Hi there does anybody have any workable ideas for a binding agent for catapulting a few balls of rock salt so as to more or less break up on contact with the water. Distance looking for 30-40yds tops, mixture willbe mixed with a few particle
freebies. Do not want any pva present and comencement of trials
will begin in late march dependant on water temp/weather ect.

Any ideas along these lines greatfully recieved, done well with salt fished very sensibly for some time now but only in the margins.

p.m. if required,
kind regards,
mike .....

Spod?

open ended feeder

Wholesale use of rock salt in groundbait on carp lakes is potentially dangerous.....carp are a freshwater fish which ARE NOT attracted to salt...and if as I hear Danny Fairbrass is pushing it then perhaps we will see when tons of it are heaped into Gigantica......

LMAO nice one sloany

our a bait boat

our swim it out oops

Sorry Paul,i beg to differ.......

Salinity is one of the big 4 as known carp attractors....albeit in smaler quantities...the success of MSG,belachan and a whole host of anchovy and oyster sauces have a very high salt content????

Care to explain your disregard of this additive my friend?

We are not talking about a proven 'additive' here Dean, but pure unadulterated lumps of pure salt being thrown into lakes....

Oh i hear you on that score Paul.....

Ive seen the damage large quantities of salt inflict on a lakebed . Mass use of salt literally kills all plant life in the immediate viscinity.Not a nice sight.Unfortunately,people will always believe that more is best.

Proven attractor? By whom? The definately respond positively to low salt levels Paul.Im surprised mutrabaits have not re-packaged a pot of saxa?

Like you Dean ive seen massive damage done by huge amounts of rock salt introduced to a lake. Im talking the "industrail road type of rock salt", which appears to be in fashion atm.

Carp NEED salt in there diet and will die if devoid of it and up to a point will activly seek it out.

As to an attractor????????....Hmmm

kin regards Jeff

They need just over 2%....not 20% or more!!!

And there was me thinking it was 1.5%

Still,whats in 0.5 eh?
When cupid stunts like fanny fairbrass start advocating wholesale use of salt in promo dvds,everyone and their granny follow like the preverbial sheep they are as they know no different and use the info given as gospel

Now,i doubt very much that the odd sprinkle here and there will cause any harm at all.But 2kg salt lick blocks or grit spreading salt used for the roads as ive seen used are a different matter entirely

An Attractor YES paul if you believe in the wilton theory whereby they will capitalise on any available nutrient which they are lacking as will most animals.Or was that Boughtons Theory?????

The effects of salt on an ecosystem can be seen on any dual carriageway in Britain where there is a grass verge. Have a look at how few species there are. Danish scurvy grass has become very common along roadsides now due to winter salting, you'll notice it in late spring as little white flowers lining the road.

Wiltons HNV theory Dean.

kind regards Jeff

Just to add a different angle. You all seem to be going down the road that the Carp are attracted to it as a food source only. Salt baths were common practice years ago for your ailing ornamentals, getting rid of lice etc perhaps the Carp just have a wallow in the salty area to rid themselves of leaches etc.
The River Weaver in the North West must have thousands of Tonnes of Rock Salt piled up within feet of the margin over maybe 1/2 mile of bankside. I would have of thought the run off from that alone probably makes the water quite salty. Yes it's a river (Well more of a Canal really) so dilution will take place, but nevertheless it was a good place to catch Carp on a regular basis. These Carp have the option of swimming away from the area to avoid the salt but chose not too. The Carp there were always in pristine condition as well.
We also had Bigmoor up this neck of the woods with its fabled Brine Shrimp and big Carp, not to mention CArp living in tidal reaches of alot of our rivers these days.
I fully agree with damage that wholesale salt application can do to the lake bed, but as with most things in Carping it's the anglers that get in first that have the results (Peanuts!) One or two anglers using salt on a lake, creating a small area, can't really see a problem. It's when everyman and his dog use it that things will go tits up.

Absolutely spot on Sloaney!

Not quite, there are no big carp in Bigmoor...pastie city...

This respected study found the attractant qualities of salt to be neutral, however response to citric acid was high......lets get on the pear drops....

http://www.bouillettes-dependance-baits.com/res/site19627/res552278_taste-common-carp.pdf

Paul.....all testing is done in confined environments...rarely,if at all are they conducted in open water for obvious reasons.

These papers and others were recorded quite a few years back.I have a few files crammed with all these antiquated(spelling?0) findings.Some of the best natural attractors of our generation are sodium based.Thers is no denying its effectiveness!

Big Moor in the late 70's early 80's (round the time you were on Hawk?) held some pretty big Carp for the time, Now the Shrimp have gone (lack of salinity??) yes it is pasty city.

Thanks gents for your replies as stated I have been using
small amounts of food grade salt along side of particles
with satisfactory results (for me a geriatric catcher of
carp) Gibbo was a big believer. I am worried about numpties
turning up with barrow loads of 'de-icing salt' wheareas good
quality sea salt crystals 1-1.5mm. food grade are not cheap.

Thanks for your comments.
Mike.
Lincoln.................

Fair play Mike.Continue to use salt in the manner that you are as i can see no harm in that approach.Tight lines fella

Lets take a scenario....on Grey Mist Mere, Warrington, a 'hungry' water up to 30 carp anglers can be fishing on its 8 acres every weekend, most mid-week evenings about the same, and 6-10 fishing every night....all of them throwing in chunks of rock salt every cast.

I know what I would do if I owned Grey Mist.....

I would have thought the fish would treat it as breath of fresh air......got to be better than pig slurry, arsenic and assorted heavy metals

If Danny Fairbrass had another brain cell he would be a toilet seat...

The man has no idea of fish welfare/maintaining a fish friendly environment...