DIY bite activator. Detailed instructions and recipe

To increase the volume of catch while fishing, many people use special baits that attract prey to the fishing spot.

Many fishermen use such tools, regardless of whether they are amateur beginners or professionals. The most popular option is to use bite activators, which will be discussed in this article.

Is it possible to make a fish bite activator with your own hands?

The modern fishing market offers a wide range of different bite activators from different manufacturers. They can be produced in liquid form or in tablet form, but regardless of this, they perform the same function - luring potential prey from different directions and increasing its appetite level. However, it is not at all necessary to purchase this product in a store, since you can make it yourself at home.

If you decide to go with this option, then you need to take into account that any activator must include the following components:

Vegetable oils.
Ingredients with a pronounced aroma, special flavors.
Various squeezes.
Spices.
Amino acids.
Ingredients of animal origin are usually selected depending on the type of fish that you plan to catch.

When manufacturing bite activators, it is also necessary to take into account that the features of use will depend on their shape:

Liquid products should have a strong aroma and are usually intended to be used on artificial tackle or added to the main bait being used. The optimal volume is 5-7% of the total mass.
Dry or compressed varieties are suitable for throwing into the water at a fishing spot.

Favorite crucian carp activators

Various additives that stimulate fish bite have been used by our fishermen for a long time. Starting with the traditional carp odors for this representative, such as garlic, anise, vanillin, hemp, vegetable oil, and ending with the most complex “cocktails” produced industrially - everything increases the efficiency of hunting.

It is advisable to have various forms of bait on hand - both a powdered bite activator for crucian carp and a liquid one. All of them are ideal for adding to the bait mixture. To make your own bite activator with your own hands and find the most optimal taste and smell for crucian carp, you should experiment a lot.

Homemade bite activator: step-by-step instructions

For different fish, bite activators of different compositions are used; the first to be considered is the process of preparing the product, which is intended for carp and related fish species:

Prepare corn kernels, which will be the main ingredient. In this case, it is necessary to throw away all spoiled, too small or unripe grains.
The container with corn grains poured into it is filled with ordinary water, after which the future bait settles for at least 3 days.
After the specified period, the mixture is put on fire and cooked for an hour. All this time it needs to be stirred with a spoon to prevent the mass from turning into a homogeneous porridge.
After an hour, remove from heat and wait until it cools completely.
Add a small amount of honey or sugar to give the bait the necessary sweetish taste.

Another popular catch among many fishermen is crucian carp; the specifics of preparing bite activators for this breed are given below:

Pour about 200 ml into a container made of iron. water, add a few drops of any flavoring for crucian carp.
Place the container on the fire and bring the water to a boil.
Start adding semolina while stirring it with a spoon. This must be done until the mixture turns into a homogeneous mass.
The mass is removed from the heat and steamed for 5 minutes.
Wait until it cools, then knead the resulting product with your hands to give it a denser structure. This process usually takes about 10 minutes.

There is also an alternative option designed to attract crucian carp, its recipe is given below:

Select a glass container, the volume of which should not be less than half a liter.
Pour about 50 grams into it. pearl barley.
Pour water into the container, previously brought to a boil.
Close the lid securely and wrap the container in a towel or blanket, which will keep the heat inside much longer.
The product should sit for 3-4 hours, this time should be enough for the grains to swell, but they should not be allowed to take the form of porridge or a homogeneous mass.
Additionally, add garlic, anise, crushed dill seeds, vanillin, reed roots, cocoa powder or any other ingredients that have pleasant odors for crucian carp to the activator.

When fishing for roach, the same mixture as the bait can help activate the bite. If fish is caught with a worm, then it is used as an additional means intended to attract prey; the preparation recipe is given below:

Mix the potatoes with the same amount of flour, which is made from fairly durum wheat.
Boil several large potatoes, after which they will need to be grated or simply crushed in a separate container.
Pour the resulting mixture with clean water.
Place on the fire and bring to a boil, then cook for about half an hour.
As additional components, you can use cumin, vanillin, hemp, garlic, reed roots, bananas or other ingredients that have an attractive aroma for roaches.

Comparison of Fishhungry and other manufacturers and homemade attractant

Today, one of the most popular store-bought bite activators is FishHungry; active advertising campaigns, especially on the Internet, helped this brand take a leading position. After a thorough analysis of the opinions of people who managed to use it, we can come to the following conclusions:

Fish Hungry in a number of cases actually helped activate the bite, but did not show any fantastic results. Moreover, it has a number of negative reviews, where people claim that the activator did not justify itself and had absolutely no effect on the quality of the bite.
Fish Hungry is positioned as a universal activator that can attract the attention of any breed of fish thanks to the addition of special pheromones. This cannot be true, since there is no such aroma that can interest absolutely every fish, and besides, peaceful breeds and predators use completely different pheromones when transmitting signals to their relatives. Most likely, it is for this reason that Fishhungry could show positive results or have no effect in different situations.

