GB2448483A

GB2448483A - Hookable fishing bait pellets and methods of production thereof

Info

Publication number: GB2448483A
Application number: GB0620914A
Authority: GB
Inventors: David Preston
Original assignee: Preston Innovations Ltd
Current assignee: Preston Innovations Ltd
Priority date: 2006-10-20
Filing date: 2006-10-20
Publication date: 2008-10-22
Anticipated expiration: 2026-10-20
Also published as: GB0620914D0; GB2448483B

Abstract

A method of producing a hookable fishing bait pellet comprises exposing a porous feed pellet to water, or an aqueous solution, to cause a predetermined amount of said water or aqueous solution to be absorbed and thereafter exposing said pellet to a non-aqueous liquid to cause a predetermined amount of non-aqueous liquid to be absorbed by the pellet to produce a hookable fishing bait pellet. The non-aqueous liquid may comprise a natural or synthetic oil. In a preferred embodiment, the pellets are soaked first in water, then second in dogfish oil.

Description

Hookable Fishing Bait Pellets and Methods of Production Thereof This

invention relates to hookable fishing bait pellets and methods for producing said pellets.

There is a considerable demand amongst anglers for a moist, soft, pellet that allows hooking onto a hook and which is sufficiently tough or resilient to remain on the hook during the casting process and when further wetted in the water. It is known to use fish farming pellets from manufacturers such as Ewos (available in the UK from Ewos Limited, Westfield, Bathgate, West Lothian, Skretting , available in UK from Skretting, Wincham, Northwich, Cheshire, UK or Coppens , available from Coppens International By, P0 Box 53, 5700AM, Helmond, Netherlands. The fish farming pellets produced by these manufacturers are produced by a cooker-extruder process which produces a pellet having a hard cellular structure which is created by super heated steam : ** expanding within the pellets as they exit the machine and into atmospheric pressure. The pellets typically contain protein, oil ash, fibre, water and nitrogenfree extract. In the form as supplied, these pellets are hard and tend to crumble *:*** when applied to a hook. In addition, because of their foam-like cellular structure, they tend to be quite buoyant and therefore float. * **..

To overcome this, attempts have been made to soften the pellets by soaking them under atmospheric or vacuum conditions in a mixture made of water and propylene glycol, glycerine and water with or without other minor additives relating to colour, flavour or preservation. A typical mixture could comprise 20% propylene glycol which is included as a preservative, 30% glycerine which has a sweet taste and 50% water. The propylene glycol has a bad taste in higher concentrations and so there is a practical limit on the amount of propylene glycol that can be included in a bait which is palatable or non-deleterious to the fish. The propylene glycol and/or glycerine are included to facilitate preservation of the pellet and to reduce the water content of the final pellet. Water is needed to soften the pellet, but glycerine and propylene glycol do not have a significant softening effect. The amount of water present in the final pellet has a significant influence on determining the hookability of the pellet.

Pellets with a higher water content are softer and weaker and so have poorer hookability characteristics.

It has been found that pellets produced in this manner come off the hook too easily because they are not tough enough. Previous attempts to overcome this problem have included trying to reduce the amount of water uptake when softening the hard, dry pellets. This has been done by increasing the propylene : *** glycol and/or glycerine so as to reduce the amount of water in the mixture. SI..

However, reducing the percentage of water increases the percentage of the non-aqueous components which add to the costs, can give the pellet a poor taste

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5: " and increase the viscosity of the mixture. In practical terms, a dry pellet with an initial 9% moisture content may take up about one and a half times its weight of IS..

S..... liquid so that the soaked pellet has a final moisture content of at least 34%. This type of pellet is standard in the industry but most average anglers will not use them because of the difficulty in keeping them on the hook. They tend therefore to be used only by skilled competition anglers who persevere with them in particular circumstances.

Some manufacturers try and reduce the content by air-drying the pellets after they have been soaked to reduce the water content to toughen them.

However this is a time-consuming and cumbersome exercise and can still lead to undesirably high levels of propylene glycol or glycerine as preservatives.

We have therefore identified the need for a pellet having increased toughness and with a lower final water content in the final pellet. We have developed an innovative process in which pellets are exposed initially to water or aqueous solution to provide only a limited uptake of water or aqueous solution.

