Power To The Pellet

He is affectionately known as Dave the Flave due to his love affair with baits and flavours and is a self-confessed flavour junky.

POWER TO THE PELLET

Can anyone else remember when all we anglers had to choose from was the simple trout pellet?

As with most things in modern fishing, whenever we find a certain product that is useful to us, companies are quick to recognise their potential and all of a sudden we are offered a multitude of variations along the same theme.

This is most certainly the case with the humble trout pellet. We are now offered carp pellets, salmon pellets, micro's, Breakdown pellets, Response pellets, Ball pellets, Soft Hooker pellets, Expander pellets and the latest additions now include Halibut and Hi Betaine pellets. The sizes available are also quite considerable, starting at micro (around 2mm) right up to 22mm.

We are spoilt for choice in the flavour stakes too, no more trout or salmon flavour only. Now we can choose from old favourites such as Strawberry, Nutty and Tutti Frutti, and ranging through out and out naturals such as Monster Crab, Bigfish, Squid & Octopus, Corn Steep Liquor and finishing with the new generation of flavours such as Activ-8 and Assasin-8 to name just a few.

But just what does this mean to the anglers wishing to fish the pellet? The answer is quite simple - things just keep getting better! Now we have an endless variety to choose from, which is why I thought it was a good idea to base this month's 'Baits And Flavours' column around the various types available. I shall put them into groups depending on their make-up and what they're used for, and then finish with a couple of ways to prepare them for fishing.

One major step forward regarding pellets is the breakdown rate. The standard trout pellet has a slow breakdown rate, which is okay, but we really needed an alternative that would signal it's feed presence within a minute of settling. Which is where all the hard work and research from the major bait companies paid off for the angler, bringing along the next generation of pellet; the breakdown.

These get to work as soon as they hit water; some have total breakdown rates of under two minutes, a far cry from the old pellets with a breakdown rate of around an hour! This gives us the perfect partnership if used together, the instant attraction of the breakdown and the slow release of the trout pellet.

It also allows us to fish perfect attractor and hookbait combinations, the most common I suppose is the Activ-8 and Assasin-8 boilies fished in conjunction with either Crumball or Breakdown pellets.

Take a look at the shelves in your local tackle shop and you will be faced with an array of pellets all with varying names and descriptions but in reality there is only a small range in their make up its only the names that are endless. The three main groups that all these pellets can be placed in is pellet, breakdowns and hookers.

So what do these groups mean to the angler in terms of use? Let's have a look.

PELLETS

These include the trout, salmon and carp pellet, designed as a feed package rather than an attractor they are meant to be eaten hence the slow breakdown.

But being rich in oils and vitamins, etc, any that are left start to swell and breakdown so these are often more effective to the angler after they have been in the water a while.

The introduction of the carp pellet gave us another option with the hard feed pellet, the ability to flavour them. As the carp pellet contains a lower oil level it is much more susceptible to taking a flavour.

There are two ways of doing this, the first being to add some pellets to a bait box then add a water and flavour mix (make sure you follow recommended doses of flavour) and stir it round. Soaking them in water for a short while not only ensures that your offerings sink (due to their make up they all contain air pockets that can actually make them float for a short while, especially the small sizes) but it can also allow you to use them on the hook. The water breaks down the hard outer shell and absorbs the water, swelling and opening the pellet slightly. The longer you soak them the softer they get. Too long and you get a mash, so take care.

If you intend to use the larger sizes on a hair-rig then the best way to flavour these is to add your neat flavouring to a plastic bag, rub the bag together well to coat the inside. Put in a few handfuls of pellets, blow up the bag and shake well. Then just let the air out and give the pellets a rub to coat evenly, seal the bag and freeze them. The thawing process will also draw the flavour deeper into the pellet giving a longer leak-off time.

Another pellet that benefits from a brief soaking is the Expander pellet, sold as a hard floating pellet and as the name suggests, as they take in water they can expand in size quite a lot. I have used them on many an occasion to tempt cruising fish in the warmer months fished as floaters. They can also be used as bottom hook baits with a little preparation; in fact I should say that this is their most popular usage. I have described the preparation for these in the Hooker pellets section later.

The advantage of Expander pellets as hook baits, are that being naturally very buoyant you can actually change their sink rate by giving them a gentle squeeze to release the air.

Breakdowns

Offered primarily to compliment various ready-made boilie ranges, these pellets are heavily flavoured and breakdown at various rates depending on their make-up giving off a strong scent trail for the fish to home in on. Other names that fall into this group include Response Pellets and Crumballs as they are all very similar in operation.

Again these are available in a wide range of flavours making them even more effective, a few popular examples are corn steep liquor, Activ-8, Assasin-8, Monster Crab and so on.

Their make up means that as soon as they enter the water they will start to breakdown giving an instant area of attraction to place your baits in.

Hooker Pellets

Although most pellets can be used for hookbaits after a little treatment with boiling water, there are now pellets designed especially for the job. The advantage of these is fairly obvious, no preparation and they can be kept in the fishing box with little worries on storage conditions as long as they are kept in their airtight tubs.

