Carp Food Connoisseur: Salmon Oil

1 A mixture

Says Keith Sykes: “Most commercially available salmon oils are now produced from sustainable sourced Alaskan salmon supplies. It must be pointed out that there are salmon oils that are sold which are a combination of salmon and other fish oils, these are easy to detect by their colour and viscosity.”

2 Very Rich

Explains CARPology’s in-house fish boffin, Ben Gratwicke, “Salmon oil is extremely rich in unsaturated fatty acids, particularly the omega 3 and 6 series, and is able to provide the essential fatty acids (E.F.A.’s) for the carp’s metabolism, which they themselves cannot synthesise.”

3 Choosing correctly

“When choosing salmon oil look for a good clarity and a not too strong a fish note,” explains Sykes. “The level of refinement will produce a reddish colour with little or no sediment in the bottom of the bottle. The more the oil is refined the ‘thinner’ the viscosities. If it is thick, then bin it!”

4 The cold test

“Highly refined oil will also perform better in the ‘cold test’, which basically means it will last longer at zero-degrees prior to solidifying,” continues Sykesy. “Thick crude salmon oils or salmon oil mixes will solidify very quickly. You should be looking at a minimum of three hours at zero-degrees.”

5 Correct storage

“Most salmon oils will contain a preservative, but you still need to look after the oil to prevent oxidation, so when you are not using it, store in the dark and cool; there is generally no need to refrigerate unless it is very hot.”

Ten tips on using salmon oil...

1 “Salmon oil is a brilliant fish oil to add to nearly all base mixes for producing boilies, certainly a favourite of mine, and I tend to go in at 15mls per pound of dry mix.”

2 “In the winter I will cut out all fish oils, as I tend to use a milk-based mix with vegetable derived oils.”

3 “I think it is seen as old hat now, but in the height of the summer you’ll be hard pushed to beat boilies that have been glugged in salmon oil, a nice fine one at that!”

4 “If you need to suddenly make your particles PVA-friendly on the bank, then drain off the liquid and give them a good coating of salmon oil.”

5 “One of my favourite uses for salmon oil is the bulk carrier for a combination of marmite, original sense appeal and solid Belachan block. To 500ml of oil add 100ml sense appeal, a medium jar of marmite (gently warm to get all the contents out) and liquidise. Cut and add small quantities of the Belachan block whilst liquidising. Continue until the consistency is thick.”

6 “I will use this primarily in two ways, although there is plenty of scope. It makes a brilliant additive for binding Stick mixes, and I quite often spod this out neat with a small Gardner Pocket Rocket. Messy and smelly but they love it!”

7 “In the summer I quite often dunk my PVA mesh bags in salmon oil to increase attraction and at the same time increasing the meltdown time of the PVA.”

8 “Again, for summer use try soaking a combination of pellet sizes in neat salmon oil. Better still, add 15mls of Nashbait’s Shellfish Sense Appeal to really rev things up; this really works in hot weather.”

9 “I know several of my friends swear by dunking their Zig baits in salmon oil, whilst I lightly ‘top dress’ floaters in the stuff, again adding the shellfish appeal to give it as light edge.”

10 “Remember, if you want to make the salmon oil a little different there is no reason why you can’t blend it with other oils, personally I like it in combination with CLO and pistachio nut oil.”