The Dying Art of Bait-Making
Like so many of my fellow anglers I found myself once again in a Tackle Shop. I wasn’t sure what exactly I went in for, but whatever the reason it was lost to me upon entering. It was a new store that just opened and I was soon in discussion with the owner. He being a lure and fly fisherman didn’t know much about various baits and flavours. Like so many tackle shop owners he reverted to the bait manufacturers and was assured by each that their baits are the best on the market. On hearing this advice he went to the local fishing hole and asked various anglers what baits they used and by whom they were manufactured. He then purchased his stock in accordance to that research.
That evening I was reading one of the old fishing books that I inherited from my father. One of the chapters was devoted to bait under the heading “The Fine Art Of Bait Making”. It gave basic recipes for making baits with various ingredients, ranging through maize meal, bread and flour. Being old it didn’t say much about HNV, attractors and stimulants, instead terms such as flavours and colorants were used. Throughout the chapter it was mentioned how much pride the angler took in his ability to create something that might catch him the biggest and the best – a true artist at work.
I reflected upon my own experiments in my youth. Creating a base and then adding “flavours and colorants” at the waterside to see what kind of response I had with different combinations. Needless to say I blanked a lot, but still the anticipation of what might happen overwhelmed the disappointment of not succeeding. Now, like so many present day anglers, I mostly use store-bought bait. It is an easy, no mess and no fuss way of getting bait. Besides, you don’t want to get the missus all ruffled up when you want to make bait and might create a bit of a mess. The problem I have found is the cost and sheer number of baits one ends up with and the fact that the angler next to you always seem to have the bait that works that day
On a recent day trip to our local waters I decided to do some research of my own. The question was quite simple. Do you use store-bought or home-made baits? According to my quick survey 90% of the anglers at the local waters use store-bought baits. Irrespective of the reasons I could not believe that in a span of a couple of years most fisherman had changed from bait creators to bait shoppers. Are we losing a part of our heritage as fisherman? Does anybody have any pride in saying “I have caught this fish on something that I have devised myself”? Are we so conditioned by articles and bait manufacturers that we don’t believe in our own ability any more?
I was wondering if, in this day and age, there are still some anglers that go through the process of preparing bait for their trip so lovingly expanded on by the author. The pride you feel when you get that big one, all anglers inquisitively asking, “What did you use?” and your reply stating that it is bait made with your own hands. Isn’t the ‘catch’ that much bigger and better, even if it is just superficial?
How does one teach someone to fish without even mentioning the making of one’s own bait? I do believe that bait manufactures have an important role to play within the sport of fishing but do they have to be so important that we can’t do without them? Most aspects of fishing have been taken over by manufacturers. Fishing has become a one-stop shopping extravaganza. In the past all that was bought was rods, reels, line, hooks and weights, plus some odds and ends. We made our own banksticks and bite alarms, our own rigs and baits. These days there are actually some anglers that can’t even tie a proper knot. The bait issue was one of the last areas where fisherman had their own say in the sport. Unfortunately this is also starting to change to a commercialised domain. How does one teach the aspects of the sport when we are losing one of the biggest and most important aspects of fishing?
How do we rectify the situation? We don’t have anyone to blame but ourselves. We have become so accustomed to having it easy in this day and age that should this continue our sport would die a sorry death by our own hands. Even the fish we catch are labelled and stocked for our ‘enjoyment’.
I know that some things cant be helped and that the sport needs a helping hand every so often but aren’t we busy breeding more and more tailored anglers than fisherman? As with so much in life the only constant is change, making one wonder if those old fishermen that are so rigid in their ways might not have been right all along. They might have foreseen that constantly buying into the new ways might lead to us not being free-thinking fisherman but rather robot-like workhorses.
Some might argue that shop-bought bait leaves more time for fishing, but isn’t that part of the excitement and build-up to a fishing trip? The pre-season cleaning of gear, the discussion and testing of baits. Bait-making is an art form, although not everyone is good at it, it still forms an integral part of the basics of angling. It will help you to learn and understand your local waters better. Not only will you know what works where and when but also the nature of fish and how they react to changes and how they themselves adapt to different conditions. If you don’t try you will never succeed.
