Chapter 353: Chapter 217 The Knowledge of Bait_2
"Clearly, they’re all made from roughly the same bait! I didn’t see you add any special additives or anything?"
Zhang Yang didn’t rush to answer; instead, he continued to ask, "What? Convinced now? Not gritting your teeth anymore?"
"Convinced, truly convinced! Turns out the subtle differences in bait formulas can result in such significant variations in effectiveness!
Can you explain what’s going on?"
Meng Fan quickly chimed in, looking at Zhang Yang with an eager gaze, his expression somewhat cheeky.
Zhang Yang stopped keeping them in suspense and explained, "As I’ve mentioned before, there are differences in how various bait components perform in fishing, both individually and when combined!
Since there are differences, there naturally is an optimal ratio! So theoretically, the concept of an optimal bait formula tailored to a specific fish species or fishing condition exists!
Speaking of the ingredients small crucian carp love, these crucians weighing less than an ounce definitely prefer more pungent baits all year round, especially ingredients like shrimp powder!
In the bait you just prepared, your proportion of grainy germ-like aromatic bait was too high, and the shrimp powder ratio was too low.
Moreover, there was too much flaky content, which acted as a framework support when making the bait, resulting in a larger bait ball but one lacking proper kneading and firmness.
In actual fishing, the pulled-out bait had too many fibers, making it hard to swallow, with a less defined flavor, and the fish-attracting effect was compromised!
As for Liu Zi, the main issue was similar to yours.
The bait’s condition was poor, the component choice was wrong, greatly affecting the bite detection during actual fishing!
When fishing for small crucians, the bait residue on the hook needs to be strictly controlled; even a tiny difference would result in only seeing bites but not catching fish!
Such differences aren’t only influenced by the bait condition but also by the hook size, leader line thickness, bobber adjustment height, and other similar factors.
Only by fully understanding the fish condition, and accurately judging the fish feeding habits of the pond today, can you make the fastest adjustments and increase fishing efficiency!"
"Then... why not use purely pungent bait directly?"
Meng Fan kept nodding after listening and constructively suggested a question that extended the discussion.
Zhang Yang didn’t answer directly but smiled and said, "You can try making some on the spot!"
"Try it then! I’ll use pure shrimp powder and see what state it can achieve!!" Meng Fan immediately started preparing a new batch of bait.
He took a small cup, poured in 20% Lubricating Powder, then quickly added water and mixed it.
After a few minutes, once it had absorbed the water, he gathered it into a ball, and upon slightly breaking it open and observing the fibers, he frowned.
Due to the shrimp powder being very finely ground, despite adding a certain proportion of Lubricating Powder, the bait state was poor, with almost no visible fibers.
This state wouldn’t hold on the hook; kneaded bait could just barely be used.
After a bit more kneading and a few minutes of waiting, some fibers finally appeared, but the state was still significantly different from the bait Zhang Yang made earlier.
"Darn, no fibers at all? Did I not add enough Lubricating Powder? 20% should be quite a bit!"
Meng Fan scratched his head, feeling at a loss as the actual situation differed greatly from his expectations.
Zhang Yang laughed and shook his head, explaining, "The different ingredients in bait serve different purposes! Your understanding of bait state is too shallow!
Shrimp powder is usually sieved very finely; using it alone for bait rarely achieves a good state!
If you want to make decent bait, you need to add additional components, like a small amount of wheat protein for framework support, some broken fiber wheat components, suitably fine Lubricating Powder, and mix with a suitable water ratio!"
Zhang Yang explained while demonstrating live.
Using the same shrimp powder from a bag, he added light bran, Snowflake Powder, Lubricating Powder, and a bit of super-attractant, seemingly mixing casually before adding water once more, quickly forming a new batch of bait.
This batch, primarily made of shrimp powder, was much more pungent than the previous bait; with a casual pull, it formed a relatively plump bait ball. It was overall much better than the bait Meng Fan made himself.
