Fishing is an art. And being an art, not everyone is naturally gifted at it. So, if you don’t research thoroughly, you won’t be able to develop this skill. So when starting out in fishing, you need to equip yourself with the most basic knowledge: from choosing the type of fishing rod, choosing the time and place to fish, how to ferment fishing bait… to understanding this fish species’ characteristics and preferences. Only then will your fishing trip have a chance of success. Duc Binh Microbial Products shares the details in this article: “What do carp like to eat? Popular ways to ferment carp fishing bait today”
The most commonly encountered carp is the many-finned carp
1. Overview of carp
Carp is a freshwater fish species that can be found in any pond or lake. Carp like to live in wide bodies of water with slow-moving currents. The most common and popular carp variety in Vietnam today is the many-finned carp.
Carp habits
Carp have good sensitivity thanks to their hearing, sight, touch, taste, and smell. They detect bait very quickly but eat quite slowly and calmly. The bigger the carp, the slower it eats. But before eating bait, carp consider it quite carefully, and only eat if they feel it’s safe.
Carp like to live in wide, oxygen-rich waters
Large carp usually live in deep, wide bodies of water (though not touching the bottom). They don’t like cold, but don’t like heat either. They like to stay in cool waters with plenty of oxygen, in areas with lots of trees creating shade.
Feeding habits
Carp have certain feeding habits inherent to their nature. Below are a few cases that can cause carp to not want to eat bait
Carp like to live in wide waters because they’re clean, with little debris. So they also like to eat bait in clean, unpolluted waters, without the smell of trash or burnt herbicide. But they also won’t eat bait in waters that are too clean and clear, as they’ll feel unsafe, so carp are usually quite alert in clear water environments where they can see all the way to the bottom
Carp have quite sharp hearing, so a fishing spot with a lot of noise will also make them alert and not eat bait. Carp usually go feeding more at night. So fishing for carp during the day will be quite difficult to approach, because at that time they tend to hide in rock crevices and among aquatic plants to rest and digest food.
What carp like to eat most
Carp can be considered an omnivorous fish in rivers and lakes, as they can eat a variety of things from plants to animals in the lake. Carp like water that’s just right, not too cold and not too hot. Therefore, in cold water conditions, they won’t want to eat bait.
Carp like foods closely related to chitin
Carp have a keen sense of smell, so they very quickly recognize foods that have been treated with chemicals. Or when carp fishing bait in cold water contains more organic acids, making the bait less appealing, carp won’t eat it. Conversely, bait for carp in warm water will be sweeter and tastier.
According to many studies, the substance that nourishes carp is chitin (the substance that forms shells, fins, bones, and horns in animals). So carp really like foods with a lot of glucose or polysaccharides, substances closely related to chitin.
Foods with the most chitin, such as sour ferment (especially naturally sour-fermented sweet foods), are foods carp really like to eat. Carp also like some other appealing flavors such as licorice, mint root, sugar beet, wheat, and fruit.
2. How to ferment bait for typical carp species
There are many ways to ferment carp fishing bait. The ingredients used are diverse, abundant, and especially easy to find, such as powdered milk, sweet potato, glutinous rice flour, mung beans, soybeans, peanuts, sesame, banana, etc. However, depending on the characteristics of each type of carp as well as its living environment, we use different types of bait. Below is one way to make and ferment carp fishing bait
Sweet potato bait for natural lake carp
The ingredients to prepare are quite simple, including: sweet potato (white sweet potato is recommended) 300g; fresh milk (a type with few preservatives); animal butter; yogurt; vitamin C powder or effervescent tablets, 20g of EMZEO fermented bran
The most effective way to ferment carp fishing bait today
Instructions:
After cleaning and prepping the sweet potato, steam (or boil) it until cooked, about 20 minutes. Then use a blender (if you don’t have one, you can use a mortar and pestle to mash the sweet potato).
Next, mix all the above ingredients together to produce the finished carp fishing bait. Note: mix thoroughly, kneading evenly by hand, blending the ingredients well, especially the effervescent vitamin C tablet with the milk and yogurt.
