods equipped with solid fishing rods that can be thrown over long distances can be a good tool for hunting by boat in the seas.
Plastic baits, synthetic materials, and feathers: This type of baits, which are actively used in the hunting of predator fish fed by attacking any food falling into the water, are selected in accordance with the feed consumed by the fish in its regular feeding habit. They are available in different colors, sizes, and hardness. Some feathers, especially made of silk, perform well in the hunting of chased fish such as garfish.
Real Baits
Fish meats: Discarded fish or fish that have been previously hunted and separated as bait can be used to catch large fish by connecting them to the ends of the fishing lines in suitable sizes and shapes. Fish such as sardines, horse mackerels, and butts are a good option for this type of hunting.
Mollusks and crustaceans: The mollusks and crustaceans’ meats, which are extremely attractive in terms of protein and flavor, are among the baits that are highly successful in hunting, such as cuttlefish, squid, clams, and mussels. Just like fish meats, they can be used by being attached to the tip of the fishing line. They can be divided into pieces with appropriate sizes according to the fish to be hunted.
Live food: Worms, crabs or maggots extracted from the soil are also actively used in aquaculture. It can be used by breaking into pieces, chopping or attaching to the end of the fishing rod as a whole. It can be used easily in seas and lakes. They are suitable for hunting fish species that usually hunt without chasing.
The Importance of Choosing the Right Bait for Successful Fishing
The baits to be used in aquaculture hunting from the shore should be determined primarily according to the feeding habits of the species to be hunted. You must investigate how the species you want to hunt gets its food. Some species are fed by grazing among meadows and eating small crustaceans. Some are actively chasing their prey, some are fed by attacking. In general, it is unlikely that you will catch fish that are calm in nature and tend not to chase, using live and active bait. Or hunting the fish that chase the bright and remarkable small fishes, such as garfish, is not likely using wet baits collapsing when you throw them into the water.
Another issue that is as important as bait in angling is where you place the bait in the water. When deciding on this, you should again make a choice according to the type of fish you want to hunt. Bobbers and sinkers are used to position the bait in suitable places in the water. The bobber stays on the water while the fishing tackle hangs under it, while the sinker is located on the bottom and allows the fishing line to sink into as perpendicular to the water. Bobbers of different capacities and sinkers of different weights are specially designed and prepared according to the type of fish that you will hunt. Even very simple materials can be used as bobbers: sponge pieces, foam sheets, lightweight and swim plastic parts are widely used in amateur fishing, while bobbers made of robust and durable polyurethane materials are more preferred by professional anglers.
While the baits are positioned at the appropriate depth in the water, the buoyancy of the bobbers and the sinker’s tendency to sink due to the weight of it are utilized. If your bobber is too big, the bait may not sink to the required depth, and if your sinker is too heavy, it will sink the bobber to the bottom of the water. For this reason, problems such as ruptures are often seen, and the tackles that lost their function are continuing to hunt in the water and cause ghost hunting. On-shore angling is still a popular hobby and livelihood method. Researches about angling, which is a very pleasant action when done with the right and qualified tools, and development studies to bring angling to a better place, attracts different investments in the world.
Details About the Bait Types
Natural baits that are used in fishing are divided into two groups. These are the fish baits used for marine fish and fish baits used for freshwater fish.
Marine Fish Baits
a) Crustaceans:
Shrimp: Shrimp is used in hunting many fish species and is a kind of fish bait that fish likes to eat. Both live and dead shrimps are used in the hunting of fish such as bream, truffle, grouper, coral, sea bass, and black scorpionfish. For small fish, you have to peel the shrimp and remove the meat, then attach it to the hook. For large fish, the dead shrimp or the live shrimp should be attached to the hook as a whole.
Prawn: Prawn is known as a relative of shrimp living on the coast. A prawn can be described as the favorite bait of sea bass that lives in shallows like himself.
Lobster: 5 cm tall. Green and gray color. They live buried in soil in sandy or humus areas at depths of 1.5 meters. Usually used for coral fish and sea bream hunting. It should be attached to the hook, just like shrimp, alive.
