David Rogers 3
Well-known member
I fished a club pool (not a commercial) using float-fished banded pellet on a QM1 barbless size 14 yesterday and had two issues. I fed a mixture of 4 and 6mm coarse pellets about a rod's length out and started with an 8mm on the band. It's a shallow pool (average 2 feet of water over a silty bottom) and the float was set about a foot overdepth.
The first issue was that the carp were feeding more strongly than I've ever seen before - throwing in a handful of loose pellets had them bubbling furiously over the bait, backs and tails breaking the surface, but they seemed to ignore the one on the hook.
The second issue was hookpulls. I was using a 12' through-action 1.5lb t.c. rod and 6lb line - 4 of the 7 carp I managed to hook powered off and the hook pulled as I applied side-strain to stop them reaching a reed bed. The 3 landed weighed between 5 and 6lb; those I lost I think were bigger, but not huge (low doubles, maybe).
Next time out I intend using a softer float rod and centre-pin reel in the hope of minimising the hook-pull problem. The only other thing I though of trying was using a microbarbed hook instead of barbless (club rules allow microbarbed up to a size 12), although I'm not sure if that will make a difference.
As for the other issue of fish ignoring the hookbait, I tried scaling down to a 6mm pellet on the band, but this didn't seem to help much. I've also ordered some Drennan bands in a dark brown - the ones I have at present are a natural latex colour and stand out like a sore thumb even on a lightish coarse pellet. The water is permanently coloured in this pool though and I'm not convinced the fish can actually see the pellets they're eating.
I daren't fish any lighter line and I imagine increasing the hook size won't help - any ideas, anyone?
The first issue was that the carp were feeding more strongly than I've ever seen before - throwing in a handful of loose pellets had them bubbling furiously over the bait, backs and tails breaking the surface, but they seemed to ignore the one on the hook.
The second issue was hookpulls. I was using a 12' through-action 1.5lb t.c. rod and 6lb line - 4 of the 7 carp I managed to hook powered off and the hook pulled as I applied side-strain to stop them reaching a reed bed. The 3 landed weighed between 5 and 6lb; those I lost I think were bigger, but not huge (low doubles, maybe).
Next time out I intend using a softer float rod and centre-pin reel in the hope of minimising the hook-pull problem. The only other thing I though of trying was using a microbarbed hook instead of barbless (club rules allow microbarbed up to a size 12), although I'm not sure if that will make a difference.
As for the other issue of fish ignoring the hookbait, I tried scaling down to a 6mm pellet on the band, but this didn't seem to help much. I've also ordered some Drennan bands in a dark brown - the ones I have at present are a natural latex colour and stand out like a sore thumb even on a lightish coarse pellet. The water is permanently coloured in this pool though and I'm not convinced the fish can actually see the pellets they're eating.
I daren't fish any lighter line and I imagine increasing the hook size won't help - any ideas, anyone?