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Pellet users

I don't have much successes with pellet in natural venue, but I do catch a lot in commercial fishery with pellet. And I prefer to use natural bait in the natural venue, the meat and the bread are only two exception.
 
Frolicks dog biscuits are a real fish puller. When you look at how much pet food manufacturers spend on R&D in taste enhancers it makes the bait companies look like amateurs.
 
Paul Richardson said:
I like Hinders Barbel Blitz - I'm sure they are an Elips pre-glugged
Don't know( or care that much) but they are a consistent catcher but in warmer months do need checking as can get very soft relatively quickly
Do they catch any better than a standard Elips - ?????
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I like the barbel blitz too. I do wish they weren't pre drilled though.
 
Shoot me Down here but……..
They are used far far too much imo.
Loads of that oily shite chucked into the rivers all the time unnecessarily.
Natural hemp seed and pigeon conditioner mixes are far better things to be offloaded into the river and have imo better pulling power too.
The odd one or two on a hook bait ….. fine but piling them in through feeders and droppers etc ………..just plan and prepare some proper quality bait. What can possibly be better than a bucket full of shiny jet black hemp seeds or a sticky sugary mixed seed mix that came off the hob the day before.
 
Richard Isaacs said:
Shoot me Down here but……..
They are used far far too much imo.
Loads of that oily shite chucked into the rivers all the time unnecessarily.
Natural hemp seed and pigeon conditioner mixes are far better things to be offloaded into the river and have imo better pulling power too.
The odd one or two on a hook bait ….. fine but piling them in through feeders and droppers etc ………..just plan and prepare some proper quality bait. What can possibly be better than a bucket full of shiny jet black hemp seeds or a sticky sugary mixed seed mix that came off the hob the day before.
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I do use the odd dropper of pellets for baiting up but overall I think you are right.

About 25 years ago I worked at a stillwater fishery for a couple of years where all pellets other than those supplied by the fishery were banned by the owner. Everyone assumed this was purely for commercial reasons and anglers would constantly moan about it. But the owner was adamant that it was was because he didn’t want his fish stocks constantly consuming high oil trout and salmon pellets as, in his opinion, it lead to overweight bloated unhealthy fish that were shorter lived. The pellets he supplied were a low oil type, and he also only sold them in small bags which were a couple of quid. As a result not many people bought them which suited him fine. So a lot of anglers complained about being not being able to use their own pellets, but then would comment on what great condition and how fighting fit the fish (mainly carp) were. Traditional baits like maggots, worms, bread and meat consistently did the business. Nor where any supplied by the fishery which kind of blew a hole in the ‘greedy fishery owner’ argument.
 
for me pellet still out fishes any other bait for barbel all year round. I use small meat cubes a lot in summer for float fishing but when it’s time for the feeder pellet wins out for me. I’m still a fan of elipse but standard halibut pellets still catch me a lot of fish, especially 6mm.
 
Joe Winstanley said:
I do use the odd dropper of pellets for baiting up but overall I think you are right.

About 25 years ago I worked at a stillwater fishery for a couple of years where all pellets other than those supplied by the fishery were banned by the owner. Everyone assumed this was purely for commercial reasons and anglers would constantly moan about it. But the owner was adamant that it was was because he didn’t want his fish stocks constantly consuming high oil trout and salmon pellets as, in his opinion, it lead to overweight bloated unhealthy fish that were shorter lived. The pellets he supplied were a low oil type, and he also only sold them in small bags which were a couple of quid. As a result not many people bought them which suited him fine. So a lot of anglers complained about being not being able to use their own pellets, but then would comment on what great condition and how fighting fit the fish (mainly carp) were. Traditional baits like maggots, worms, bread and meat consistently did the business. Nor where any supplied by the fishery which kind of blew a hole in the ‘greedy fishery owner’ argument.
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I pester John baker occasionally via email when looking for advice on bait. Such a nice obliging bloke considering he doesn’t make a fortune out of me using my 1 egg mixes once a week at best. But he’s always happy to advise.
We do get on the subject of pellets occasionally and as you know he absolutely hates them. He’s seen a lot of barbel showing signs of fatty liver disease which he puts down to the oil content in pellets that are thrown in.
I used to use them as everyone did or does but I’ve swapped right out now to alternatives like hemp, and conditioner mixes and I’m catching as well as I ever did. Paste raps and afew broken boilies have been doing it for me this year.
 
Yeah, I catch just as many on boilies as I used to on the T7 elips pellets (which were wonderful). When the guys ceased production I changed to boilie, and haven't looked back. I do hand feed about a dozen pellets (from Kent Particles) into the swim when I start just to stimulate feeding, but never overdo it.
 
I catch most of my fish on pellet. I don't feed loads though but I feed a fair amount of hemp, 2 or 3 pints for a 3 hour session. I catch plenty of barbel as well but it is from the Trent! I feed mainly through a groundbait feeder as they love eating this also.
 
I generally avoid high oil pellets these days even for carping.