The lower water content conveys several significant advantages. Firstly the material of the pellet following uptake is stronger or tougher and therefore has improved hookability characteristics in terms of remaining on the hook. Also, with a lower water content there is less expansion of the pellet and so less liquid is needed to fill the voids or air pockets in the pellet. This means that the final pellet weighs less and so, with less weight on the hook, there is less tearing * ** force on the hook and the pellet is more likely to stay on the hook. * * . ***s

*5 Our investigations have shown that, using the conventional process of S..

soaking in a mixture of water and propylene glycol/glycerine, it is not possible to **S*** * . reduce the water take up much below a 5050 propylene glycol/glycerinewater ratio because the propylene glycol and glycerine each have a relatively high *::::* viscosity and so increasing their percentage beyond 50% means that the soaking liquid is too viscous to soak into the pellet sufficiently for practical purposes, even under conditions of vacuum. Also, the more glyco! and glycerine the less acceptable is the pellet to the fish and this again has placed a practical lower limit on the water content. Also, the less water present in the pellet, the less the amount of preservative that is required.

Accordingly, in one aspect, this invention provides a method of producing a hookable fishing bait pellet, which comprises exposing a porous feed pellet to water or an aqueous solution to cause a predetermined amount of said water or aqueous solution to be absorbed therein, and thereafter exposing said pellet to a non-aqueous liquid to cause a predetermined amount of non-aqueous liquid to be absorbed by said pellet, thereby to produce said hookable fishing bait pellet.

In embodiments of this invention, by pre-soaking the pellet in water without glycerine and glycol the low viscosity of the water or aqueous solution leads to easy and controllable absorption. Preferably, said pellet absorbs an amount of water or aqueous solution sufficient to give a final water content in the range of from 10% to 30% by weight of the dry pellet; in a particularly preferred arrangement, the amount of water or aqueous solution absorbed is in the range of from 15% to 20% by weight.

: *** Preferably, after the pellet has been soaked or exposed to water or aqueous solution there is a distribution phase in which the water or aqueous solution is allow to permeate the pellet. For example, the moisture may be evenly distributed by barrelling and then leaving for a few hours to soak through Preferably, the exposure to a non-aqueous liquid is done under reduced pressure or a vacuum. In this manner, in preferred embodiments, at least some of the remaining air voids, in the pellets can be filled with a chosen non-softening liquid. This could be any suitable non-softening liquid included amongst which are propylene glycol, glycerine or various oils.

In a particularly preferred embodiment, the pellet has a final water content (i e. including the initial water content and that absorbed during the exposure or soaking process) of 19%, giving a tough hookable end result. The pellet may also contain 30% to 50% of non-aqueous liquid such as oil, propylene glycol, glycerine etc, or mixtures thereof. Surface oils made fish oils such as dogfish oil. The term "oil" is used broadly to describe fats, waxes or other materials that can be reduced to a liquid form to be absorbed in the pellets.

The water or aqueous solution may include water soluble or water dispersible materials such as e.g. flavourings, preservatives, colourings etc. According to another aspect, this invention provides a method of producing a hookabje fishing bait pellet, which comprises an exposing step in which the pellet is exposed to water or an aqueous solution alone, to cause a predetermined amount of said water or aqueous solution to be absorbed.

At a later stage, if required, the pellet may be exposed to a non-aqueous liquid to cause an amount of non-aqueous liquid to be absorbed by the pellet.

: ** The porous feed pellet may take many forms but is conveniently a pellet I...

formed by a cooker-extruder process. Typical pellets include pet foods, animal and fish foods Such pellets typically comprise a protein content in the range of 40-60% by weight, an oil content of 10-30% by weight, a moisture content of 6- 8% with the balance being made up of ash, fibre and nitrogen-free extract. **..

1*,* In another aspect, this invention provides a hookable fishing bait pellet comprising a cooker-extruder product containing 10- 30% by weight of water or aqueous solution, and preferably between 15 and 25% by weight water or aqueous solution.

Preferably, the oil content in the final pellet is in the range of from 20-50% and more preferably, 30-40% and ideally even more preferably around 31%.

In various embodiments of the invention, a softened pellet suitable for hooking is achieved by first soaking a feed pellet in a limited amount of water to cause softening so that the pellet is suitable for hooking and thereafter filling at least some, if not all, of the remaining voids in the pellet with a liquid that fills the voids and increases the density of the pellet to achieve sinking in water without further softening the pellet.

Whilst the invention has been described above, it extends to any inventive combination of the features set out above or in the following

description.

The invention will now be described by way of non-limiting example.

