november-2026-free-line-part-2 - Flipbook - Page 121
FREE LINE / FIELD JOURNAL
KRIS FORD
FIELD NOTES
Surely a new lease of life is guaranteed by simply changing the colour,
and there are plenty to choose from to ring the changes. Surely any given
bait will last for years and years simply by changing the colours, and
all this before you need to mess with flavours, which will give you even
more years? I was pleased to read via Tim that dear old Rod Hutchinson
(Hutchy) held exactly the same view.
That baits blow or lose attractiveness to carp is a well-known fact. Not
only have we suffered a drop-off in bites, but when lucky, we also have
visual evidence as well, excellently illustrated by Jack Hilton describing
seeing a carp put the brakes on by flaring its pectorals and seeing it
seem to tremble all over .
The cause of such alarm was a humble white potato, arguably not the best
of baits, but what would have happened if the potato had been dyed red
or yellow or purple? We shall never know. Surely most of us have spent
countless hours enthralled watching carp and their reactions to many
various stimuli.
Carp aren t stupid, but neither do they have degrees in food and nutrition,
although they could probably teach it. What they do have is a simple
but great and sensitive environmental aware sensory system, a gut and
a multi-millenia of refined instinct (aka DNA). Those who know me
understand that I tend to think in straight lines, logically and am used
to problem solving on a daily basis. I prefer black or white but not both,
grey may occasionally enter an equation but only as a maybe or what if.
So let s look at two areas of apparent conflict (contradiction) presented
by Tim and allow me to provide a possible answer to both.
Tim presents us with the paradoxical facts that carp are more capable
physiologically to digest highly nutritious bait in the months of warmer
water temperatures. The sting is that because the water is warm, it
contains less oxygen, which is an essential requirement to the digestion,
so the carp are forced to eat less because of the HNV. However, during
the months of colder water temperatures, the oxygen content is much
higher, indeed very high, and so aids digestion.
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