The general coarse or carp pellets have a much lower oil content and are designed for year round use. Just flavour them with your liquid of choice eg liquid liver, krill extract etc

Let's also remember the smaller the pellet the quicker it will breakdown into basically mush / groundbait in your swim
 
Cliff Turner said:
for me pellet still out fishes any other bait for barbel all year round. I use small meat cubes a lot in summer for float fishing but when it’s time for the feeder pellet wins out for me. I’m still a fan of elipse but standard halibut pellets still catch me a lot of fish, especially 6mm.
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Can't argue with you on that, I guess you scaling down the pellet sixe gives you the edge.
 
Cliff Turner said:
for me pellet still out fishes any other bait for barbel all year round. I use small meat cubes a lot in summer for float fishing but when it’s time for the feeder pellet wins out for me. I’m still a fan of elipse but standard halibut pellets still catch me a lot of fish, especially 6mm.
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Do you use dry pellets in a blockend feeder cliff
 
The first bait I used in the modern era when I returned to coarse fishing after a long period of fly only was Dynamite Halibut. This season I have gone back to where I started and use their pellets in a variety of sizes for feed and bigger ones as hookbait and find they work well. As winter approaches though I will steer away from high oil content baits.
 
I use a mix of 3mm and 4mm pellets in the feeder, you can vary the mix to suit conditions so more 4mm if the flow is harder or you want a slower release. I wouldn't use even half a bag of feed pellets in a days feeder fishing. The other advantage is its so clean and easy, I just mix the pellets into a ziplock freezer bag and stick them in my bag or waist pouch, a small bag of hook size pellets and away you go. No taking ground bait buckets, mixing on the bank, trying to keep it damp etc. Catches me barbel every where I go, best recent example would be the lower Severn which I only fished for the first time last season, Ive had 7 barbel in 7 visits so far (includes two blanks).
 
I’ve had good results this year with Sonubaits Spicy Sausage pellets. I’ve had 11 barbel to 10lb 2oz in approximately 12 sessions, the vast majority have been no more than 2.5 hours after work quickies, with a few longer ones as well.

The best success has been with a single 8mm on the hair, and pva bags of 3/6/8mm for feed. I’ve used less than 3kg since June, so not a huge amount for the river, even though it’s a small one. I’ve never been one for ‘filling a peg in’.

The question is whether I’d have caught the same with a different pellet, or with meat and hemp. I’m not sure. But I do know that I could use those pellets in the wrong areas and catch nothing, I had to be where the barbel are to catch them. So knowing where the right swims are, I expect that any pellets would have worked. I just stuck to Spicy Sausage because I knew they worked, and I’d already got them in my bag.
 
Cliff Turner said:
I use a mix of 3mm and 4mm pellets in the feeder, you can vary the mix to suit conditions so more 4mm if the flow is harder or you want a slower release. I wouldn't use even half a bag of feed pellets in a days feeder fishing. The other advantage is its so clean and easy, I just mix the pellets into a ziplock freezer bag and stick them in my bag or waist pouch, a small bag of hook size pellets and away you go. No taking ground bait buckets, mixing on the bank, trying to keep it damp etc. Catches me barbel every where I go, best recent example would be the lower Severn which I only fished for the first time last season, Ive had 7 barbel in 7 visits so far (includes two blanks).
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Are black caps your go to feeder or something else?
 
Richard Isaacs said:
Shoot me Down here but……..
They are used far far too much imo.
Loads of that oily shite chucked into the rivers all the time unnecessarily.
Natural hemp seed and pigeon conditioner mixes are far better things to be offloaded into the river and have imo better pulling power too.
The odd one or two on a hook bait ….. fine but piling them in through feeders and droppers etc ………..just plan and prepare some proper quality bait. What can possibly be better than a bucket full of shiny jet black hemp seeds or a sticky sugary mixed seed mix that came off the hob the day before.
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You make a very salient point about planning & preparation and you are bang on. In an ideal world my first line of attack for most days would be hemp, caster and a change of maggot & worm. Early season when I'm getting out 3-4 times a week I can do this as the natural bait can always be utilised in some way shape or form. As it gets into Autumn and my chance to get out declines , It's just a lot harder to find the time to get natural baits being where I am and working full-time, often away from home. I have a freezer tray literally full of bags of maggots and casters that were bought in for a autumn/winter session only to not get used cos it was raging through/ in flood etc..
So pellets / small boilies have a place in my armoury as I can just grab and go, but as it gets colder I don't use pellets at all
I've only ever seen one serious abuse of pellets and that was on the Wye. We are literally miles from anywhere or anybody and a flashy white AWD rocked up and they literally got in a peg between me and my mate ( we were less than 100yards apart) and proceeded to empty a big sack of halibut pellets into the swim , bit like a farmer emptying pig nuts into a trough - all under their feet?? They fished for a little over an hour and sodded off. Whether they planned to return later in the day is unknown but they appeared pretty clueless, and even if they did the amount of feed they put in would have kept a shoal of Wels catfish going all day.
I really don't see much harm Fishing sensible amounts of smaller pellets as feed on flowing water.
As to what constitutes sensible, you make your own mind up but I always fall back on Trefor West's logic in his book ' Barbel - A lifetime addiction'
If you've not read the sections on feeding and baiting programmes , it's worth tracking it down.
" I come here to catch them, not feed them" kind of sums it up.
 
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