Record Numbers Fell for All Natural Baits

All natural stuff....sweet corn on
the hair rig and a method ball of
oatmeal, bread, cornmeal and corn.

I will catch more carp and more big carp this year than any other year. An interesting footnote to all of this is that this is the first year that I have used all natural baits.  No flavoring on my main baits.

This common that was
caught today hit sweet
corn on the hair rig.
Unflavored baits are very
effective, sometimes
outfishing flavored baits.

Many novice carpers may find it a surprise that I am not using flavored baits. I know most beginners flock to flavors thinking that is the magic bullet to catching big numbers of carp.  Not so.  Presentation, rigging and baiting are far more important to your success than flavored baits. If fact, while flavors can be a turn on to a carp, they can also be a turn off. Pick the wrong flavor on a given outing and you might as well stay home. Think about it this way.  I like to eat a good apple, but if I was given an apple that had been flavored with garlic or cucumber flavoring, I would not eat it.  I'm guessing carp feed in the same way.  We tend to chum with sweet corn or maize, a natural food.  Why, then, would you use say banana flavored corn in an area you baited with non flavored corn?  Makes no sense.
This is not to say that flavors are not effective.  We know from research that carp love fruity flavors such a pineapple, especially in cold water.  So, at times, that might just give you an edge.  I stress the word "might". Note, too, that the best flavor will differ by location.  The carp might love that scopex flavor in one pond, but might turn their noses up at it at another pond.  With non flavored or natural baits, you simply can't go wrong.
The only bait I have flavored this year has been my plastic artificial corn.  I don't like the plastic smell so I keep it in a jar with pineapple flavoring.
I also do not use flavoring in my method mix.  My method is a simple mix of old fashioned oatmeal, crushed up bread, some coarse corn meal and a particle (usually corn).
Some of the natural baits that have delivered those record numbers of carp for me this year include maize, sweet corn, chick peas, doughballs and mulberries. It's all natural stuff that carp love to eat.