PVA bags - where do you attach yours?

Paul H · Sep 1, 2010

A PVA mesh bag of small pellets is probably my favourite and most commonly used barbel-baiting tactic.

I sometimes use feeders on deeper rivers or long sessions but generally revert to a few pre-tied PVA bags of pellets when staying mobile on shorter sessions.

How do you attach you bags to your rig?

Do you hook them or tie them to the lead in some way, and why?

The current trend seems to be to attach them to the lead. I, however, seem to catch fish just fine by nicking them on the hook. I go through once, twist the mesh and through again for security on the cast.

Sean Meeghan · Sep 1, 2010

I always used to hook them as attaching them to the lead seemed like an expensive way of fishing a feeder!

I rarely use pva now-a-days as the feeder or squeezing a ball of pellets round my hook bait work just as well in most of my fishing situations.

quickcedo · Sep 1, 2010

Can't honestly remember the last time I used PVA on a river. i tend to fish small to medium rivers most of the time and prefer to fish either a single high attract bait (paste) or if I am feading it's loose fed by hand or catapult.
It never stops amazing me how many ways people find to successfully catch fish.
If the way you fish is working for you Paul then stick to it.

barbel liam · Sep 2, 2010

never use pva although have nothing against it. If your feeding 1 or 2mm pellets then its probably best to dampen them & lightly squeeze them into a open end or big river cage feeder, aswell as being cheaper you can add any glug or oils aswell with out worrying about the pva splitting or desolving in mid cast.

Paul H · Sep 2, 2010

I have been thinking that dampened pellets squeezed around the lead would be a cheaper but virtually identical method.

Funny how you can get stuck in your ways and not change tactics, even when there are no discernable reasons to stick with your current methods.

Paul Morley · Sep 7, 2010

It's all good news for the PVA companies....I think that when one can avoid the encumbrance of a feeder in snags etc., PVA is handy. The Ribble will eat your feeders, less so a lead. Tying the bag to the eye of a home made lead is easy, bang it out and leave it out, so you don't have to cast often. Most other places the feeder is the most cost effective and effective - as Sean says, often you don't have to cast far so mini pellets squeezed round a lead is good. The Dove doesn't really need a PVA bag, does it?

Paul H · Sep 7, 2010

Last week a PVA bag rig caught me this fish:

This week, same swim, same bait and same rig but with the pellets dampned and mashed around the lead, caught this:

I know which method I'll be using in the majority of situations from now on.

It doesn't half make your hands stink though. Even after washing my hands a few times and a shower I could still detect the distinctive whiff of halibut pellets later that evening.

Paul Morley · Sep 7, 2010

Indeed Sir. I feel the dry mini pellets will rocket off downstream compared to the heavier damp ones also. Those method mould leads, can't remember the make, look like the sculpture that comes to life in 'Beetlejuice', possibly Atomic Nobblers - they're splendid for this job....

alan whittington · Sep 10, 2010

Couple of questions fella's,i thought that dampened pellets became more bouyant,so therefore left the swim easier,thats why i usually put some dry pellet in the 'sandwich' so to speak,also ive found 6mm dampened better for me for similar reasons,another thing,unless i missed it,no mention of a bait dropper,large or small.

Bob Roberts · Sep 10, 2010

You've clearly not watched the last two Barbel Days and Ways DVDs or you'd have seen how both pellets and PVA behaves in the river.

The best way to mount PVA bags is to thread them up the hook link.

Attaching them to the hook is NOT good idea as the footage clearly proves!

Hope that helps,

Bob Roberts
Bob Roberts - Fishing information for the complete angler

geoffmaynard · Sep 10, 2010

In a wary swim: If the fish are a bit spooky, a feeder sticks out like a sore thumb. PVA vanishes so makes presentation far less obvious. It's PVA for me in this situation every time.

alan whittington · Sep 10, 2010

Bob,in your dvd's you say that pva is generally ok in slower swims,would you say that still applies.Geoff,im not sure its the feeder that they spook off,disturbance of too regular casting with one would and line spook should be avoided if possible,by whatever method felt most effective.

Paul H · Sep 10, 2010

alan whittington said:
no mention of a bait dropper,large or small.

I use a bait dropper sometimes when fishing the near bank or anywhere I can drop it under the rod tip.

The stretch I have been fishing recently is farm fields with no near bank trees and bushes. All the cover that the fish love is on the far side.

alan whittington · Sep 10, 2010

Paul H said:
Last week a PVA bag rig caught me this fish:

This week, same swim, same bait and same rig but with the pellets dampned and mashed around the lead, caught this:

I know which method I'll be using in the majority of situations from now on.

It doesn't half make your hands stink though. Even after washing my hands a few times and a shower I could still detect the distinctive whiff of halibut pellets later that evening.

Yuk Paul,i think i'd stick to pva if i caught one of THEM moulding pellets

,lol.Another thought,how about a quick link to attach pva on your lead,the pva may disguise the plop of your lead a little.

Paul H · Sep 11, 2010

I'm happy catching anything out of a river Alan. That was my first ever river carp and that fact that it wasn't the gigantic barbel I thought it might be when my rod bent double didn't spoil my excitement as I slipped the net under it.

I'll not be forsaking PVA completely but I think moulding pellets around the lead is my new, cheaper standard approach for smaller rivers and a mobile approach.

Rich P · Sep 11, 2010

I use pva, and use a two piece lead clip and sleeve. When tying the pva, I leave an inch....remove the sleeve from the lead clip....work the pva behind the lead clip prong (where the lead is) and push the sleeve back down again.

The above (having re-read it) makes something very simple seem very complicated....it's not, and is the logical method for me. I'm not a dvd watcher, however, but it catches me a few fish

alan whittington · Sep 11, 2010

Paul H said:
I'm happy catching anything out of a river Alan. That was my first ever river carp and that fact that it wasn't the gigantic barbel I thought it might be when my rod bent double didn't spoil my excitement as I slipped the net under it.

I'll not be forsaking PVA completely but I think moulding pellets around the lead is my new, cheaper standard approach for smaller rivers and a mobile approach.

Paul i was jesting,anyway,that came from a fella who caught 2 4lb bream today with pva.

Paul H · Sep 12, 2010

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PVA bags - where do you attach yours?

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