Pellets

[davedave]

Recently bought a bag of 8mm halibut pellets to try as a huge pack of them was only 4 quid so thought you cant go wrong. Never really used pellets much, especially the large hard ones like these, could you tell me the best way to present them please, is putting a bait band on it and sliding the hook through good enough or do you have to hair rig and stuff like that? Cheers

[Fours]

Recently bought a bag of 8mm halibut pellets to try as a huge pack of them was only 4 quid so thought you cant go wrong. Never really used pellets much, especially the large hard ones like these, could you tell me the best way to present them please, is putting a bait band on it and sliding the hook through good enough or do you have to hair rig and stuff like that? Cheers

Hiya,

Never used a bait band, so can't comment on that.I have used them hair-rigged, and had amazing results!(see 'Crucian Carp' thread).

On several waters i've fished they were the difference between quality fish and blanking.Are they pre-drilled?What species are you after?I,ve caught a wide range of species with these, and consider myself a convert!

[davedave]

yes they are pre-drilled, umm im after anything on them really, hopefully something a bit bigger like nice bream or carp but whatever takes it haha, im just trying them to see how effective they work. On the bag it says you can band them but i thought this would not be the best presentation.

 

cheers

[Rutilis Volaticus]

My experiences so far with pellets are, by the sounds of it, much the same as Fours.

 

Pellets were a new one on me when I returned to fishing this year, but I decided to give them a go on the basis that they looked suspiciously like what my parents used to feed their Koi on, and I have to say I'm pretty impressed. I've only used Swimstim Amino so far, hair rigged (or in a 'lacky band on the end of the hair) they seem to work depressingly well for pretty much everything I've presented them in front of, including some small perch much to my surprise.

 

For feeding, what seems to work for me is leaving the 3mm variety (I'm sure it would work with other sizes, just haven't tried) in water from where you're fishing for a good while* before use, at which point they seem to be pretty effective as either loose feed, or as stuffing for a feeder (only tried on still waters, but cage or open ended doesn't seem to make any appreciable difference). I haven't as yet tried feeding them and fishing a dissimilar hookbait so can't vouch for that.

 

I wouldn't bother with the soft hooker variety unless you're using a pole as they have a habit of not surviving the cast. That said, with a bit of rolling I'm sure they'd make fantastic immitation rabbit poo - a common domestic need, as I'm sure you'll all agree.

 

There's also the obvious downside of them being soulless and boring. Then again, they're a doddle to store so make a handy extra bait type to cart about and try if other options aren't working.

 

 

* So they end up somewhere between squishy-but-intact and total mush.

[jason.p]

I'm totally sold on banded pellets. I now find them outfishing corn more often than not for Carp and Tench. I use a 6mm pellet and feed the same or smaller. Either hook direct to a pellet band on the pellet, or fix a band to a hair. I use the "Smiffrig" where you can fix a hair to an ordinary hook without retying it. You can even get a gizmo to help putting the band on the pellet.