WO2006095192A1

WO2006095192A1 - Fish bait and methods for the production thereof

Info

Publication number: WO2006095192A1
Application number: PCT/GB2006/000871
Authority: WO
Inventors: David Preston
Original assignee: David Preston
Priority date: 2005-03-11
Filing date: 2006-03-10
Publication date: 2006-09-14
Also published as: GB2423911A; GB0505046D0; GB2423911B

Abstract

A fish bait is produced by encasing a core material in an elastomeric skin material. The core may be solid, semi-solid, crumbled or particulate. The elastomeric skin material may be a dryable or curable materials such as latex. A method is disclosed for production of the fish bait in which a coating material is applied in liquid form to a core material and then allowed to cure or dry to form a core material encased in an elastomeric material.

Description

FISH BAIT AND METHODS FOR THE PRODUCTION THEREOF

This invention relates to fish bait and methods for producing fish bait. The primary function of fish bait is to attract the fish to take the hook into its mouth and thereby be hooked and caught. In addition to this primary function bait is often scattered in the area to be fished to attract fish to feed in that area.

For bait fishing, many food items have been used and these vary from country to country depending on the styles of fishing and availability. For example, in Northern Europe, worms, maggots, and their chrysalids have been very popular for a long time but have only recently become commonplace in hotter Southern European countries since the onset of widespread use of refrigeration. Worms and maggots are attractive to fish as a food and useful as a bait for several reasons; they are bite sized with a tough skin that keeps them on the hook and yet, when a fish does bite them, they are soft and release attractive fluids which burst in the mouth of the fish. These last two factors mean that the fish hang on longer, giving the angler more time to react and pull the line to hook the fish (known as the 'strike'). Also, there are thousands of identical maggots in the typical amount sold (1 kg) so that they can be scattered around the fishing area to attract the fish. Constantly introducing small amounts of bait to the fishing area keeps the fish interested without filling them up.

Another successful bait used is sweetcom because it is soft yet has a hookable skin.. It is regularly available, preserved, inexpensive and comes in large quantities and so again is ideal for feeding the fishing area. However it is not good for carnivorous fish and it is heavy for the angler to carry around. Luncheon meat is also popular, being convenient, preserved and inexpensive. However it has two shortcomings; firstly it needs to be cut up into appropriately sized pieces, and there are now specialist devices specifically for chopping up luncheon meat into these pieces. Secondly, it has no skin and so can be difficult to keep on the hook when casting out the bait and during fishing.

More recently, in Europe, feed pellets designed for fish farming have become popular; it is estimated that about 50% of all bait sold in the UK is in the form of pellets. There are now specifically designed pellets for coarse fishing, although most are mass produced farming products modified by angling suppliers to lend different properties such as different colours, flavours, floating/sinking, and rate of dissolving. They have the advantages of there being many in a kilo and also having good long term storage properties because of their dry nature. However, a major disadvantage of fish farming pellets is that they are difficult to mount onto a hook. Many partial solutions have been found such as e.g. pellet bands, hair rigs, hole drillers, pre-holed pellets, and gelatine skinned pellets. Pellet bands hold the hook and pellet rigidly and so reduce hooking efficiency and complicate the fishing process in the need to attach the band to the pellet and the band to the hook. Likewise hair rigs are difficult to use and need a pellet band or hole driller. Pre-holed pellets still need tying onto the hook and are expensive due to the manufacturing costs. Gelatine skins on pellets are very thick, restricted to large pellets and are not very hookable, as a gelatine coating has a low shear and tear resistance and so the hook can easily slice transversely through the skin so that the bait falls off the hook. Wheat gluten coatings have also been proposed but have similar limitations. In an effort to provide 'hookable' pellets, manufacturers and distributors have developed a number of different ways for the end user angler to treat the pellets by soaking so that they are soft. However the only mass-produced pellets that do not disintegrate when soaked are made by the twin screw extruder cooker process and these float, whereas the requirement for the vast majority of angling bait is that it sinks. There are numerous preparation processes involving soaking, squeezing out air, refrigeration, preserving with additives, and packing techniques. Yet other techniques include soaking in stiffening agents such gelatine or paste to increase 'hookability' but even at best, these barely meet the minimum requirements of the bait because they are too soft to stay on the hook well, for example.

The desirable features of a good bait are as follows:

• The basic ingredients should be readily available;

• The bait should be ready to use as sold, and not require further preparation by the angler;

• It should be inexpensive;

• It should have a negative buoyancy so that it sinks (except in those instances where floating bait is required);

• The bait should be bite sized and available in large numbers; β The bait should be hookable;

• The bait should be preserved so as to have a good long term shelf life without requiring special storage measures;

• It should be attractive to fish;

• It should be soft; • It should be tasty to the fish, and

• It should be lightweight.

There is therefore a need for a fishing bait which meets at least some of these criteria. Accordingly, in one aspect, this invention provides fish bait comprising a core material encased in an elastomeric skin material.