Crab: Used for sea bream hunting. Crabs are collected with scoop nets through the grass, such as the collection of prawns. They can be kept alive by placing them in a sponge moistened with seawater. By squeezing the sponge one day soaked with saltwater and one day soaked with fresh water, the upper shell softens so that you get more efficient quality bait.
b) Readymade Fish Bait: These are fragrant and prepared foods for use in the sea. Mussels, canned baits, and dough made from fish such as sardines are included in this group.
c) Baits obtained from fish: With the thought of big fish eat small fish, all fish from hardyhead silverside to anchovy and bonito are used as bait for larger fish. Some fish are cut into small pieces and used as bait in hunting their own species.
The bait obtained from shiny fish with a white color such as anchovy, horse mackerel, chub mackerel, mendole, hardyhead silverside, mackerel, sardines, sprat, garfish, bonito, acorn, and bluefish, are called whitebait. The fish to be used as bait must be attached to the hook as a whole, dead or cut. The fish that are cut and attached to the hook will be whitebait. Other species of fish should be attached alive or dead as a whole.
Live Bait: In the hunting made from the boat, hunting is successful with the live attachment of fish. Hooks to be used for live bait must be thick stranded. The bait should not be battered by attaching the hook live.
Whole Dead Bait: It can be used in all fishing gear. A thin hook or a long one is required to attach the bait. If the baitfish to be used as a whole are kept in water after death, the mackerel may break and change its shape and become unusable. It is best to store the fish in damp places under the wet cloth. It is possible to cut the needle-attached whitebaits in various ways.
Leaf Bait: The fish to be bait should be cut with a sharp knife from the level of the side fins to the tail part as if cutting a fillet just above the middle fishbone. The tail must be separated by cutting. We call this part the leaf bait. You need to start attaching the leaf bait to the hook through the tail. And you have to rotate it once, and then stab it again. Finally, after stabbing, the bright part of the bait must be pointed towards the tip of the hook. They can be used with all fishing gear.
Slap Bait: The bait should be cut as if cutting a leaf up to the anus starting from the tail end of the fish.
Leech Bait: Leech bait is thin long bait pieces obtained by cutting the leaf cut bait as longitudinal stripes.
Bite: The bait obtained by cutting the juvenile fish such as anchovy and garfish into cylindrical pieces with the fishbone is called bite. It is used in the fishing gear used for coral and bream hunting.
Offal Bait: Baits obtained by removing the fresh internal organs of large fish such as bonito and acorn are called offal baits. Offal baits can be used in mullet, sea bass, mendole, horse mackerel, and bream hunting.
d) Maggot: It is eaten by mullet, bream and horse mackerel. They live in marshes. Must be kept in damp places.
e) Dough Bait: It is made from fresh bread and cheese dough and used for hunting fish such as two banded bream and mullet.
f) Mollusks:
- Cuttlefish: Cuttlefish is used for bream, two banded bream, and coral fishing. The small ones are used as a whole for perch fishing.
- Squid: The meat is hard to remove from the hook. The head and end sides are used for perch hunting in crawling, while the smaller ones are used as a whole. Its arms are used in coral, bream and sea bream hunting.
- Scallops: On the sandy shores in the shallows, small crustaceans that are similar to oysters are called scallops.
- Mussel: It is mostly used by amateurs.
g) Feeding: It is the process of hunting that is done with the collection of fish in the region where the smell is scattered around.
h) Other baits: The heart is divided into small pieces and used as bait. Chicken meat and chicken breast are also used.
Freshwater Fish Baits
They show more diversity and variety than the bait used in the sea.
a) Mollusks:
- Mussels: Mussels are the favorite food of freshwater carp. Its shape resembles sea mussels.
b) Worm: Can be used for all fish except pike. It is known to be the best bait for the spring and summer months.
c) Bait obtained from fish:
They are used in the hunt for carnivorous freshwater fish. They might be used as a whole dead, as a leaf cut, and as a small bait. Used for crane hunt in freshwater. It is used as a whole or as leaf cut bait in the bottom fishing tackle. The live bait is stabbed in the lower jaw and the hook is taken from the upper jaw to attach the bait.
d) Crustaceans:
- Crayfish: Crayfish is the smallest of sea lobsters and belongs to a different species.
- Shrimp: Shape is similar to sea shrimp. Its use is just like sea shrimp.
e) Dough Baits: Dough baits can be described as the most popular bait for carp and water mullet.
f) Insects and larvae:
- Housefly larva: It is used very rarely. It is seen that this bait used for carp is mostly used in spring and summer months.
