Pallatrax Whisker bait.
By Steve Williams
By Steve Williams
In recent seasons, I've been experimenting with various baits to enable me to stay one step ahead of both the fish and other anglers.
Living and fishing on the river Severn, most of my fishing I do is on reasonably popular venues, that see countless anglers using all manner of baits and methods.
These fish are no mugs and it takes a certain approach to catch regularly fish.
Although meat is still my number one choice, I have found that one advantage of reviewing items for BFW is that I am often sent different specialist baits to use before reviewing them.
This means that I can compare not only the actual fish catching ability of a bait, but the ease of use and general all round usability.
Ok, I don't have to buy the bait in the first place, but when I'm reviewing an item, I still take into account the cost when it comes to review time.
This then brings us nicely to the bait I'm reviewing today, the Whisker range from Pallatrax.
Pallatrax have been involved in the bait game for many years, initially for Carp, but more recently for the Barbel angler.
Lets be honest, a good bait is a good bait, and if applied correctly, should be capable of catching all manner of species.
I've been using the Pallatrax Whisker range for a number of months now, and this has enabled me to target a number of species, both river and stillwater.
The first thing I noticed is that the range complements its self perfectly, with everything from groundbait to pellets, boilies & sticks, dips/glugs and sprays.
Firstly we will look at the pellets.
I've been using the Whisker Pellets, which as you can imagine with a name like that, they are designed for Barbel fishing.
Available in a range of sizes including 2mm, 4mm, 6mm, 8mm or the handy mixed bags.
They are ideal as either feed or hookbait for Barbel and Chub, as well as all other species.
I've certainly found them to be very good.
Uniform in size, and when either glued or banded, they last well on the hook, and the Barbel, Chub and Bream of the river Severn certainly like them.
Since the closed season started, I've also taken Carp, Tench and stillwater Bream on them too.
Priced at £3.95 for a 1kg bag or £11.95 for a 3kg bucket, they represent good value too.
Next we have the Whisker Groundbait/Method mix.
This is a fishmeal groundbait that contains crushed hemp, seeds, ground (and whole) shrimps, milk proteins and enhancers.
Ideal as a groundbait to be balled in, as well as a method mix or for wrapping around gripper leads or plugging feeders, or as a stick mix.
Available as a 1kg bag for £4.50, or a 3kg bucket for £11.95.
Now we come to the Sticks.
These seem quite in vogue at the moment, and I can see why.
At 14mm diameter, they are basically an excruded boilie mix that is in stick form.
Totally universal, you can use a small broken off piece, a large piece, or two or three pieces.
Hair rigging is best, and like boilies, they stay on well.
They come in both shell life and frozen, and in Elixir 6 (Crayfish & Cream) or Cheese Feast (Mature Cheese & Bacon).
They can be brought in 400g/1kg/5kg/10kg/20kg & 30kg quantities with prices starting at just £5.50.
To complement the main baits there are a range of dips, gulgs, sprays and groundbait/method mix.
The Whisker method mix/groundbait is unique fishmeal blend of high protein food sources including crushed hemp, seeds, ground shrimp, milk proteins and enhancers.
The mix is quite 'sticky' and perfect for moulding around leads or plugging feeders.
Available in 1kg bags at £4.50 or 3kg Buckets for £11.95.
Pallatrax's Whisker 'Potent' Pastes come in 200 gram resealable pots or 250 gram packets of the frozen variety.
Again they are available in Cheese Feast or Elixir 6 flavours.
Ideal for wrapping around hookbaits or straight on the hook.
The shelf life pots cost £2.95, and the frozen paste retail at £3.40 per pack.
Next in the range we have the Glugs/Dips.
These again come in both Pallatrax's Cheese and Elixier 6 flavours and are a super sticky dip/attractor.
Ideal for dipping that hookbait sample in before casting out, to give it that extra edge and attractiveness.
The pots are £6.95 each.
Lastly we come to the Whisker Squabs, which are 10mm hookbaits that perfectly complement the rest of the bait range.
They can be hair-rigged or banded and are made from a top quality shelf life base mix and include essential oil and green lipped mussel.
They are packaged in a resealable pot, and each one contains 125g of Squabs plus 15 FREE pop-ups.
Again available in both Elixir 6 and Cheese Feast and retail at £3.49 per pot.
Well that just about covers the samples I was sent by Simon at pallatrax.
The Whiskers Range is just part of a vast range of bait sold by Pallatrax.
There is also a 'Naturals range' and a 'Catfish range, both of which should be of interest to the specimen/Barbel Angler.
All I can say is, if your looking for a change of baits for this season, I would certainly give the pallatrax range some consideration.
Its a serious bait for the serious Barbel angler.
BFW Rating:
Performance 9/10
Value 8/10
For more information take a look at Carp & Barbel Bait | Boilies | Hooks | Fishing Tackle