After mixing evenly, put the above mixture into a plastic bag or wrap it tightly and put it in the refrigerator to ferment. This is because if the outside temperature is too hot, the bait will sour faster and spoil easily. Before use, take the carp fishing bait out of the refrigerator about 15 minutes beforehand.
Fermenting super-sensitive river carp bait
Super-sensitive river carp fishing bait
River carp are usually difficult to catch. So, the ingredients to prepare also need to be a bit different from lake carp fishing bait. This includes: 1 chicken egg; 300g sandwich bread, 2 sweet potatoes; dried fish meal, 100g soybean flour (or soybean powder), 1 ripe banana, and 30g of EMZEO fermented bran
Instructions: Boil the sweet potato, then peel it. Let it cool completely, then grind it as in the previous recipes. Next, grind or roll the fish meal to make the powder finer, minimizing lumpiness as much as possible.
Similarly, tear the sandwich bread into pieces and mash the banana. Mix all the above ingredients evenly, then crack in the chicken egg and continue mixing until it forms a sticky, dough-like mass that doesn’t stick to your hands
Stir all the above ingredients evenly. Ferment it sealed for 6–8 hours before fishing
Fermenting bait for veteran carp
Veteran carp are usually carp that have lived for many years; they’re quite large, very smart, and difficult to catch. Because they’ve lived for a long time, these carp’s sensitivity is also higher than other types. So fermenting bait for veteran carp also requires a more complex recipe with more lure ingredients.
Veteran carp are usually difficult to catch
The ingredients used will include: 1 pack of bird feed; 40 grams of corn bran; 30 grams each of mung beans and peanuts; 40 grams of soybeans, 20 grams of black sesame; 20 grams of glutinous rice; 300 grams of sprouted rice; 100g of milk biscuits; 5 grams of star anise, 1 monk fruit, and 10g of EMZEO fermented bran
If you’re a meticulous cook, use a small precision scale to make the veteran carp bait recipe even more perfect. If not, you can also estimate the ratios without being too precise; it’s also fine to be missing 1–2 ingredients from this recipe. This method is clearly more complex than the recipes mentioned above.
- Step 1: Toast the rice bran and corn bran until fragrant. Similarly, toast the beans in the recipe until fragrant, but don’t let them burn. Once toasted fragrant, quickly cover the toasted products tightly in a basket or large cloth to ferment.
- Step 2: Grind the bran and bean mixture. Similarly, grind the sesame, glutinous rice, and sprouted rice after toasting them into a fine powder. However, the sesame doesn’t need to be fermented after toasting
- Step 3: Crush the milk biscuits and bird feed
- Step 4: Mix all the ingredients together evenly. Add a little water so the mixture has a certain moisture level as well as cohesion. Put the mixture in a plastic bag and ferment for 4–5 hours before use
Note: With the above veteran carp bait recipe, divide the amount of bait into 2 portions. One portion will be shaped into large balls to throw directly into the river. The remaining portion will be shaped smaller, like marbles, to attach to the fishing bait.
3. Some other ways to ferment carp bait
Fermenting carp bait for single-hook fishing
The ingredients used include: 150g mung beans (mung bean powder for drinking can be used), 2 boxes of yogurt (near-expiry can be used), 150g sugarcane sugar or rock sugar, 1 garlic bulb, 3 ripe chili peppers, 2kg river snails, 20g EMZEO fermented bran, 1 chicken egg, plus corn flour or wheat flour (if available) to adjust the bait’s stickiness.
Fermenting carp bait for single-hook fishing
Instructions:
First, crush 2kg of river snails as finely as possible. Then mix all the ingredients evenly except the corn flour and wheat flour. Ferment this mixture sealed for about 3 days. When you get to the fishing spot, mix in the egg and snail meat. Then add the corn flour or wheat flour to add more stickiness and elasticity to the carp fishing bait.