"Whoa, Boss, are you doing magic? How come? This is amazing!"
Seeing the state of the newly mixed bait, Meng Fan was thoroughly shocked.
Zhang Yang pressed the air out of the bait a few times, broke it apart to inspect it but still wasn’t entirely satisfied, saying, "The state is still slightly off! The meshing of the Lubricating Powder is too low; these should be long fibers of 80 mesh. If blended with 100 or 120 mesh short fibers, the bait ball state would be even better!"
"Zhang, what’s 80 mesh or 100 mesh? I don’t understand," Liu Zi, who had been quiet, couldn’t help but ask a question he didn’t understand.
Zhang Yang replied, "The mesh size refers to the fineness of the Lubricating Powder, according to the mesh parameters of the pulverizer. An 80 mesh corresponds to a mesh size of 0.180mm, a 100 mesh to 0.150mm, and a 120 mesh to a 0.125mm mesh!
The smaller the mesh size, the finer the powder produced.
The Lubricating Powder is mainly wheat protein; the smaller the mesh number, the coarser the mesh, the coarser the powder, and the thicker the expanded fibers after adding water.
On the contrary, the larger the mesh number, the smaller the mesh size used, the finer the powder, and the thinner and shorter the expanded fibers after absorbing water!
After explaining the Lubricating Powder, a common knowledge question: Do you know what light bran is made of? Just like the Marukyu light bran we are using, imported from Japan!"
"Light bran? Isn’t it roasted bran skin?" Meng Fan, still not recovered from the mesh size trivia, casually guessed.
Zhang Yang didn’t answer, turning to Liu Zi: "Liu Zi, what’s your guess? Whoever is more off-track buys cold drinks as a treat!"
Liu Zi didn’t rush to answer but frowned and thought a bit, then abruptly opened the light bran package and pinched a small amount into his mouth.
Seeing this, Zhang Yang knew Meng Fan was going to lose.
Sure enough, after tasting the light bran directly on his tongue, Liu Zi said, "I guess light bran is made by puffing raw materials like flour! It tastes slightly sweet on the tip of my tongue, a bit like white bread!!"
Zhang Yang smiled and nodded, "Liu Zi wins! Little Meng, as the big brother, you’re no good; you got surpassed so soon by the little brother!
The best light bran is made from top-quality wheat protein, which is specially processed, puffed at high temperature, and then crushed to achieve it!
You can roughly understand it as a baking process; its microstructure, after puffing, is full of voids, greatly reducing its density, achieving a larger water absorption ratio and lighter weight!
Adding it appropriately to the bait can significantly improve the overall diffusion and atomization properties of the bait and to some degree reduce density!
Oh, and Snowflake Powder is made from processed potato flour.
Add this to the bait, and it can, to some extent, break the threads, allowing the tangled wheat protein threads to loosen. A small amount of kneading increases bait dispersion; excessive kneading will increase bait stickiness!"
"Wow, even in fishing baits, if you study them, there’s knowledge to be gained everywhere!"
After hearing this, Meng Fan couldn’t help but sigh, got up from the fishing spot without Zhang Yang urging, ready to buy cold drinks.
"Boss, you rest here; I’ll go buy them!"
At this time, Liu Zi, being very observant, quickly got up and pushed Meng Fan back onto the fishing box, sprinting towards Boss Ge’s icebox selling cold drinks.
Watching Liu Zi’s willingness to run errands, Meng Fan couldn’t resist sighing, "Wow, this kid’s brain is sharper than mine! Who knew what light bran is made of? I never even considered the ingredients of this stuff!"
Zhang Yang also instinctively glanced at Liu Zi’s back, took out a cigarette to give to Meng Fan, and couldn’t help but note, "What, feeling the pressure now?
He’s young but hard to fault, a promising talent for fishing! Hope he sticks with it; maybe he’ll grow into someone important in the future!"
The chatting duo didn’t yet know that years later, this statement proved true, as Wang Dazhi became a household name, an emerging star in the fishing world!