Coming back to the sport

[biw]

Ok, so I want to go fishing again. Haven't been for 10 years.

I've been looking on the web and stuff and a few things have struck me;

 

Pellet. Whats a pellet? Obviously a bait, but is it the new all conquering bait or something. I've only ever pleasure fished with bread, worms or maggot so is everybody using pellet nowadays? Will I look an idiot on the bank without pellet?

 

Method feeder. I used to fish the river roding using open end feeders with good results for Perch and Chub.

Is 'method' just another type of feeder?

 

Is there any thing else I need to be told before I go down to the tackle shop and ask for some maggots before they look at me and laugh!

 

I'm sure i'll have hundreds more questions to bore you all with so sorry in advance...

[kleinboet]

Pellet is a "new" bait, first used by fisheries fattening up their Trout. A lot of anglers swear by it, however, a lot of anglers are going back to the good old bread, maggots, worms and casters.

There is absolutely nothing wrong in that.

 

Method feeders were originally brought out as a "bolt Rig" by the Carpers, but quickly modified to a "running rig" (which means the feeder runs up and down your line like a ledger) It is packed solid with a special ground bait,which is "free feed" and the hooklength is normally 3-4" long, the Idea being the fish come and eat your feeder bait, see you hookbait 3" away and take that! It works! Be prepared for a masive take on your rod when using this system.

[biw]

Cheers.

Just had a look on lathams and bought some new tackle (no method feeders though, i'll stick to my tried and tested open ended feeders for now) and noticed that they were selling imitation bread, maggots, casters & bloodworm! Whats that all about then? Imitation bread!

[will this name be ok]

I'm no expert myself but the advice i have been given is a magazine called improve your course fishing it's in most good newagents and not a bad price compared to some of those computer magizines out there.

 

the imatation stuff is not for my and there will always be a debate about weather or not it is better or worse than the real thing.

 

on the subject of baits i use the same as you but also sweetcorn from the can and caned meat.

 

there is also the hair rig which you will be able to read about on a lot of sites if you do a search in a search engine another carp invention i think but used for alot of the bigger speices.

 

thats all for now

 

Richard

[Dick Dastardly]

Hi biw,welcome to AN and back to angling! Ive been doing this for a few years now and let me assure you what you were catching with/on ten years ago will still work now!

 

You wont look silly or be thought of as by many.Just ease your way back into it and enjoy your fishing.Wont take you long to catch up on any new developments,try them and then decide if they are for you!

[Ferg]

One method I have found when using a method feeder is

 

pack the feeder with the method feed (make sure there is plenty of particle bait mixed wih it ie corn, hemp pellets) which is mixed so it is quite hard (so it doesn't come out of the feeder when casting or sinking). Have some more method mix slightly softer, get a bit of this and mould it onto the feeder with your hook bait in it. When the fish (carp usually) start banging the method feeder the softer stuff breaks off first revealling the hook bait which is hoovered up.

 

Don't be tempted to strike if your tip starts moving a bit thats just the fish banging the feeder. Trust me when you get a take you will know about it!

 

I hope this makes sense.

 

Tight lines

 

[Stewart_Bloor]

Welcome back to fishing, there's always room for more returning prodigals.

 

A lot of water will have passed under the bridge since you last fished, but don't worry, it will all drop into place after a while. Pick up where you last left off and take it from there.

[s_mac]

just a question going back to the firs post, regarding pellets, i to am unsure about these, what to do with them, i have a bag but never used it. is mainly used as a feed with loose bait, or actualy used as a hook bait. i would be interested to know and give it a try.

 

regards

s_mac

[GlennB]

... i have a bag but never used it. is mainly used as a feed with loose bait, or actualy used as a hook bait. i would be interested to know and give it a try.

 

Both. Using baitbands, superglue or hair-rigged, depending on the size of the pellets and your target fish. There are also soft pellets that can be hooked in the conventional way.

 

What size/type are your pellets?

[Newt]

Loose feed but for sure, pellets as a hook bait is done and can be very effective.

 

If you do a google search for

site:anglersnet.co.uk pellet hook bait

(note: no space before or after the : )

you will get about 170 hits from this site and quite a few of them have details about using pellets.