Fishing with pellets ?

hello all,

After being away from the sport for a while I hope you can help me with the
following questions regarding the use of pellets ?

After talking to a chap fishing at my local pond with some pellets who was
catching well on them I decided to give them a go .

What a nightmare !! I invested in some 6mm sinking pellets to use on hook
and loose feed close in .

I followed the instructions from my local tackle shop ,which was to put some
in a shallow tray then cover with boiling water for 10 mins till soaked /
expanded then sieve and run cold water over them and put in the fridge till
the next day when I was going to use them .

All seemed well started loose feeding with them though they seemed a bit
soft ,then tried to get them on the hook well what a blinking nightmare
would they stay
on ! tried kamasan size16 and 14 wide gape to no avail flew off with every
cast ( this was underarm!! ) in the end started making a paste out of them
and moulding them onto the hook which was nearly as bad .

So if anyone can help with with my pellet problem I would be very grateful

PS
how do you use pellet bands (dry,wet ?)
what are expander pellets and how are they different
can you advise on a good site for someone who knows nothing about last 5
years
developments ie method feeder etc ?

many thanks and tight lines to you all
Glenn