Robin Red is probably the best known successful carp attractor throughout the world and to many anglers, what it is and how it works is a mystery because its full recipe is top secret, but you can get very useful clues on what it is, how it works and how to use it here; so read on…

Robin Red is part of the range of bird foods from a company called Haiths of Cleethorpes England. At present their top ten selling products include the following: Robin Red, Red Factor, Nectarblend, Red Band, Prosecto Insectivorous, Soft Bill, Multi Mix, and Carpticle Mix, Super Red and hempseed. This company have many decades of experience formulating specialised foods for birds for all stages of development and for enhancing plumage, growth, health and so on and these products ideally fit the bill as it were for carp!

Anyone in the bait business will be familiar with Robin Red as has a track record that stands out a mile but of course the other products mentioned are in many ways superb in their own right and all have taken their place in the hall of carp fame today. There are other bird food products that this company and other companies sell which are also very well proven and Hinders is another company to investigate products from. In fact, many carp bait companies have refined and adapted and even blended formulations and recipes of extremely successful and new bird food products with huge success proven by their customers catches and Ccmoore is a shining example with 12 generations of animal feed and nutrition experience behind them.

Robin Red has been used by most commercial bait companies at some time or another and is so prevalent that in some cases it might be your unique homemade bait perhaps is the only boilie bait that does not contain it on your water! Beware that any successful ingredient, additive or flavour etc, when over-used, can conversely act as a marker for danger and it might be a bonus to use very little of it in your bait sometimes. You might choose to use a component of it instead, perhaps just the red chilli peppers part instead, or add these to boost a proportion of Robin Red perhaps for a winter and spring bait.

Uses and methods of application of robin Red are many, and it can be added to boilie and pellets base mixes, ground baits of all forms (and clouds water and dyes your dyes fingers red! Try dampening Robin Red with PVA-friendly liquids such as the excellent Ccmoore Red Venom, (which is absolutely ideal for the job,) and contains certain very concentrated levels of similar Robin Red bioactive components! Robin Red used in solution (with water added) produces a good bait soak for boilies, pellets and as liquid boosts for ground baits and maggots etc; although this watered-down version is not as intensely stimulating as Red Venom which as a concentrated product is most excellent for summer conditions and winter especially.

The formula of Robin Red is secret but what it does to fish is not! Certainly Robin Red is confirmed by Hinders as not containing Carophyll red pigment, but what about other bioactive pigments, such as cantaxanthin? How many carp have been observed to turn a reddish colour at fisheries where Robin Red is applied regularly in even moderate levels; this has made many of my winter fish look amazing!

Why not save yourself a fortune in bait costs and try making your own homemade baits for the first time using a mix of semolina, soya flour with added robin red? Try boosting your pellets by just adding water and adding neat robin red and mixing thoroughly; this will cloud the water very red too, (wash your red hands after use!) One easy to use product incorporating Robin Red is Haiths super Red which can be used neat in PVA products and contains the following:

Robin Red, crushed tiger nuts, crushed Carpticle, peanut granules, crushed hemp seed, Red Factor, teasel seed, and aniseed oil. You can apply this as a paste bait, method mix or ground bait and many bait companies have their own unique versions so do investigate them and get catching big-time, (for more big carp secrets read on…)

By Tim Richardson.