november-2026-free-line-part-2 - Flipbook - Page 127
FREE LINE / FIELD JOURNAL
KRIS FORD
FIELD NOTES
One pellet in particular got my attention.
Because of its size, it was capable of being used as is and would also
catapult a reasonable distance. It was about the size and vague shape of an
unshelled peanut and very dull grey/beige in appearance. The close season
was in force in those days, so I could visit the local lakes unimpaired,
and carp fishermen were thin on the ground anyway. The results were
amazing: the pellet floated, and by and large the reaction from the carp
was the same on every lake I visited. I would fire out half a dozen catapult
loads of pellets, and before the last one hit the water, the fish were at the
first lot They loved it! For a bottom bait, I didn t want to reconstitute
it to create a paste or boilie; I don t like messing, and if it ain t broke
etcetera. I just fished the bait on a short link leger (pop-up). I had those
fish virtually climbing the banks to get at that bait before I headed off in
other directions.
A well-known belief is that carp can actually sense the content within a
bait as far as whether it is good for them. There are examples in nature of
tuning to a nutritional element. Close to home but not exactly in the wild
are salt licks put out for various hoofed animals. I m not too sure that it is
purely instinct, but sheep, cattle, horses and deer to name but a few soon
approach and start to taste these licks, or mineral blocks to give them their
correct name. In the wild there are a few instances, notably in Australia
and South America, of birds parakeets and other Psittaciformes (parrots)
visiting mineral deposits on riverbanks and rock faces.
With regard to carp and bait, I would use the analogy of that fresh baked
bread smell that permeates supermarkets. If it smells good then it is
worthy of a taste test. From the perspective of a carp, since it hatched,
it has experienced countless thousands of labels and tastes: mosquito
larvae, dragonfly larvae, numerous beetles, bloodworm, fish eggs, tadpoles
etcetera, etcetera. What it has learned in spades is that anything new is
worthy of investigation as a possible food source more DNA (instinct)
influence.
Actually fish can t smell in the sense that we do.
FREE LINE
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