The elastomeric skin material gives good anti-tear and anti-shear properties so as to provide good hookability. The skin may be a single skin or a multiple skin. Preferably, the average thickness of the or each said skin is between 0.1 mm and 2.0 mm. The elastomeric material may typically have a Young's modulus of 10 to 100 MPa and an ultimate tensile strength of at least 17 MPa (2500 psi), although many different suitable skin materials may be used.

Preferably, the elastomeric material is not soluble in water but is biodegradable. It preferably undergoes a polymerisation or cross-linking process during drying or curing thereof to form the skin. Ideally the cross-linking process will not involve noxious solvents or substances.

One suitable example of an elastomeric material is derived from, or contains latex. Other suitable ingestible natural or synthetic elastomeric skin materials may be used. Latex has many excellent properties for the proposed usage; it has a high breaking strength of around 20 MPa (around 3000 psi); it has typically 700% elongation at break; it tends not to take a 'set', and most importantly, it polymerises rapidly to form thin films of 0.5mm (20 thousandths of an inch thickness), or less, of good integrity, and has excellent thin film properties.

An advantage of latex is that thin films may be produced by the simple process of dipping an object into a latex suspension and drying. However, when coating many small items care needs to be taken to prevent aggregation because the latex binds to itself very strongly and quickly. After dipping in the latex suspension, there is a tendency for the pellets to bind to each other suddenly and irreversibly if they touch as they dry. Mostly, it is to each other the fish bait pellets bind (clumping).

The elastomeric skin material may have coated thereon or embedded therein a particulate material. The particulate material may have one or more of several properties such as a flavouring agent, flavour enhancer, food value, or a grit or sand material. This simple process of dipping 'en masse' and then draining and tumbling the wet items in a powder to keep them separate obviates such problems. Preferably, the particulate material is selected such as to impart negative buoyancy to a skin on separation from said core material in use. This ensures that spent skins sink in the fishing area rather than float.

Conveniently, the core material is a solid pellet. Alternatively the core material may comprise a collection of dry loose particulate or crumbled material. Still further the core may be a soft, moist pellet formed for example from pet food, to provide a readily hookable bait.

The core material may comprise or be derived from various sources such as fish farm pellets, animal food pellets, cooked extruded products, steam compression product and the like.

In another aspect, this invention provides a method of producing a fishing bait, which comprises applying a suitable coating material in liquid form to a core material and causing or allowing the coating material to cure or dry to form a bait comprising a core material encased in an elastomeric material.

Preferably the core material is at least initially in the form of a pellet which may be solid or semi-solid. The liquid skin material may be applied to the pellet by immersing a plurality of solid pellets into the liquid skin material. Following immersion, the pellets coated with the liquid or semi-liquid skin may be exposed to a tumbling step for full or partial drying or curing of said skin. During the tumbling step the pellets may be exposed to a particulate material to prevent clumping or aggregation of the pellets. The particulate material may comprise one or more of a flavouring agent or a flavour enhancer, a food material, sand or a grit material. The dipping and/or tumbling stages may be repeated as necessary to accumulate the required coating.

In one particular embodiment, the core material is initially in the form of a self-supporting pellet and, following coating thereof, compression is applied to the pellet to cause it to crumble into a collection of particulate material within the outer envelope provided by the skin. In this way, by compressing or working the pellet, it may provide bait in the form of an outer skin forming a sack containing a loose particulate material. Alternatively, other processes may be applied after the coating to modify the structure of the pellet, such as exposure to heat, ultrasound, microwave radiation etc.

Where the core material is initially in the form of a pellet having a foam construction (for example produced by an extruder cooker process, or a bread material) the pellet may be compressed to increase the density thereof, thereby reducing the buoyancy thereof.

The invention will be further understood by reference to the following non- limiting examples.

Example In this example commercially available fish feed pellets, for example manufactured according to a steam compression process, are each provided with a thin coating of latex thereby to provide a tough skin with good anti-tear and anti-shear properties.

The batch of fish feed pellets is dipped briefly into an aqueous latex suspension; an immersion time of around 10 to 30 seconds is sufficient. The batch of fish feed pellets is drained of excess liquid (for example by using a basket strainer) and then thrown into a tumbling device containing a powder or particulate material which covers the rapidly drying latex before the pellets can begin to adhere to each other. The powder or particulate material may serve no function other than to prevent sticking together or aggregation of the pellets, but is preferred for it to lend enhanced properties to the pellets. Thus the powder or particulate material conveniently includes a relatively high density material such as grit or sand to ensure that the skin sinks when separated from the remainder of the bait. In addition, foods value additives, flavour additives or enhancers, or other attractants may be included to make the bait more attractive to fish. Also incorporation of the powder or particulate material with the latex may make the resultant skin porous which can be advantageous for subsequent hydrating the core material when the bait is immersed in water.

