Kamasan black cap feeders

[mikench]

I have several of the above and the Preston equivalents which I have only ever used for maggots. In the AT this week Mr Harrell states that his favourite blockend feeder for barbel is the Black cap feeder using a mix of 3mm and 4mm pellets.

I do not have any 3mm to try but when I have just filled one with 4mm pellet I am left with the conclusion that there is no way the pellets, particularly when wet and expanded , could escape the feeder even with fish encouragement!

Am I missing something and do they exit the feeder in practice and when in the current?

 

[tigger]

I have several of the above and the Preston equivalents which I have only ever used for maggots. In the AT this week Mr Harrell states that his favourite blockend feeder for barbel is the Black cap feeder using a mix of 3mm and 4mm pellets.

I do not have any 3mm to try but when I have just filled one with 4mm pellet I am left with the conclusion that there is no way the pellets, particularly when wet and expanded , could escape the feeder even with fish encouragement!

Am I missing something and do they exit the feeder in practice and when in the current?

I would imagine he's using them for scent/smell as much as anything Mike. I must admit it always baffles me when people use a maggot feeder for pellets etc....personally i'd use a maggot feeder for maggots and a open end feeder for pellets/ground bait etc, it makes a little more sense to me .

I wonder if he'd recommend using a cullender for washing up in...

 

[The Runner]

A bunch of us spend a week on the Severn every year and our rig of choice for years has been a Black Cap and the same mix of pellet. Yes, the 4mils do come out in the current, quite quickly as well.

 

[sam vimes]

There's a distinct possibility that the holes in the feeder aren't left unmodified. There are lots of river anglers that think little of modifying feeders. Whether they actually mention the fact that they are modified is another matter.

 

[mikench]

I am surprised but I asked the ? and appreciate the endorsement . I will give this a try. Certainly the 4mm dry pellets would never exit the feeder in my garage!

 

[tigger]

I am surprised but I asked the ? and appreciate the endorsement . I will give this a try. Certainly the 4mm dry pellets would never exit the feeder in my garage!

People will say they flow of the water will force them out and yet it's a well know fact that the flow isn't so great on the deck of a river, especially when between rocks etc. The only way I can see them all exiting the feeder is by fish sucking/pecking at it which is most likely the way most of them actually leave the feeder. Imo it's the wrong feeder to use for pellets or groundbait....surely they'd be called pellet groundbait feeders if they where for pellets . I mean why would you want the feed to take ages to come out, providing the feeder has hit the deck the sooner it exit s it the better imo.
I think they do make pellet feeders LOL.

 

[mikench]

Maybe the cunning plan is to make the barbel so frustrated at the pellets they cannot get to , that they go for the larger pellet on the hair!

 

[The Runner]

I don't usually adapt the feeder here, in fact the most common adaptation I do to a BlackCap is if I'm fishing maggot I might tape some of it up. One thing that I have noticed on pellet is that if you fill the feeder right up you will sometimes come back with some still inside so I usually do it about 3/4 full. Not sure about them coming out via fish pulling at them either as that would give you little dinks on the tip a lot more than you actually get. Also this would imply that you should get more bites on a short hooklength with the fish coming right up to the feeder which definitely isn't the case on the Severn these days.
As I say, however it happens, they do come out pretty quickly.

 

[silvers]

The 3mm dynamite halibut’s definitely come out .... that’s what I use.

Tigger, most river match anglers fish block end for pellets .... especially when the river is low and clear. Basically particle fishing ... we do the same with hemp & caster.

I’m told that 4mm on the hook (or rather hair) has been the most effective on the Severn this season in matches.

 

[john step]

I use black cap feeders for maggot and hemp. I am blowed if I will start cutting them about to make bigger holes at the price they are.

 

[nottskev]

I use black cap feeders for maggot and hemp. I am blowed if I will start cutting them about to make bigger holes at the price they are.

Yes, cutting tends to be messy, with cracks and splits likely.
Fortunately, enlarging your Black Cap feeder holes has never been so easy.... thanks to the John Roberts Swimfeeder Hole Enlarger.

 

[The bad one]

Always found carrying a 1/4 in or 6 mm drill bit in my tackle box does the trick to enlarge the holes in a feeder. After all it's only thin plastic you're drilling and enlarging the hole of.

 

[flightliner]

I used the black caps thro out the nineties on the Trent when barbelling.
Filling them up with a mix of hemp and four mm halibut pellets in equel measure.
They always came back empty.
These days I use them with the bolt rigged maggot for roach and sometimes Bream.

 

[rayner]

When I was fishing the Trent pellets were never heard of, did use a maggot feeder for hemp and maggot.
My black caps now are fished inline with no lead. the slow drop catches very well for silvers up in the water.

 

[ravey]

I reckon that the inert particles used in a blockend come out as the feeder is falling through the water, and that any that remain come out as you retrieve the rig. I can't see any coming out once as a result of river flow (well, not many) after the feeder has hit the bottom, but will do when you reel in.

In shallow water, I would use a small feeder partially filled. I think that having bait coming out as it descends through the water helps to create a strip of feed that your hookbait will settle on, and that a large feeder will have too much left in (unless it has a good depth to fall through before it reaches the bottom). Any left in will risk spreading the fish as feed is dispersed as you wind in. A way round this might be to feed a bow out so that the first few yards the feeder is retrieved will be along the strip of feed created.

Just my thoughts...