At the time of the article I wrote about in my previous post, I don't believe the Bio-Bates were in the market, if they were, they weren't very popoular then, and my guess, pretty expensive.
If you think about it, and I'm not trying to be argumentative here, fish will pick up a soft plastic off the bottom and suck it in...think about a deadstick technique we employ as fisherman. If they are hungry enough and we've all seen how sometimes we gut hook fish, they will take that bait down without even tasting it.
There were and are still a lot of fishermen out there that still toss their used plastics in the water. And I can be honest here, if I'm wacky or t-rigging a senko type bait, I can promise you that I had some fly off the hook and land in the water on a cast. I'm not doing it on purpose mind you (I mean, what a fricken birdsnest that causes...LOL), but it has happened with me.