Pellets

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

"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

In message , Gandalf
writes

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.

First thing is to find somewhere with some decent tench! You say you're
in Wiltshire, though, so there are plenty of waters around you holding
good tench. I'm a member of South Cerney AA ( http://www.scac.org.uk )
which has a number of good tench waters. It has two small waters at
Wickwater available on day ticket, one of which is a "carp puddle" and
of no interest to me, the other of which is more of a heavily stocked
general coarse fishery, and a bit more interesting. I prefer to fish the
more "natural" pits, but this small day ticket water is fairly easy and
contains a good average size of tench; perhaps 5lbs or so. The general
coarse water is shown top left in this photograph:

http://www.scac.org.uk/public/lakes/...2/wick1&2.html

The location of the lakes is shown he

http://www.scac.org.uk/public/lakes/lakeswin.swf

Before I joined the club I used to buy day tickets from the clubhouse at
Ham Pool, but it may be possible to buy them on the bank or from local
tackle shops, I don't know.

I've stopped tench fishing for the year now, however I expect it is
still possible to catch some. I prefer to float fish for tench. It's not
always the most efficient way of catching them, but if we were into
efficiency we would buy a seine net. I would adopt a scaled down
approach. The water will be clearer now, so my summer tackle of 6lb
mainline to 6lb low diameter hook length and a #6 or #8 would be too
heavy. I should think more of a heavy match setup, with a 3lb low
diameter hooklength and a #16 or #14. You still need some power to get
the fish out, and anywhere near snags a good tench will make mincemeat
of 1lb bottoms and #20 hooks.

I probably wouldn't use pellets at all now that the water temperatures
are lower and the fish less hungry. I'd start by loose feeding maggots
and fishing a couple of maggots on the hook. I'd probably put a little
hemp in. If bothered by small fish, I'd change hookbait to a medium
sized worm, or a couple of grains of sweetcorn. Bread is great for
tench, but on waters like Wick the roach and rudd will have it off the
hook before it sees the bottom.

--
Steve Walker

Hi Steve,

I used to fish South Cerney and all over that area as a youth. Good waters
for almost all fish species back then but it seems they have grown a few
houses around most of the lakes I used to fish.

I have access to three lakes, all hold tench to moderate size of about 5lbs.
The one lake that is my usual lake for ease of getting to and around holds a
good number of tench as many other anglers seem to catch them. They have
told me all sorts of tricks and tips but I none have worked for me apart
from the one tench which was had on feeder with a red powdery groundbait and
two maggots on a #16. I use 4 lb main line and 3 lb hook length. That very
system is what has bagged me some reasonable bream lately from the same
lake.

I have not had a lot of luck with warm as each time I have been plagued by
small pike, actually landed a few of them.

Location was a thing as the one was had off the edge of a little island but
I have tried all the spots where I have found tench in the past like the
edge of reeds and close to lily pads. All the typical tench type swims but
there are not many such features on this lake.

As you say, we are past the tench season really and any deliberate tench
will have been hard fought for or simply lucky if they happen to be feeding
with the bream.

I will have to do the concerted effort early next summer.

Many thanks for the advice.

--
Gandalf

"Steve Walker" wrote in message
...
In message , Gandalf
writes

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.

First thing is to find somewhere with some decent tench! You say you're in
Wiltshire, though, so there are plenty of waters around you holding good
tench. I'm a member of South Cerney AA ( http://www.scac.org.uk ) which
has a number of good tench waters. It has two small waters at Wickwater
available on day ticket, one of which is a "carp puddle" and of no
interest to me, the other of which is more of a heavily stocked general
coarse fishery, and a bit more interesting. I prefer to fish the more
"natural" pits, but this small day ticket water is fairly easy and
contains a good average size of tench; perhaps 5lbs or so. The general
coarse water is shown top left in this photograph:

http://www.scac.org.uk/public/lakes/...2/wick1&2.html

The location of the lakes is shown he

http://www.scac.org.uk/public/lakes/lakeswin.swf

Before I joined the club I used to buy day tickets from the clubhouse at
Ham Pool, but it may be possible to buy them on the bank or from local
tackle shops, I don't know.

I've stopped tench fishing for the year now, however I expect it is still
possible to catch some. I prefer to float fish for tench. It's not always
the most efficient way of catching them, but if we were into efficiency we
would buy a seine net. I would adopt a scaled down approach. The water
will be clearer now, so my summer tackle of 6lb mainline to 6lb low
diameter hook length and a #6 or #8 would be too heavy. I should think
more of a heavy match setup, with a 3lb low diameter hooklength and a #16
or #14. You still need some power to get the fish out, and anywhere near
snags a good tench will make mincemeat of 1lb bottoms and #20 hooks.

I probably wouldn't use pellets at all now that the water temperatures are
lower and the fish less hungry. I'd start by loose feeding maggots and
fishing a couple of maggots on the hook. I'd probably put a little hemp
in. If bothered by small fish, I'd change hookbait to a medium sized worm,
or a couple of grains of sweetcorn. Bread is great for tench, but on
waters like Wick the roach and rudd will have it off the hook before it
sees the bottom.

--
Steve Walker