An amount of Skretting standard expanded trout feed pellets are weighed and then 20% by weight of water and optionally 2% to 4% preservative is added to the dry pellets so that it is absorbed substantially equally between the pellets.

* * The pellets are then tumbled in a barrel and left overnight for the water to * * * **S.

permeate the pellets. The pre-soaked pellets are then introduced into a * S*.

* container where they are soaked in an excess of dogfish oil under vacuum and * S drained and then removed The final product has a water content of 19% and an * * * oil content of 31 % allowing for the original water and oil content in the dry pellet

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This gives a pellet which is sufficiently soft to allow it to be easily hooked onto a hook but which does not crumble and which wis retained on the hook when cast over the water and submersed.

Many variations are possible on this and the final water percent could be lower than 19% of the final product but if the water content is too low, the pellet may be too hard and friable. For practical purposes, the water content could be increased to up to around 30% but beyond this the pellet would be too soft for hooking and would tend to disintegrate in the water. * * * a *(.. a... a * *..

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Claims

1. A method of producing a hookable fishing bait pellet, which comprises exposing a porous feed pellet to water or an aqueous solution to cause a predetermined amount of said water or aqueous solution to be absorbed, and thereafter exposing said pellet to a non-aqueous liquid to cause a predetermined amount of non-aqueous liquid to be absorbed by said pellet, to produce a hookable fishing bait pellet.

2. A method according to Claim 1, wherein said porous feed pellet is immersed or soaked in water or an aqueous solution to cause said absorption.

3. A method according to Claim 1, wherein said pellet absorbs an amount of water or aqueous solution in the range of from 30% to 30% by weight of the dry pellet.

4. A method according to Claim 3, wherein said pellet absorbs an * * amount of water or aqueous solution in the range of from 1 5%-20% by weight of II..

I

the dry pellet.

5. A method according to any of the preceding Claims, wherein said pellet is exposed to a distribution phase following said exposure to water or aqueous solution, to allow said water or aqueous solution to permeate in the * pellet.

6. A method according to any of the preceding Claims, wherein said water or aqueous solution includes water-soluble materials or water-dispersible materials such as e.g. flavourings, colourings, preservatives.

7. A method according to any of the preceding Claims, wherein said pellet is exposed to said non-aqueous liquid under reduced pressure or a vacuum.

8. A method according to any of the preceding Claims, wherein said non-aqueous liquid comprises one or more of oils, propylene glycol, glycerine, optionally with flavourings, preservatives or colourings.

9. A method according to any of the preceding claims, wherein said pellet absorbs an amount of non-aqueous liquid in the range of from 20% to 30%, and preferably in the range of from 30% to 40%.

10. A method of producing a hookable fishing bait pellet, which comprises subjecting a porous feed pellet to water or an aqueous solution alone, to cause a predetermined amount of said water or aqueous solution to be absorbed.

11. A method according to any of the preceding Claims, wherein said porous feed pellet comprises a cookr-extruder product.

12. A hookable fishing bait pellet comprising a cooker-extruder product *.T5 treated to have 10% to 30% by weight water and 20% to 50% by weight oil.

13. A hookable fishing bait pellet according to claim 12, wherein said pellet contains from 30% to 40% oil.

S * S **.* * S S...

Amendment to the claims have been filed as follows

2. A method according to Claim 1, wherein said porous feed pellet is :... immersed or soaked in water or an aqueous solution to cause said absorption. S... * S * SSS

3. A method according to Claim 1, wherein said pellet absorbs an S...

: amount of water or aqueous solution in the range of from 10% to 30% by weight of the dry pellet. * *S

:.: * 4. A method according to Claim 3, wherein said pellet absorbs an amount of water or aqueous solution in the range of from I 5%-20% by weight of the dry pellet.

5. A method according to any of the preceding Claims, wherein said pellet is exposed to a distribution phase following said exposure to water or aqueous solution, to allow said water or aqueous solution to permeate in the pellet.

10. A method of producing a hookable fishing bait pellet, which comprises subjecting a porous feed pellet to water or an aqueous solution alone, *es lO to cause a predetermined amount of said water or aqueous solution to be **,s : absorbed.

11. A method according to any of the preceding Claims, wherein said * S. porous feed pellet comprises a cooker-extruder product.

12. A hookable fishing bait pellet comprising a cooker-extruder product treated to have 10% to 30% by weight water and 20% to 50% by weight oil.