While I have experimented with many different methods of fishing and have used many types of bait, including a piece of foam rubber on a treble hook; grasshoppers, real flies (I had a hard time putting the thing on the hook, not to mention how often it flew, no pun intended, when I cast); to artificial lures or standard live baits, such as worms, usually in conjunction with marshmallows or something that would help the worm rise from the bottom and enter the feeding area. Some of my greatest successes come from using a “secret ingredient” with my Velveeta Cheese.
On a fishing trip with a friend of mine for more years than I can count, he suggested that we try a new approach that I had heard about from a “friend of a friend.” So we went to the local grocery store, bought a two-pound brick of Velveeta cheese and a bottle of the “secret ingredient” that we took home with us. We spent the next couple of hours eating tacos his wife made and cutting the two pounds of cheese into pieces the size of a bait. Once we’re done with the bait and tacos, not necessarily in that order, we pour the entire one-ounce bottle over the cheese and place it in a sealed container for the night.
The next day we headed to Willow Beach in the Colorado on the Arizona side; a popular fishery for those who like to fish big. There were six men in our group of two boats. We had the secret bait on my boat. The other ship did not. Within two hours of hitting the water, our boat had caught our limit of ten fish each with the secret bait. The other boat had exactly three fish and they were all small. Ours, on the other hand, averaged over two pounds each. We were fishing the same waters using essentially the same drift method with the bait suspended from the bottom a few feet. When we got ashore for breakfast and showed others our catch, we were forced to reveal the secret or risk a long swim in mighty Colorado. We choose the easiest way out. The second ship left and the use of the secret homemade bait had its limits at noon. For the next ten years we fished together regularly and were always successful with our homemade bait. We let a few people find out about the secret, but most thought it was silly and refused to try. I am sure of your loss.
When the Powerbaits came out and forever altered the tackle boxes of countless fishermen, it was only a matter of time before our secret ingredient fell by the wayside. Taking into account the cost of cheese that tripled in the last thirty years and the waste caused because one cannot use the cheese for anything else once it has been soaked and one can see why it fell out of favor. Also, it is much easier to open a bottle of Powerbait and scoop out an appropriate portion to use as bait. So … our secret ingredient: anise seed oil, more commonly known as licorice oil, went the way of the dodo. Still, I occasionally wonder if I shouldn’t give it a try, especially when the fish don’t bite at all.
There you go. Licorice oil and Velveeta cheese. Ironically, no other processed cheese seemed to work so well. We tried some spicy Velveeta once and managed to catch some really good “Latin” trout. Still, if you’re not succeeding, consider giving this one a try. It can’t hurt and you can always use the leftover cheese to make a great chili con queso sauce.