Why is there this terrific increase in demand for pellets

Why is there this terrific increase in demand for pellets? Obviously, first and foremost they work. Used properly by a skilled angler the results can be remarkable. They are also cheap. I buy mine from a local seed merchant for £23 per 561b sack. They also have a good shelf life with few storage problems. Mine are kept in plastic dust bins. They also require no preparation which is an added bonus.As many top breeders use trout pellet with others feeds, I do not think they cause any real harm when used sensibly. I have not seen any fish taking trout pellet as their exclusive feed in any coarse fishery that I have fished. However it pays to look and see if the owners of your local commercial fishery are using trout pellets to bring on fish during the Winter months. Some commercial fisheries do this to make up for the lack of anglers bait during the colder months so that growth rates are maintained. Naturally if this is going on, it would be foolish not to use pellet as they have become part of the fishes natural diet.Many anglers use bait bands to secure a pellet to the hook whilst others use the modern soft pellets that are commercially produced directly on the hook. Although I have used both methods, I prefer to use a trout pellet paste as I find that I have produced bigger fish using it. Originally I used to use a pestle and mortar to grind up pellets into a powder, but now I buy in fine powdered trout pellets from my local tackle shop. Richworth produce a fine ground up trout pellet that is ideal for my purposes.Many anglers use eggs with their trout pellet powder to produce a paste but I prefer to use water. On hot Summer days I have noticed pastes giving off that evil smelling gas, hydrogen sulphide, as the eggs have gone off. I think my method with water makes a much safer and softer paste that can be more easily fished directly on the hook.On many waters that I fish, it would be foolish to fish too light as there are some very big carp that have the habit of taking trout pellet paste. I therefore opt for a fairly powerful float rod. Mine was specially made to my own specification by the “Tackle Exchange” of Walton on Thames. It is made from a top quality 12ft Harrison blank with a test curve of 1lb 6oz by top rod builder Tony Parker. My rod is rung as a float rod rather than a long range carp rod. However the shop offers a true customised “bespoke” rod building service at sensible prices.Fishing close, I normally float fish with a Ryobi Purist centre pin loaded with 101b b.s. line, depending on the size of fish that are targeted and the conditions. The float used is normally a Preston Innovations “Tyson” pole float as they are so sensitive yet robust enough to handle the mistreatment that they will get from big carp. The hooks are often pinch barbless again produced by Preston Innovations.This Easter, I went with my wife, Virginia, to Anglers Paradise in Devon for an early season fishing holiday. This complex has all we require with its excellent accommodation, indoor swimming pool, bar, restaurant and 12 well stocked lakes.When we arrived we decided to have a walk around the lakes to see what was going on. When we walked around the “Specimen golden orfe and tench lake” we were very surprised to see that the golden orfe were spawning. It was the 4th April but orfe do spawn very early. Orfe well over the current British Record were clearly visible. Unfortunately they were preoccupied with spawning rather than feeding. We had clearly arrived at the wrong time to catch a record orfe.We decided to concentrate our efforts on carp as they were not spawning and the water temperature was starting to rise which should start them feeding, We decided to try a variant on our normal pellet and past theme. We place about a pint of pellet in a plastic bag and added 10 ml of Richworth “liver extract” liquid to them. They were given a good shaking in the bag and left overnight to absorb the flavour. The paste was made from the new liver paste powder which is also produced by Richworth. This was mixed in a glass bowl with the liquid liver extract and then rolled into balls to be left overnight to harden. This paste was then hair rigged on a size 4 barbless hook. We were going to feed with the flavoured pellets and float fish the hair rigged paste over the top.Results were very positive with carp to 231b from Virginia whilst my best was a scale perfect linear carp of 221b 4oz. We had plenty of other carp including some nice big doubles but later in the week the temperatures really dropped and the fishing slowed down.Trout pellets are not just a still water bait as they also work well on rivers for many species including bream, chub, barbel and carp. However the use of trout pellet on rivers is not that widely practised as many anglers have not realised the potential of trout pellets in this role. As the fish are not that familiar with this bait, I have, when possible, prebaited with trout pellet. On my local section of the River Thames at Laleham, I can take an alternative route to school in the morning to prebait. I can leave 15 minutes earlier and prebait with two to three pints of trout pellets most days.I did this last year and had some very interesting results. I had prebaited for two weeks with three pints of 8mm sinking trout every day before starting to fish. That way, I thought the fish would have got used to the bait and considered it safe to take. When I did eventually start, I kept the tackle as simple as possible quiver tipping with a powerful Shakespeare 11ft 6inch quiver tip rod with a fixed spool reel loaded with 61b b.s. line. The terminal tackle consisted of a running lead that just held bottom with a size 6 hook tied directly to the main line. The trout pellet paste was fished directly on the hook.My first session was a Summer’s evening between 6p.m. and lOp.m. It was a warm evening with little or no wind which was absolutely ideal. After only 15 minutes in the swim my quiver tip bent violently round and I struck into solid resistance. At first I thought it was a barbel but as the runs developed I quickly realised that it was a carp. It ran over to the other side and surfaced just as a powerful launch started to come round the bend. I quickly reached out to put a back lead on and lowered the rod as far as possible into the water. This kept the line down as low as possible so that the boat could not cut my line. I knew the line was down deep but was still concerned in case the carp surfaced near the boat. Fortunately I was safe and still in contact with the fish as the boat continued past me. After several heavy runs I netted a good double of just over 161b. That was a good start and I did not have to wait long before the next bite – that resulted in a 41b bream. This was followed by another similar sized bream then a barbel of over 51b. Sport slowed for an hour before I had a three pound chub and another couple of bream. Further sessions showed further mixed bags with the odd carp and barbel but bream started to dominate catches. It appeared that the more I prebaited, the more bream that appeared in catches. If there was any colour in the water the bream became exceptionally prolific and they were often the only species appearing in any catch. No doubt bags of well over 1001b of Thames bream were possible in a longer session under the right conditions. In the whole of that Summer only one roach was taken on my trout pellet and that was a nice fish of llb 3oz.In the future I will continue to use trout pellets for river species and intend float fishing with them. I am giving serious consideration to using a bait dropper to put them in the swim and trotting directly over them with trout pellet paste. This could provide some interesting results particularly from a boat in prebaited swims.Conclusion: Trout pellets are becoming an increasingly popular bait that has the advantage of being cheap and convenient. However, they do not appear to work very well in winter and there are some concerns about their use, particularly when they form a major part of the fishes diet. I think this is very unlikely on venues like the Thames and the majority of lakes that I fish. I also notice that many top fish breeders feed their fish with trout pellet at times and some have been doing this for over twenty years without harming their stocks.

I would think an exclusive diet of any one food would not be good for fish and there is a need for a balanced diet as in humans. I notice that much of the criticism of trout pellets is coming from people with vested interests in selling more expensive commercially available alternatives. I therefore tend to dismiss criticisms of trout pellet on waters that I fish. I have used them for over ten years. Click here for Percy Chapman