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Pellets catch fish period! But what do you do if they are losing effectiveness as a standard pellet? Here’s a few ideas... Trout pellets have been historically, the mainstay of many carp and catfish fishermen for generations as hook baits and economical ground bait. This very popular pellet has achieved a great track record of big fish catching success, not least because it is formulated for fish rather than animals and so is more able suitable as bait, with attractive oils, and providing for many fish dietary and digestive requirements and so on, although not perfectly of cause for catfish or carp. There are so many pellets as a result of demand to create a never-ending bewildering array of new fishing bait alternatives. It is a fact that baits in general can lose their initial effectiveness after a varying period of captures. Therefore, the more bait changes or even small tweaks can keep bites coming just like any fresh new bait when first introduced can. Many pellets have a binding agent or effect. Often this is a gluten containing meal or flour or a similar type of ingredient. Many cheaper pellets have a higher cereal content and lower protein content. Often these pellets also have lower quality oil content and the protein source is less digestible by the fish. Trout pellets are often used as a supplemental feed as part of a mixture of more expensive pellets in modern European carp fishing. Trout pellets have been scorned because they do not have the profile of nutrition ideal for carp and there are dietary concerns of sorts here, but this has never stopped carp from devouring shed loads of them. The good old trout pellet is one of those baits that is a reliable dissolving bait for many fishing applications and these days they are used alongside specifically designed carp pellets and other fish rearing pellets with exceptional fish catching properties of attraction and digestibility including certain salmon pellets and halibut pellets. Trout pellets have many common nutritional features in general and have never let me down as attractor feed or as part of ground bait mixtures. Chumming with a variety of sizes and qualities of pellets is the common modern trend here in the UK where popularity of pellets has exploded. In the States, catfish pellets are frequently as easily available as trout pellets are here in the UK and have many nutritional similarities to trout and carp pellets as opposed to pet feeds or animal feeds like pelleted sheep feeds, rabbit feeds etc. “Dynamite baits” are making the infamous ‘halibut ‘marine’ pellets more available in the States and when used in quantity can be very effective however, very often this can make fish highly ‘dependant’ on them on certain waters where used almost exclusively. In circumstances where these pellets have ‘had their day’ and results have slowed down there is lots you can do. Often the first signs of pellets initial effectiveness reducing is how you are hooking fish. Perhaps hook holds get much lighter and far more bites are missed or do not develop into confident ‘takes.’ You may lose more fish due to ‘hook-pulls’ with fish being more lightly hooked. You can begin by changing the sizes of pellet you use to smaller ones. Hook rig changes like changing ‘hair-rig’ hair length, hook length and hook size are simple starting points. Very often sharpening your hook far more with a diamond sharpener makes a massive difference and very few anglers really take the time with this extremely important detail. More fish are lost by fish being very lightly hooked on a rig and being able to get off the hook as a result of a few shakes of the head, or even up-side down body spins by the more ‘clued-up’ crafty carp! With catfish the same situation can occur where they learn to be wary of pellets – despite their previous success, but this happens with 99 percent of baits used in general by fishermen. There are very few baits which when ‘hammered’ consistently on a single water consistently produce the biggest fish year in year out, but there are many variables involved here too! Catfish can be caught very effectively on sinking (or floating for that matter) catfish or trout pellets. Most anglers prefer baits that stay on the hook for longer, so sinking baits are used more. Many fishermen overlook other possibilities to consider, many are very simple. Dog or cat biscuits or cube of luncheon meat or piece of fish, shellfish or prawn alongside a pellet bait on a ‘hair’ (or 2 or more) keeps results coming. Where it seems that pellets have become so established that they appear to be the ‘dominant bait’ to the average angler, then his results may tend to be ‘average’ too unless he is an outstanding fisherman anyway. To get better than average results on pellets can just be a case of a simple dip or bait soak as you would use for boilies or in fact as a dip bait itself. Dips and soaks are used with very good reason, boosting attraction of all kinds of hook baits and raising catch rates for many anglers. Ordinary peanut oil, or canned fish oil as a dip can get the fish ‘going’ even better or perhaps try mixing together oils of different types. Combining various vegetable oils and fish oils for example. ‘Taste’ is the dominant sense in catfish and strong tasting ingredients usually reserved for use in making carp paste and boilies can be made into dips by adding liquids. Cheap pellets soaked in fish protein and amino acid supplements for example. Crustacean extracts classically provide exceptional attraction for both carp and catfish and make your pellets unique. Even evaporated milk or coconut milk can be used effectively and catfish like carp seem to love sweeteners of a wide variety from sugars and molasses to sweet products like lactose, Talin or even canned fruit syrups as a cheap option. The effectiveness of ‘energy drinks’ is another quick alternative if you have some in the cool box while fishing and fancy trying this angle. The author has many more fishing and bait ‘edges’ up his sleeve. Every single one can have a huge impact on catches. (Warning: This article is protected by copyright.) By Tim Richardson.
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