Lets talk about all things HNV.
You might have heard the phrase that, ‘there’s plenty of fish in the sea’ – well here at Baracel, so have we.
However, we also understand the importance of similar phrases such as, ‘you get what you give,’ or ‘you get out what you put in’ or maybe even ‘it’s quality not quantity.’
If you have no idea what we’re on about then as a means of explanation, let us introduce a guy called Fred Wilton, although – since we’re comfortable with all that he represents, we’ll call him Fred.
So amongst many other things like, being a general nice guy with a budding scientific brain, Fred was a carp angler back in the 60’s.
He was also the pioneer behind ‘HNV’ fishing bait, an acronym that literally translates to ‘High Nutritional Value.’
So what’s Fred’s story?
You could say Fred was a bit more observant than his fellow fisherman, as he watched them make forlorn attempts at making paste from cat and dog food, he knew that they were probably wasting their time. Maybe Fred had a bit of a nagging wife, who – and rightly so – also wasn’t happy with let’s say, a pot noodle for dinner when she knew she could have had a Sunday dinner with all the trimmings.
So Fred got thinking. He theorised that all animals have a natural instinct to consume the most beneficial HNV foods, because well a HNV diet means survival, nourishment and the opportunity to grow to full potential. He figured if he could provide the fish with a highly nutritious bait, and applied it in enough quantity to establish it as a food source, he could maximise catches. Science meets fishing. Logic meets HNV tactics.
The winning ingredients
So, like a fisherman’s version of Breaking Bad – our very own Walter White got to work on all things HNV. He made baits that contained high protein ingredients such as milk fractions, casein and calcium caseinate, all of which were later garnished with a sprinkle of additional vitamins and minerals that helped form the paste.
In Fred’s mind, this HNV paste would become a metaphorical Sunday dinner in a lake of pot noodles.
Fred and his friends who were ‘also on the bait,’ a term that works well with our Breaking Bad analogy – went on to become legendary, carving themselves a worthy niche in carp angling history. Not only this, but Fred went on to investigate further theories, such as the incorporation of boiling his baits, with egg as a binder to avoid ‘nuisance fish.’
The ‘Boilie’ as it’s known today, was born.
Many of Fred’s ingredients from way back are still in common use in today’s carp baits and baits for other species, too.
So there you go, there’s an introduction to the HNV Theory and well, Fred.
With that said, we are not stating that this is foolproof, or offers you any guarantees, nor will it turn you into the Walter White of the fishing world. All we can really say is, if you’d rather a sit down Sunday dinner with all the trimmings to a hit-or-miss Pot Noodle attempt, let your exceptional taste be reflected in your fishing choices.