- Blood leech: It is one of the most used baits in freshwater fish hunting. It is the most popular bait used to hunt catfish.
- Insects: Live and dead insects such as ladybugs, grasshoppers, and beetles can be used as bait. They are mostly used in trout fishing.
- Mosquito larva: For carp and varieties, mosquito larva is among the most preferred bait in autumn and winter months.
g) Readymade baits: Canned fish and dough baits made from specially prepared fragrant flour.
h) Frog: It is an ideal bait for pike and catfish hunting. The frog should be attached to the hook alive.
i) Feeding: Feeding method brings the fish closer to the shore. The first method that comes to mind when you think about feeding is to throw bread on the water. It provides easy fishing by staying in the gathering area for a long time by feeding. Some of the other materials that can be used in feeding are corn, boiled cereals, and nuts. The feeding method is of greater importance in freshwaters compared with the sea. It must be used if you want to catch big fish.
j) Cereals: Grain cereals that carp loves a lot such as wheat, beans, potatoes, corn, millet, peanuts, and chickpeas are also used as baits.
k) Other Feed: It is seen that there is a big difference between the bait used in freshwater and marine baits. Meat, chicken meat, liver, fruit pieces, and even a mouse can be used as bait. The mouse is attached live on the hook.
How to Obtain Fish Bait from Poultry?
You should make sure the chicken meat is boneless. You should adjust the chicken meat according to the way you hunt. If you are going to hunt from the shore, you should cut 1/5 cm wide fillet chicken meat. You should then cut the fillets into cubes. You should place a few paper towels in the container where you will salt and store the chicken meat. That is how you can prepare the bait made using chicken meat.
Fish Bait Production
At the beginning of fish bait production, raw materials are taken into dosing silos by means of horizontal and vertical carriers. After taking into the silos, dosing is done in the amounts specified in the rations. The raw materials should be weighed on the scales. Then, following the pre-mixing, grinding and sieving processes, the raw materials should be transported to the silos on the extruder. After the extruder conditioner, oil, water, and dry water vapor should be added to help shape the bait by firing. The raw material mixture in powder form in the extruder should be cooked and shaped by cutting and turned into a pallet. The baits should be dried in the dryer. After sieving the dried baits, they should be inserted into the vacuum lubrication unit.
Baits absorbing fish oil or vegetable oil in the vacuum oil coating unit should be transported through the cooler and transported to the silos with the help of horizontal and vertical carriers. They should be packed after sieving. The baits analyzed should be stocked in the warehouse after it is determined that they meet the product criteria.
Stages of Fish Bait Production:
1) Gutting and cleaning
2) Dosing
3) Grinding
4) Mixing (beater)
5) Pre-cooking
6) Baking (extruder), sterilization and shaping
7) Drying unit (steam or flame drying with burner)
8) Lubrication unit (vacuum)
9) Cooling unit
10) Packing unit
How to Attach Live Bait to the Hook?
Live bait to be used in hunting need to be attached to the hook in a way that it will remain alive for the longest time. Especially if you are going to attach live fish to the hook, you should first pass the hook through the tail where it starts, but you should do it before it goes too deep and tearing the skin of the fish. Then you should pass the hook for the second time through the spine on its back and thus keep the fish alive. Another method is to use the hook by passing it through the gill without damaging it.
Live bait is more necessary for pike and sea bass. Those who do not want to deal with it can use the throw and pull method using a fake bait. Light and sound factors can be used to increase the awareness of artificial bait. It is often useful if the bait provides a twitching reflection. This can be enhanced with acrylic dyes, hologram papers or silvery yarns. Where it is not enough, an LED lamp can be installed into the bait. This formula is particularly good for fish living in large seas. Fish-like hard baits can be moved like a wounded live fish by attaching them from a few places in the middle. Some designs may even mimic the tail wagging of a fish. They enhance the natural appearance of the bait.
However, in most cases, natural live bait is way more useful than artificial ones. Because artificial baits awake the fish as they are quite strange compared to the normal fish. Of course, we don’t know what the fish exactly thinks but experience shows that natural baits are more useful. The aim of artificial bait is to be able to attract the fish as much as possible. A spoon is not like fish. It is not like almost any food in the water. But the brightness causes the predatory fish to attack. That is why spoons are more productive than live bait in prey such as bluefish and pike.
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