In the 1960s, Fishbites inventor Dr. William Carr started a 30-plus year journey researching what kinds of chemicals fish detect in their underwater environment that trigger feeding behavior. He called these chemicals “feeding stimulants.” He recreated those feeding stimulants in the lab and perfected a game-changing combination of scent and flavor that could be incorporated into an artificial bait at many times the concentration of natural bait. In late 1999, his results became Fishbites—and since its launch, anglers around the world have used it to set the hook on over 150 species of fish.
One key finding by Carr was that substances which dissolve in water and are detected by fish have very little odor to humans. Sure, those stinky baits work. No argument with that. But they don’t work for the reasons you smell them. In fact, many stink-bait companies intentionally crank up the stink and loudly promote it to hype the myth that the gasses you’re smelling in the air matter to fish living and breathing in the underwater world.
Fishbites is packed with a formula that replicates the natural chemicals fish use to detect and track their prey, and it does so without the need for messy fisheries by-products and food waste because it’s all about fooling the senses with chemistry. Candymakers use chemistry to create strawberry scented and flavored gels without using real strawberries. Fishbites works the same way, to fool a fish’s sense of smell and taste. Fishbites calls this two-part combo “Flavor/Scent” and it truly separates it from the rest of the lure industry.
We’ve all driven by a fast-food restaurant, smelled French fries, and suddenly found ourselves in the drive-through. So, you get your fresh hot fries, you bite down and… maybe they taste like cardboard or molded cheese. Not awesome. You would immediately spit them out, right? Carr discovered that the same is true with fish and bait. You can get the fish’s attention with scent, but if the flavor’s off, they’ll try to spit it out quicky after biting it, or even touching it with their mouth. Sealing the deal with a burst of good flavor will fool that fish into believing it’s got actual food, and aggressively inhaling it—giving you extra time to set the hook.
Bait Cravings of Catfish
If ever there were a fish created for a flavor/scent infused fishing bait, catfish may top the list. Their entire body is one giant tongue featuring 100,00 to over 200,00 taste buds covering its entire length. Catfish can detect and track the tiniest traces of food to its source in the darkest, murkiest waters, which is why Carr Specialty Baits is bringing an entirely new “stink-free” game to this fishery—and they think many anglers will come to embrace the lack of mess and pungent odors commonly associated with the vast majority of packaged Catfish baits on the market today, especially when Fishbites fills the cooler for the family fish-fry. So, Carr Specialty Baits has set their sights on disrupting the freshwater catfish market with Fishbites catfish baits.
These catfish baits are purposely designed to fit into the current market occupied by packaged baits and will perform every bit as well or better than the competition. Like their saltwater cousins, each of their doughball baits will be durable enough to use over and over again, fish after fish, before dissolving completely away and needing to be replaced.
-By Michael Carr
Editor’s Note: We don’t normally print articles written by advertisers, but the folks at Fishbites sent us this unsolicited and we thought it was quite interesting. No additional fees or ad dollars were spent for us to print it so this isn’t exactly “sponsored content,” but we do want to make sure everyone is aware that it was produced by the Fishbites folks.
One more Editor’s Note: we’ve used this stuff, and yes those blue cats do eat it! You can see what happened when we set out on the Potomac River with a wide variety of baits including Fishbites in our Fishing with Fishbites Catfish Bait on the Potomac River video below. (Hint: Shrimp flavor. Get the shrimp flavor!)