Read now: What do black carp eat? How to make extremely sensitive black carp fishing bait
Carp bait from leftover rice and rice wine mash
The simple ingredients to prepare include: leftover rice; rice wine mash (called “com ruou” in some places), and EMZEO fermented bran
Mix the leftover rice and rice wine mash ingredients at a 1:3 ratio. Ferment this bait mixture for 2–3 days until you see the rice mixture becoming mushy and mashed. Next, choose good, fragrant bird feed without any unusual smell to mix into the above rice mixture. However, don’t overuse too much fermented bran.
Once mixed, continue fermenting for another half day, and then you can take the bait fishing for carp. This is because if fermented too long with the bran, the fishing bait will spoil
Fermenting carp fishing bait using EMZEO fermented bran creates an extremely powerful carp attractant
Bait fermented from bread and yogurt
The ingredients you need to prepare include: corn flour; bread crumbs; oatmeal; finely ground roasted peanuts; cheese; fermented water; 1 can of liver pâté for cats, EMZEO fermented bran
Instructions: Similar to the methods above. Mix all these ingredients together. Knead thoroughly by hand until the dough doesn’t stick to your hands; feel for the mixture to have just the right elasticity. Next, ferment the mixture for 30 minutes and it’s ready to use
4. Sharing the most effective carp fishing techniques
Carp are a very sharp, sensitive omnivorous fish. Therefore, catching carp isn’t as simple as some people think. For a bountiful carp fishing trip, you need to master the techniques and characteristics of the species:
Choose the appropriate fishing time
Clearly, the fishing time will greatly affect an angler’s success. In sunny seasons, carp usually go looking for food in the early morning or cool afternoon and late evening. In winter, since the ambient temperature is low, fish will be less active, making fishing more difficult.
Our advice for you: Don’t go carp fishing if the weather is unpredictable. Choose a day without rain, with nice weather, clear skies. Why? Because on rainy or hot days, carp will move less and become more passive, so they’re lazy about hunting for food. Conversely, if the weather is nice and the oxygen in the water is suitable, the fish will be happy and actively moving, so anglers can easily achieve their goal.
Choose a good fishing spot
To get carp to bite quickly, you need to choose a good sitting spot. We must observe the characteristics of the area we’re about to fish. From there, choose the most suitable spot for ourselves:
- If fishing in a natural lake: Choose to sit in an area with a lot of submerged tree stumps, a lot of algae, or a place with a sloped bank. These are places carp often visit.
- If it’s a service (paid) lake: Find a seat near the shore or a place with gently flowing water, or a place with plenty of oxygen and plenty of natural food for the fish.
Watch the float when the fish bites
This is also an important technique when fishing for carp that every angler needs to learn. It helps you react in time and successfully set the hook before the carp finds a way to escape. Specifically, when the fish begins to approach the bait, the float will only shake slightly or sink halfway into the water.
If a carp is testing or nibbling the bait, the float will bob up and down before finally sinking completely. Remember, only when the float is pulled down decisively or sinks slowly does it indicate the fish has taken the bait and started pulling it away. At this point, the angler must not be impatient; if you jerk the rod immediately, you might unfortunately lose the fish.
So, you must stay calm and wait until the float has completely sunk before making a strong, decisive hook-set. To master this technique, you must observe and practice many times. Through practical experience, we’ll gain many good, effective fishing secrets.
Once you’ve grasped the characteristics, habits, and feeding preferences of carp, you’re ready to pick up your rod and go fishing. However, not everyone is lucky on their first fishing trip. We hope that with the above sharing on how to ferment carp fishing bait, it will make the fish bite, helping you succeed on your next fishing trips.
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Contact Information
Duc Binh Microbial Products – Research and Application Center for Biological Products specializes in researching, manufacturing, and applying product lines: probiotics, septic tank enzymes, wastewater treatment enzymes, aquaculture enzymes, biological products … Sharing many aquaculture tips for sustainable and effective farming
Address: 1B Alley 774 Kim Giang, Thanh Liet, Hanoi
Phone: 0934.214.579
Hotline: 024.66.55.46.86
Website: https://chephamvisinh.vn