Other well-known brands that are actively sold today include the following:

Mondial-F is a Belgian-made product with an affordable price. Unlike Fishhungry, it is not positioned as a universal activator and has a wide range of products designed to attract the attention of different breeds of fish.
“Rybolov” is a domestic analogue and also has specialized options for catching various prey.
Sensas is a French-made groundbait and is one of the world leaders in this industry. At the same time, the bite activator is relatively inexpensive, has various types and has managed to collect a sufficient number of positive reviews.

If we compare various bite activators, we can come to the conclusion that using Fishhungry is a kind of lottery, since its versatility is not justified in any way, and a positive result cannot be guaranteed.

A much more rational solution would be to use home remedies or specialized store-bought options designed to attract a specific type of prey.

Features of a good activator

Each angler uses his own bait. Some buy a bite activator in a store, paying quite a lot of money for it, others prefer to cook it with their own hands. However, there are some qualities that should characterize both factory-made and home-made mixtures. Firstly, it is important for the activator to be able to attract potential prey even from a sufficient distance. The larger the area of the reservoir that the active pheromone in the attractant mixture covers, the greater the chance of returning home with a good catch.

Another characteristic is versatility. After all, it’s convenient when you can use the same bite activator for crucian carp, perch, in general, for both peaceful and predatory fish. However, the effectiveness of the product should not be affected by such diverse applications.

Alternative – electronic baits

A more innovative solution is to use electronic types of baits to attract fish; they are an alternative to conventional bite activators.

This option has the following features:

Most electronic devices are of the universal type: they are suitable for use in both summer and winter. Moreover, with their help, you can attract virtually any breed of freshwater fish to the fishing spot.
The high level of efficiency is due to the creation of an acoustic background and special vibrations, which spread especially quickly in water. The fish senses them with the inner ear; specific receptors located on the surface of the body and organs located on the lateral line. The prey easily determines the direction to search and find the source of noise that attracts its attention.
It is not at all necessary to lower the electronic bait to a significant depth; only 20-30 cm will be enough.
Different models have individual technical characteristics, which differ in frequency range and the ability to manually adjust this parameter.

Electronic lures are truly versatile devices, since it is possible to manually change the operating settings.

Different breeds of fish are susceptible to different acoustic vibrations, below are the operating parameters of the device for attracting the attention of some of the most popular prey:

Ide is capable of picking up vibrations propagating inside a reservoir in the range of 25-5520 Hz.
If the desired prey is crucian carp or bream, then it is best to adjust the frequency distribution in the range of 25-3840 Hz.
To catch large prey or fish for trophy specimens, you will need to use low-frequency vibrations in the range of 200-400 Hz. This technique is especially effective for catching fish whose diet includes various crustaceans, since they produce sounds that are in the named frequencies.
To effectively catch predatory species, the operating range should be within 5000-12000 Hz, so that an imitation of the vibrations created by fry is created.

Use of flavors and bite activators

You can use a bite activator in virtually any situation to attract the attention of potential prey to a specific place on the pond.

However, there are cases when the use of these auxiliary means is more justified and is almost the only opportunity to get a catch:

Winter fishing. The use of bite activators during this period is most popular, since the aroma that attracts fish spreads much faster and better in cold water.
Weather instability. Fish often feel all such changes and often stop actively feeding during such periods; the use of aromatic baits and bite activators will help correct this situation.
A large number of fishermen on the pond. As you know, this factor reduces the number of bites, so the use of aromatic baits can change the fish to a particular fishing spot.
Weather conditions that are unfavorable for fishing, for example, heat, during which most fish species try to stay closer to the bottom surface. Using attractive scents can interest her and lure her out of the depths.
Excess food in the reservoir. In this case, many fish become more selective when it comes to feeding, so additional tricks are required to interest it.

There are very different opinions among fishermen regarding bite activators, but as practice shows, these tools often help improve the bite, and in other situations without them there is no way to catch fish at all.

To summarize, it can be noted that fish bite activators show high efficiency only if they are correctly selected. At the same time, store-bought options, which are positioned as universal remedies, do not give a positive result in half the cases. The best option is to make your own baits, taking into account the individual diet of certain breeds of fish.

What causes a good bite

Another feature of a high-quality bait is that it should not only attract prey to the bait point, but increase its appetite. After all, as you know, a hungry fish, having lost caution, begins to feed more greedily, and therefore is more likely to be hooked. In addition, a good bite activator, about which users leave reviews after use, should be practical, ready-to-use and environmentally friendly. The last characteristic is especially important so that the substance used, contained in the mixture, does not have a negative impact on the given reservoir and its inhabitants. Of course, first of all, it is understood that it should not be dangerous and chemically aggressive.