first time with Halibut pelletts

I did what Ryan told me and fish with halibut pelletts.

What a interesting day. My rod didn't stop twitching all day. The sun was out not a cloud in site and I thought good day for fishing. God I was so wrong. I was surprised to see carp taking of the surface today. A chap came to talk to me as he was going to fish tomorrow. This carp just came out of the water showing half it's body. Must of been round the 10lb mark.

The little buggers were playing with my bait all day. Doesn't matter where I was fishing they were playing pass the bait.

So Ryan thanks alot I had an enjoyable day even if i didn't catch anything, but it kept my on my toes.

Neil it sounds a bit iffy to me mate. Unless it was bream pecking at your bait, it sounds like you could have a rig problem. Explain on here or by Email if you prefer, the exact details of your rig. A stab in the dark, you wern't using a heavy semi fixed lead by any chance, were you?

I know exactly how you feel mate .I used alot of large pellets for short sessions in summer and on more days than i care to remember i sat and watched my rod tips pinging back and forth but no real positive takes ,no fish ! It's amazing how focused it makes you just sitting there in anticipation of a run ,bleeding frustrating when you don't get them though .My problem was tench .In the end i shortened the hair so the donkey choker was right up under the bend of the hook .I still got the tentative knocks but i also managed to bank a few extra fish .

cheers

I was using 10lb line with a Kryston snake bite anti tangle sinking advanced super braid 15lb lead about 3-4inch long with a hair hook. The running ledger was about 2ft from the link on the 10lb line. I think the hair is abit to long. Going to try and tie some new ones tonight. How long should i make the ledger?

Small fish like nibbling at halibut pellets, which can be a pain in the proverbial. Actually the first thing I'd do is swap to a mono hooklink e.g same as your 10lb line. If you want to stay with snakebite (to avoid tangles?) try moving the weight closer in to the hooklength, especially now the temperature has dropped so they will be more hesitant. If you're getting lots of nibbles you can afford to experiment. Try down to 3 inches and if the bites dry up move it gradually out. I agree also experiment with hair length.

I've never had anythibg but bream on halibuts and I can see exactly where Andrew is going with this from my own experiences. It could be that you'd actually hooked a bream on your halibuts and the twitching is the fish against your fixed lead to try and unfasten itself. If you're getting small pull-rounds with the rod and the alarms aren't registering, then hit them. I fished many many years on the quiver tip and just because it's not registering from the bait, up the line, through all those rod rings and shed loads of friction and then having to pull additional line through you're buzzer and lift your heavy bobbin, dosent mean you shouldn't strike. When daylight fishing, you're buzzers should be used as a crutch not an aid.

Yeah, I agree absolutely Stuart, halibuts will attract anything from skimmers, roach, to larger stuff. Whether you hook them or not will depend on the details of your rig/alarm setup. This is great stuff to work out how rigs function since you get lots of feedback.
Bzzzz wakey wakey? Long live fishing!

Am I reading correct that you are using a hook length of 3-4 inch long, with a stop of some sort 2ft up your mainline with a running bomb against this stop? What weight of lead were you using as well?

Andrew it's a 2oz lead

sorry 12oz

All I can realy do is tell you how I would fish with the tackle you have described. I would fish my hook length about twice that length 6-8 inch, unless I was fishing with PVA bags. I would tie it up with a no knot and strip a couple of inches of the coating of the braid at both the swivel and the hook, to create a hinge effect. The hair would be just long enough so that the back of the pellet just touches the bend of the hook. I would have a bead sat against the hook length swivel, with the running lead stoped by that bead only. If I am getting twitches, I always have a play with my lead set up. Its amazing how twitches can turn into screaming runs with just a simple lead change. I have experienced lots of twitches on a couple of waters if my lead has been too small. I think what happens to light leads sometimes, is that instead of the line running through the lead, the lead is lifted slightly of the bottom. The fish upon feeling the weight eject the bait giving a fast un hittable bonk at the rod end. A change to a heavy running lead usualy sorts that one out. Obviously a semi fixed lead can also be tried. That is by no strech of the imagination the definative way to fish hallibut pellets, more of a starting point using the materials you have described. Anther angler may tell you a totaly different set up, that would be just as valid.

Change the 12oz lead to one with gripwires.