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Pellet size.

I wouldn't be in a rush to throw away 6-month old base mixes provided they have been kept well.

I do agree with Richard's point about pellets being full of oil and other crap. My feeling is they aren't good for fish in the long term if they are feeding on large quantities of them. They are designed for rapid growth of fish who don't live long.

As an aside, I intend not to use any fishmeals in my baits moving forward. Our sea fisheries are getting raped and plundered enough, so I can't justify using fishmeals to catch fish I have no intention of eating. It just ain't sustainable.
 
Joe Winstanley said:
I wouldn't be in a rush to throw away 6-month old base mixes provided they have been kept well.

I do agree with Richard's point about pellets being full of oil and other crap. My feeling is they aren't good for fish in the long term if they are feeding on large quantities of them. They are designed for rapid growth of fish who don't live long.

As an aside, I intend not to use any fishmeals in my baits moving forward. Our sea fisheries are getting raped and plundered enough, so I can't justify using fishmeals to catch fish I have no intention of eating. It just ain't sustainable.
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I like using DNA Bug for that reason as it’s made with sustainable insect meal. It’s a good bait too, I had a double within 3 hours of the season starting last year so that gave me the confidence to switch to it!
 
Rob Mitchell said:
I like using DNA Bug for that reason as it’s made with sustainable insect meal. It’s a good bait too, I had a double within 3 hours of the season starting last year so that gave me the confidence to switch to it!
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Funny you should mention this bait….I got a tub of wafters in a glug and used this last season as an alternative floodwater chub bait, caught each time I used it when I wasn’t getting any interest in paste/worms
 
Rob Mitchell said:
I like using DNA Bug for that reason as it’s made with sustainable insect meal. It’s a good bait too, I had a double within 3 hours of the season starting last year so that gave me the confidence to switch to it!
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Not a bait I'm familiar with Rob. Interesting concept.
 
Hopefully the fish are similar to ants with rancid oils, aka margarine, and won't go near the s***. I'm always inclined to give nature the benefit of the doubt when it comes to knowing what is good for it/them.
 
I don’t know if it’s psychological or not but I feel like I get a faster/stronger response from a fresh bag of pellet. The longer it’s been sat at the back of the garage the less pulling power it seems to have.
 
Stephen Crowhurst said:
I don’t know if it’s psychological or not but I feel like I get a faster/stronger response from a fresh bag of pellet. The longer it’s been sat at the back of the garage the less pulling power it seems to have.
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I think there’s a lot of truth in that Stephen
I’ve noticed similar things with all baits that the freshness seems to effect response times. Even dead baits for pike they respond better in my opinion to a nice fresh fish taken off the counter that day than something that’s sat in the freezer for a year.
 
When I first got into barbel fishing I had a 3kg bucket of pellets that I’d brought from a carp show about 5 years before and only ever used a hand full. I used them as hook baits on the river and used pva mesh bags of mixed size fresh pellets and caught hundreds of fish on them. They lasted a few seasons as well as I was only using them on the rig and not as free offerings. Maybe keeping them in the bucket stopped them going rancid but they were probably 8 years old by the time I run out and never stopped me catching
 
LOL. Everything in our house is out of date.

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A wise man once told me " fish don't read the same books as us "
Opportunistic session yesterday, grabbed my old pellets and got to the river just before midday, sun high and hot, but pressure had dropped like a stone. Swim was deep and hardly any pace. So other than sunburn and mozzie bites, didn't expect much.
Simple hookbaits - no glug, no paste, no HNV - just old Hinders pellets. Simple rigs - no anti-tangle sleeves, no lead clips, no braid, just mono loop to loop
11 fish including a 9-12 and off by 18.00 as a thunderstorm beckoned. No losses either.
Work that one out.
 
very kind but when they're on it, they are not that hard to hook - landing them is another matter. Lot of weed alongside the usual snags.
Interesting in that I'm still using ' softer' rods - 1.25/1.5 Torrix/ Dark Carbon with Richy feeders, and the Mark Tunley mantra " soft on you, hard on the fish" appears very relevant. But having balanced tackle that you can squeeze every ounce out of does seem to stack the odds in your favour a bit more.
I'm guessing will be the same on the 15' Hi S looking at the pics on River reports :oops:
Met a lad in the car park, a very experienced barbel angler, who'd hooked 5 and lost 5.When we talked he was using braid mainline, braid hooklinks and heavier rods. Seemed to me like such a pokey, no-stretch set-up and absolute hooligan 5-6 pounders are not compatible?
He'd had a lot of knots let go and as I say a properly seasoned angler.
 
On a recent trip to the Wye I had some old pellets and some new, the old ones had been kept well sealed up and dry.
They didn't smell any different to me, and it seemed they didn't smell any different to the Barbel.
 
Me and my sons usually all chip in and buy a couple of 25kg bags of pellets🎣 once opened there zip tied and stored in dustbins. They last ages like that, we use them ground up to a powder for use in mixes, scalded for paste, in pva bags etc. I’ve still got some part bags from before the covid lockdowns and we’re still catching on them no problem😉
 
3 nights now I’ve out fished a mate who’s using 8 year old Elisps pellets , he’s never been more than 100 yards from me downstream , I’m using a proven John Baker home rolled bolilie @Richard Isaacs thanks !
Yes they’ll catch on most days when they'll eat anything , but when there in a take it or leave it mood , a better fresher bait can make the difference .
 
Kevin Brown said:
3 nights now I’ve out fished a mate who’s using 8 year old Elisps pellets , he’s never been more than 100 yards from me downstream , I’m using a proven John Baker home rolled bolilie @Richard Isaacs thanks !
Yes they’ll catch on most days when they'll eat anything , but when there in a take it or leave it mood , a better fresher bait can make the difference .
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I’m so glad it’s doing the business for you Kevin. It’s extremely difficult to try something new and obtain confidence quickly. Great results
 
Paul Rogers said:
Richard. Do you keep food in you food cupboard longer than the sell by? If we worry about our health in what we eat, should we not take the same are towards the fish we catch, or not catch but just feed.
Richard a lot of the baits we buy now are just throwing money down the drain anyway. The quality is terrible and catches us the angler as well as the fish.
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The state our rivers are in through sewage discharge etc .. I think the age of bait is the Barbels least worry … just my opinion 👍
 
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