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Main » 2012 » August » 30 » On the attractivity of Robin Red Carp Pellets produced by Dynamite Baits Company: myth is myth


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On the attractivity of Robin Red Carp Pellets produced by Dynamite Baits Company: myth is myth

Numerous manufacturers of baits for carp, bream and other cyprinid fish often include original Robin Red in their products (pellets, boilies, pop-ups, groundbaits).

Robin Red is known as an attractor and nutritional food product for carp and other cyprinid fish since 1950s. The active ingredients in Robin Red include blended peppers, sugars, selected food oils and blended spices. There is only one genuine, authentic and original Robin Red that comes from Haith's Company, United Kingdom.

For decades, Robin Red is considered as an undeniable ingredient of fish baits: its effectiveness is taken for granted, not qualified or verified. However, our field tests with young roach, Rutilus rutilus, as model fish do not educe an admitted effectiveness of Robin Red and related products.

Fig.1 (read text)

Field experiments were usually conducted in river bays on the sandy shallows (20-30 cm depth) near the shore using the two portable guiding net (10 mm mesh) wings (1.2-1.5 m length, 20-30 cm height), with small foam floats and brass sinkers, that were stretched between the two stainless steel pegs perpendicular to the shore (see Fig 1). Roach (usually, from 4-5 to 10-12 cm length) that moved along the shore faced one of the wings, avoided it, entered the corridor (35 cm width) between the two wings and found, near the shore, the two clay balls (at the distance of 25 cm from their centers) that formed Odor Zone 1 and Odor Zone 2 to choose from (see Fig.1).


Common roach, Rurilus rutilus


Other mass bentivorous fish, such as young bream, Abramis brama, and young white bream, Blicca bjoerkna, were also used as model fish in these experiments.

Direct field experiments with young carp are difficult, because hatchery ponds usually have not suitable shallows.

To provide constantly the same distance between the clay balls (shown conventionally as red spots in Fig.1), they were placed on the adjustable cup-like pedestals of the brass frame (Fig.2) hidden in the sand.

Fig.2 (read text)

Compared mixes were prepared of pure dry clay (90 or 100 gr per one ball, plus 10 or 1 gr of attractant) and the corresponding attractants. Moist mixes were rolled in the balls that had the same color (grey), shape (sphere) and size (2.0-2.5 cm radii depending on the density of clay).

To ensure exactly the same color of the balls, sometimes they were powdered with the sand.

In the capacity of standard attractant, one of our Unificated Feeding Attractants (UFA) was used in experiments. This four ingredient attractant, that is marked as UFA F4 and includes equal parts of squashed live sludgeworms, Tubifex tubifex, zebra mussels, Dreissena polymorpha (without shells), sideswimmers, Gammarus pulex, as well as water larvae of insects, mainly bloodworms, Chironomus plumosus, is very strong for feeding-odor guided fresh (F) water fish (Cyprinidae, Percidae, Cobitidae, Siluridae, etc.). One gram of this attractant, with 0.25 gr of each ingredient, was mixed with 100 gr of pure dry clay.

This attractant with the same or related feeding organisms and its ingredients are widely used in scientific research.

As the compared attractant, Robin Red Carp Pellets manufactured by Dynamite Baits Company, United Kingdom, were used. Dynamite Baits is an approved company that uses Haith's Company products. The concrete nature of active ingredients in Robin Red (see above) and their amounts are unknown. According to Dynamite Baits, Robin Red Carp Pellets are enhanced with amino acids and proteins. The concrete composition of Robin Red Carp Pellets is also unknown. To balance, in all our experiments 10 gr of powdered dry carp pellets were mixed with 90 gr of pure dry clay.

In the first experiment, 6 tests with the left position of one of the compared balls and 6 tests with the right position of the same ball were made. For statistical estimations with use of the sign test (+ or –), an observer fixed visually the first touch (the first touch test) of roach to Ball1 or Ball 2.

Findings given in the Table show that in the first presentation tests roach ignored an odor of Robin Red Carp Pellets. In our case, n =12, z fact =11, z standard = 11, p < 0.01. As seen, roach touched clay balls with 10 gr of powdered Robin Red Carp Pellets only 1 time of the 12 possible.


Ball
presentation
number

Robin Red Carp Pellets
10 gr per 90 gr clay
UFA F4
1 gr per 100 gr clay
01
-
+
02
-
+
03
-
+
04
-
+
05
-
+
06
-
+
07
-
+
08
-
+
09
-
+
10
-
+
11
+
-
12
-
+

Moreover, roach willingly nibbled clay balls with UFA F4, but not balls with carp pellets. In final sum, the same results were obtained in several (11) other sessions in other test localities. To the point, roach preferred balls with 1 gr of bloodworms over balls with 10 gr of carp pellets.

It is known that all active ingredients included in commercial Robin Red and related Robin Red Carp Pellets are attractive for fish. For comparison, acrid black and white peppers, Piper nigrum (Piperaceae), and some other spices attract oriental weatherfish, Misgurnus anguillicaudatus, and yellowtail, Seriola quinqueradiata (Harada, 1990). According to Venkateshwarlu et al. (2009), kakla pepper, Piper cubela (from the same family Piperaceae), is more attractive for South-East Asian rohu, Labeo rohita (Cyprinidae), than commercial betaine. But it does not mean that naturally odd odors of Robin Red and Robin Red Carp Pellets must beat odors familiar for fish.

Natural feeding attractants are based on feeding organisms that are familiar for fish in water bodies with common, middle and even strong angling pressure. These attractants are ethologically grounded, they start to work instantly. On the contrary, carp pellets, boilies and related products are rather nutritionally based. In natural water bodies, you must spend several days of regular groundbaiting to habituate fish to frequently unusual odors of these products.

In water bodies with strong angling pressure, the effectiveness of carp pellets, boilies and related products are dependent on the pre-history (usually unknown) of groundbaiting and pre-baiting. After exposing research conducted by Richard Arlinghaus with co-authors (e.g., Arlinghaus & Niesar, 2005), declarated nutritional values of these products must be put under the deep doubts.

Basic References

Arlinghaus R., Niesar M. 2005. Nutrient degestibility of angling baits for carp, Cyprinus carpio, with implications for groundbait formulation and eutrophication control. Fisheries Management & Ecology 12, 91-97

Harada K. 1990. Attraction activities of spices for oriental weatherfish and yellowtail. Nippon Suisan Gakkaishi 56, 2029-2033

Venkateshwarlu G., Muralidhar A. P., Rathod R., Pal A. K. 2009. Plants traditionally used in fish harvest & angling potential feed attractants in aquaculture. Indian Journal of Traditional Knowledge 8, 539-542

Category: Groundbait & Prebaiting | Views: 3122 | Added by: nickyurchenko | Tags: Dynamite Baits, carp pellets, Robin Red Carp Pellets, Rutilus rutilus, Robin Red, attractants, sign test | Rating: 0.0/0

   

   

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