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Pellet baits, these types of bait have seen a massive increase in
use over the past two to three years mainly due to their popularity
on commercial carp waters and big fish catching capability's, it was
just the other day that I had an interesting conversation with
another angler about such baits with him declaring that they were
deadly for skimmer fishing and asking the reasons why, this is not
an easy question to answer as we can only observe using systematic
study and method to arrive at a scientific conclusion as to the
answer, after much thought over the years using pellets in many
different forms for catching skimmers from many different waters and
watching the pellets dissolve in water observing the feeding fish I
have formed my own opinions as to why this is but as many anglers of
today are quite content to dismiss the angling baits and methods
that were used long before pellets were used I had a bit of a job to
explain, but tried to do so anyway, explaining that pellets were not
such an unusual bait for skimmers to feed upon and that the bait
suited such soft mouthed fish that love ground bait, "ground bait"
he retorted , "what has that got to do with pellets" , well it has
everything to do with modern day pellet fishing as anglers of old
will tell you that a soft paste bait moulded into a pellet and made
from your chosen ground bait was used for skimmer and proper bream
fishing years ago and had exactly the same effect, as the pellet
breaks down it mounds on the bottom releasing its oil and clouding
the swim not unlike ground bait, when the fish finds this and starts
to feed they will take a pellet as though it was just another
mouthful of food that lies on the bottom and once they start to feed
upon the pellets you can introduce this ground bait effect as often
as you like without spooking the fish with them even intercepting
the bait on the way down, simple isn't it ? , I don't
for one minute think that he thought so either but there you go.
Pellet forms,
almost anything can be formed into a pellet and there are many
different types available to the angler but most are fishmeal or
cereal based with colourings or flavours added, the recent upsurge
in anglers using halibut pellets for river Barbel fishing is not
such a shock as these pellets contain far more oil, flavour
and break down far slower than the usual types of pellet thus giving
a stronger and longer scent trail to river feeding fish which can be
important to pull fish into your swim from downstream so it is
really no coincidence that these pellets will work better on the
rivers and a pellet that breaks down quickly will work better on a
still water as this pellet needs to distribute it's scent during
this occurrence.
Trout pellets,
the name says it all here the trout pellet is a fishmeal based
pellet that trout farmers use to rear the trout quickly on
commercial farms they contain high amounts of oil and many nutrients
essential for fast growth, a traditionally hard pellet that will
take a while breaking down but will be eaten readily by all fish
especially those that have been farm reared.
commercial pellets (hookers),
these are all types of hook pellet that you can buy from a tackle shop,
there are many variations all claiming to do different things but
nearly all are made from the same base ingredients but some come
with a different flavour or colour added to target a specific
species, some brand names may have a slightly different make up and
some will stay on the hook better than others so it is always best
to ask for advice on hook pellet choice or to experiment with a few
different types to find one that you are happy with but all should
work quite well when used correctly, if possible you should try to
hook these pellets across the grain as they will tend to stay on the
hook a better.
commercial pellets (feeders),
these also come in many different colours and flavours but again are
usually made from the same base materials, it is always better to
feed these pellets in a slightly smaller size than that the pellet
that you are using on the hook as the fish will often take your
larger hook pellet with vigour actively seeking out the larger bait
particles in the swim, many of the big bait manufacturers have
climbed aboard the pellet gravy train with several of them using the
same pellet packaged with their specific logo but all are sold at
different prices so be careful which of these you buy, the cheapest
alternative is to buy your feed pellets from a seed merchants in
bulk as you will possibly get the same type of pellet at a third of
the price.
Halibut pellets,
this is one of the most popular pellets to be used for big fish
especially when targeting river Barbel, it has a high oil and
nutrition value and comes in one specific type across the board so
wherever you purchase them from they should be the same although I
have seen many different grades some good and some bad so again try
to find a good supply and buy quite a few so that you have a good
stock to last the season, you should use this pellet in a slightly
different way to most other types using a single bait over a bed of
particle feed like hemp, a ground bait feeder with a few smaller
pellets in amongst the feed or grind some pellets in a coffee
grinder and add this to your ground bait, try not to over feed these
pellets as they can be quite filling, the oil content in this type
of pellet is very high making scent leakage into the water very good
this is why it is especially effective for river fishing omitting an
attractive scent downstream pulling fish into your swim, many
specimen Barbel and Carp anglers use a single large pellet or
several smaller baits drilled and treaded onto a hair rig fished in
conjunction with large grip lead and a PVA sock filled with smaller
pellets, grilled hemp or chopped boilies so that they can place the
feed around the hook bait and leave the bait in for long periods
waiting for that big fish to arrive in the swim and take the bait.
Fishery pellets,
these pellets are those which have to be purchased at the fishery
that you are about to fish, there are many different reasons for
these fishery's imposing a rule on the type of pellets that must be
used and many anglers disagree with some rulings stating that the
fishery is imposing the rule to further it's financial standing by
buying the specific type of pellet cheaply and selling them at an
inflated price with this enforced rule in place, this may or may not
be the case on commercial type fishery's and I would like to think
that the only reason that the enforcement is in place is to
safeguard the fish stock with a fishery owner buying only the best
biodegradable pellet that is available and selling them at a slight
profit to pay for the administration and preparation costs if any, I
know that at one of our best local commercial fishery's this is the
case and the pellet that is provided is done so purely to safeguard
the fishes welfare and is sold at a slight profit, the chosen
fishery pellet can be bought by the fishery owner from many
different sources and in many different variety's and quality's it
is indeed up to the owner which type they wish to use and usually
stick with this decision throughout the years, this is good for the
angler as they are constantly being fed into the water which is not
dissimilar to constant pre baiting sessions with the fish using
these pellets to replace their natural diet so the angler can catch
on pellet every time, the fishery will normally provide you with
feed pellets and small tubs of hookers so you do not have to prepare
them in any way and are ready to fish with immediately, it is always
a good idea to ask the fishery owner how to best use them or find a
match angler that frames on a regular basis and ask his advice as he
will often inform you of the pitfalls and advise you on the best way
to fish them to achieve maximum results.
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