"The thing I do like about pellets is that they keep more or
less indefinitely, so I always have a bag of them and a small tub of
soft hook pellets in my rucksack. Handy for spur-of-the-moment fishing,
when the tackle shop is closed. I keep tins of sweet corn and luncheon
meat in stock for the same reason."

A good idea, I do the sweet corn and bread standby for the impulsive session
but the soft pellet may have a use that way. You mentioned that they were
good for tench, my record for tench over the last three years is abysmal
with only one 3 lb in all that time. Bit late in the season now but any
advice on pellets other than just as groundbait.

--
Gandalf

"Steve Walker" wrote in message
...
In message , Derek Moody
writes

If you're sensible you'll patent a self-heating spoon and assembly jig
and arrange a bulk supply of Pontefract cakes which you can repackage as
a kit with your own designer label.

Very funny, Derek, and very true. Obviously much of their popularity and
effectiveness is owed to the fact that they are used by anglers who fish
commercial venues overstocked with small farmed carp; the pellet is the
natural food of the commercial carp, as far as the fish are concerned.

I must confess, however, that I have found that they have their uses. I
loose feed with them, or add them to groundbait, when fishing for tench.
They seem to be very effective at drawing fish into the swim and inducing
them to feed. Likewise, I loose feed with them for barbel, and when
stalking in clear shallow water I've seen barbel move into the swim very
quickly once the pellets have been fed. Good in the very small sizes in
conjunction with hemp, as both sink quickly, tend to stay put and don't
particularly attract minnows.

I sometimes use the soft pellets (more like a pellet-flavoured boily, I'd
say) as hookbait, but I'm far more likely to fish a nice fat lobworm. The
thing I do like about pellets is that they keep more or less indefinitely,
so I always have a bag of them and a small tub of soft hook pellets in my
rucksack. Handy for spur-of-the-moment fishing, when the tackle shop is
closed. I keep tins of sweetcorn and luncheon meat in stock for the same
reason.

--
Steve Walker