Once dried the pellets may be used as bait in this form. However, in a modification of this process, the skinned bait is subjected to a further process to make it softer. Softness of the bait is an important factor because ideally, when the fish bites the bait, it feels soft, and the food and accompanying flavour bursts into the fish's mouth as with more conventional baits such as a maggot or worm. In this modification, following the tumbling process, the pellets are subjected to a partial crushing process to crush the pellet inside the skin to cause it to crumble into fragments to provide a bag or sack containing crumbled or particulate matter or powder to give a softer feel, even when dry. Once in the water, water rapidly penetrates the bag or sack through the holes made by the fish hook (and the porosity of the bag or sack if porous). The crumbled contents, with the large surface area can absorb the incoming water rapidly, expanding to form a bag of paste within a few seconds of contact with the water. When bitten by a fish, the bag of paste bursts resulting in a long 'bite time' giving the angler an extended period for making the strike and therefore a good chance of hooking the fish.

There are many ways of crushing the pellet but in one particular method the batch of skinned pellets are passed through a pair of rotating rollers set at a gap of around half the width of the pellet and rotating together at the same speed so as to crumble the pellet, whilst not applying excessive shear force. In another modification, the coated pellets may optionally be left for a while and thereafter subjected to other types of structural modification, for example by exposure to heat, to reduce the water content of the core material such that it more rapidly rehydrates and breaks down into a soft pasty consistency when the peliet is immersed in water. This step may comprise exposing the coated pellets to an elevated temperature for a suitable period.

This arrangement therefore provides a simple and effective way to coat a pellet to provide a skin that is non-toxic, biodegradable, economically viable and tough enough to make it hookable in practice. Whilst in the above example, the core material is a fish feed pellet made by a steam compression process, many other core materials may be used which are capable of taking a coating in the process described above. Materials manufactured by a cooker extruder are commonly used as baits and these and other suitable materials can be used. The product of the cooker extruder is generally in the form of a foam or cellular construction which tends to make it relatively buoyant. Other materials such as breadcrumbs are also of a foam structure. The positive buoyancy can be a problem which may be addressed, at least in part, by the use of relatively dense particulate material on the latex coating. If a further reduction in buoyancy is required this can be achieved by a crushing process to crush the foam structure of the coated core material to render it denser.

Claims

1. Fish bait comprising a core material encased in an elastomeric skin material,

2. Fish bait according to Claim 1 , wherein said elastomeric material has a modulus of less than 50 MPa at an elongation of 25%.

3. Fish bait according to Claim 1 or Claim 2, wherein the elastomeric material is not soluble in water.

4. Fish bait according to any of the preceding Claims, wherein the elastomeric material undergoes polymerisation or a cross-linking process.

5. Fish bait according to any of the preceding Claims, wherein the elastomeric skin material is latex, or contains or is derived from latex.

6. Fish bait according to any of the preceding Claims, wherein the elastomeric skin material has coated thereon or embedded therein particulate material.

7. Fish bait according to Claim 6, wherein said particulate material comprises a flavouring agent, flavour enhancer or a food material.

8. Fish bait according to Claim 6, wherein said particulate material comprises a grit or sand material.

9. Fish bait according to any of Claims 6 to 8, wherein the or each particulate material is selected such as to impart negative buoyancy to a skin on separation from said core material.

10. Fish bait according to any of the preceding Claims, wherein the core material is a solid pellet.

11. Fish bait according to any of Ciaims 1 to 9, wherein the core material comprises a collection of loose particulate or crumbled material.

12. Fish bait according to any of the preceding Claims, wherein the core material comprises a cooked extruded product.

13. Fish bait according to any of Claims 1 to 12, wherein the core material comprises a product of a steam compression pellet process.

14. A method of producing a fishing bait, which comprises applying a coating material in liquid form to a core material and causing or allowing the coating material to cure or dry to form a core material encased in an elastomeric material.

15. A method according to Claim 14, wherein said core material is at least initially in the form of a solid pellet.

16. A method according to Claim 14, wherein said application step comprises immersing a plurality of solid pellets into said liquid skin material.

17. A method according to Claim 16, wherein following said immersion, said pellets coated with a liquid or semi-liquid skin are exposed to a tumbling step for full or partial drying or curing of said skin.

18. A method according to Claim 16, wherein during said tumbling step, the pellets are exposed to a particulate material to prevent clumping or aggregation of the pellets.

19. A method according to Claim 18, wherein said particulate material comprises a flavouring agent or a flavour enhancer.

20. A method according to Claim 18, wherein said particulate material comprises a sand or grit material.

21. A method according to any of Claims 14 to 20, wherein said core material is initially in the form of a self-supporting pellet and, following coating thereof, compression as applied to said pellet to cause it to crumble into a particulate material within the outer envelope provided by said skin.

22. A method according to any of Claims 14 to 21 wherein said core material is initially in the form of a pellet having a foam construction or is made up of one or more ingredients that are of a foam structure, and wherein the pellet is subjected to compression to increase its density.