Like the other pellets now available the soft hooker type pellets come in a wide range of flavours and sizes.

Due to their make a lot of hooker pellets are naturally quite buoyant but their sink rate can be adjusted by a quick dip in water and a gentle squeeze to remove the air.

I suppose the most popular hard pellet that is also used as a soft hook bait must be the Expander Pellet. Below is the quick and easy preparation method for using these.

1/ Place the Expander pellets in a large bait box and just cover with boiling water for around three minutes.

2/ Tip them into a sieve to drain the water off but be careful, as it will still be very hot.

3/ Give the pellets a quick rinse with cold water, which will stop the softening process.

4/ Make sure they are thoroughly drained or they will turn to paste, and then gently squeeze any excess water off.

5/ Then just seal the pellets in a plastic bag and place in the fridge overnight. There you have it, perfect hookable pellets.

The soak time above is obviously for the bigger size Expander pellets, on the smaller sizes you may find that as little as 30 seconds is all that is required.

Well, hopefully the article so far has helped to put the wide range of pellets now available into smaller groups regarding their use and make up.

I think to finish it would be a good idea to include what must surely be the most common way of changing the properties of the hard pellet and its use and that's the Scalded Pellet Method.

My belief when making baits is make them a little bit different to the ones already being used successfully on your chosen water. This can often extend the lifespan of the bait and make sure it keeps its appeal when the similar ones are losing favour.

This can really be used to maximum effect with pellets, especially if you fish the method using scalded pellets.

So let's take a look at this method first and go through the stages for making scalded pellets and what we can do to make it that little bit different.

1/ First you need a small bowl or bucket and your selected pellets. My tip here is to use both different pellets and different sizes, I tend to use 4 or 5mm and Micros (2mm) and use both trout or carp pellet and response pellet, normally either Activ-8 or Assasin-8. If you wish to you can also add some breakdown pellets to give even more flavour and contrast to the finished bait, if you are feeling really generous add some form of trigger liquid such as the Assasin-8 or Activ-8 dip.

2/ Place the pellets into the bowl and just cover with boiling water and leave for about a minute, now is the time to add any other liquids you have decided on. After a minute the pellets will have taken on a lot of the water and started to break down. Another addition a lot of anglers use when fishing this way is finely broken boilies, these will also start to break down with the hot water and as the mix is so sticky it can hold a fair amount of solid offerings that all go to making a brilliant bait better.

3/ I normally start to stir the mix around with a fork to start the pellets binding. This is also the time that I add a couple of handfuls (depending on the size of the mix) of Micro pellets to give that all important crunch factor (described below).

4/ If the mix still seems a bit sloppy you can add some ground pellet to act as a binder, but don't overdo it, you can always add more later.

5/ Now it's just a case of kneading the mix together into a ball and place in a plastic bag in the fridge.

If you look at the photo you can just make out the different colours and consistencies of the various pellets used.

And there it is, a devastating way of using scalded pellets, of course you can also use the mix as a paste moulded round a cork ball or similar to offer a tried and tested bait with pure crunch appeal.

The Crunch Factor

Those of you who read my last bait article will remember my mentioning the idea of putting crushed eggshells into the boilie mixes to give the carp that much loved crunch factor.

Well I use the same idea when fishing pellets but with a much tastier offering that can really turn the fish on once they get the taste for it.

When using scalded pellets on the method feeder I often roll the feeder and pellet in a bowl containing a combination of Micro trout pellets and response pellets, I then mould these into the outer layer of pellet. This effectively coats the ball in an uneven layer of hard pellet that offers the ultimate in crunch appeal.

The smaller sizes of breakdown pellets can even be used to enhance your particle mixes so that you are fishing the ultimate three-way combination of attractors (particles and pellets) and hookbaits, all of the same flavour.

Particles

A lot of particle preparation recipes now advise the angler to add the various trigger liquids to the still warm seeds. Although this is extremely effective it can often deem too costly for some anglers to be done on a regular basis. Why not buy a bag of Corn Steep Liquor breakdowns or Response pellets, I would certainly recommend the Activ-8 or Assasin-8 although there are many other successful brands available and throw in a healthy portion. This would lower the outlay from around £9.99 for a bottle of the dip to between £2.50 and £3.00 for the pellets and as the particle mix cools and the pellets break down they greatly increase the richness of the mix and it also soaks into the seeds.

Final Tip

When using small pellets for loose feeding always put them in a tub or bait box and cover them with lake water for a little while as quite a high proportion of the small pellets are actually quite buoyant due to their production process. This will help to make them sink straight away. Obviously pellets intended for PVA bags should be kept dry.

And that's about it for this month and I hope it helps to put a few more fish on the bank, remember the only limit to bait making is your own imagination. Don't be afraid to try that 'something different' as these are often the baits that will put the elusive ones on your mat.

A prime example is an article in a recent copy of Match Fishing where one angler scalds his pellets for hook baits in the usual way but adds a shop bought jelly mix. Not only does this heavily flavour the pellets but it also gives them a rubbery consistency, perfect for the hook.