Daft pellet questions...

[Jon Whelan]

Evening all,

Surprising the nuances of info' ones mind wanders about during the closed season!

How are most pellets made?

Is the pellet form made by compression and/or with/without heat?

I appreciate that there are a number of fish meals/ingredients therein (species specific nutritional profile), but like boilies, do they have to contain a binder?

Are some pellets made & then oils/additives added thereafter?

Many thanks,

Jon

PS my thinking on this is that fishmeals & other proteinaceous elements within the pellet would be altered by temperatures approaching/greater 60C. I like the idea of these ingredients remaining in an unadulterated form

 

[Colin Gordon]

Jon, in short fish pellets are produced in the same way as all other animal compound feeds, be they pigs, sheep, poultry or whatever else.

Basically all the raw ingredients are milled up into a fine meal, then mixed, at this point liquid additives get mixed in.
In the case of fish pellets these would include molasses, oils and fats. Which serve two purposes, firstly as a source of energy and secondly as a binding component.

This mix is then forced through a die to the desired size of the finished pellet and this process is the reason small (2-5mm) pellets are normally cheaper than larger sized ones, as when the pellet size is increased so the forces needed to go pass through the die are increased, also the process subsquently takes longer.

The next stage is for the formed pellet to be effectively baked (dried), this can be done in a variety of ways, normally the pellets pass through a tunnel of hot air (60-70'c), until hard and dry.

A completely different process to boilies.

Here's a guide as to the vastly differing nutritional values between pellets, as you touched on, each species has its own unique criteria if the pellet is to be its sole food source.
http://www.fao.org/docrep/field/003/U4173E/U4173E00.htm#ch6.1.3

P.s you are bored!

 

[Jon Whelan]

Thanks Colin for your reply & the link therein. Confirmed a lot of my thoughts. So, in all probability, there's a high proportion of denatured (insoluble) protein contained in the average pellet as a consequence of being mass produced = limited amino acid release or content! Nice...

Obviously, the extent of denaturation is dependant on the length of time its dried or cooked given these temps.

Cheers, Jon

PS I am bored!!

 

[Colin Gordon]

Jon, you say about the protiens being damaged and the lysiene (amino acid) being lost but because they are mass produced and are for the human food chain the feed manufactures (in the UK) must supply a ingredients declaration and also provide a comprehensive 'available nutrition' analysis.

Though of course if you buy pellets in 1kg bags, probably repackaged by a tackle dealer these declarations will undoubtedly seldom be forwarded on.
Simple reason for the lack of info being supplied is because they're no longer intended for the human food chain, rather the leisure industry its simply not a legal requirement.

Also this usage change of the pellets then renders them liable for VAT, subsiquently a further price rise.

At least with pellets you are getting what you pay for and if buying in bulk, its possible to see exactly whats present in the product, where as boilies, are 'all' HNV and made with the highest grade ingredients, aren't they??!!

Interestingly many matchmen on carp orientated commercial fisheries swear blind that the basic brown coloured weakly scented carp pellets, on the whole out fish trout or halibut pellets, why?

IMO fish like most species of animals have the ability to select the diet which is ultimately best suited to their nutritional requirements.
To many this may sound nonsense, even implausible but pigs and chickens, both are proven to have this ability, so its obviously not a thought process that leads to this.

So if you want to make a packet, work out the nutritional requirements of a barbel and logically they'll devour this food source in preference to anything else (if offered enough).

 

[Colin Gordon]

Jon, I should add that on the nutritional declarations it will declare levels in terms of crude protein and available protein (digestable), same goes for energy.

 

[Jon Whelan]

Thanks for expanding on this again Colin. Fair comment on the contents of pellets being more transparent than boilies & also that all boilies contain the highest grade ingredients!!

You prob know this: On the matchman consideration of weaker scented carp pellets (might be a parallel) in specimen carp circles the idea of using 'washed out' baits, presoaked boilies in a bucket of lake water to loose the off the shelf strong whiff. Idea being that fish will be more wary of strong smelling bait but select bait that has seemingly been in the water for a duration & the angler has gone home i.e. washed out baits mimicking this latter scenario.

I do agree that creatures intuitively will select (where there's choice) food which they are lacking in their diet & also that an (utopian) ideal bait will fulfil barbels changing requirements across the four seasons (being tweaked accordingly).

Many thanks, Jon