ADTV Match Masterclass - Hard Pellets

One of the reasons why this method is so versatile, is how quick a respose you get when fishing this method. As the fish on commercials are so finely tuned to the sound of pellets hitting the water, that even when feeding 10-15 pellets on a large open water venue, this is enough to draw fish into your peg to get a quick bite.

This is why I love to start on this method regardless of the venue, as I can quickly put some fish in the net while waiting for other methods that require a long priming time such as shallow or the edge. You normally find that these early fish are the difference between a match win and an average session. It is also deadly later on in the session, as you can open new lines and turn a blank spell into a golden spell! 

When fishing hard pellets, I normally find you want a rig that offers a fair degree of stability, but also some finesse in the bottom half of the rig as you tend to find a lot of your bites come as the rig settles. Therefore, for the 6ft deep swim I am fishing today, I have chosen a 0.4g Matrix Stubby Slim Pole Float tied to 0.14mm line and a 12-14 slik elastic, which is ideal for this lake as I could catch anything from 8oz to 5-6lb. 

The most important part is the shotting, and I have shotted this float in 8 no.9's starting at around 2ft from the hook in a reverse taper, with the spacing between shot increasing closer to the hook. This gets the bait to the bottom 2ft quickly, but allows the bait to fall slowly over this killing zone. The rig is finished off with a size 16 medium wire eyed hook to a hair rigged bait band.  

For fishing hard pellets on the deck, pellet choice is also important, and I tend to favour a Coppen's style pellet that is slightly heavier such as the Dynamite XL Carp pellets, as this sinks quicker, keeping the fish on the bottom, where you want them!

Size is also important, and as I am fishing for a mixture of f1s and carp, I tend to start on 6mms, fishing them both in the band and feeding. If the venue was solely f1s, then I would go for 4mms instead and vice versa if I was just fishing for big carp 6lb+ then 8mms would be me go to. 

I also like to carry a small tub of different pellets for the hook as you can find slightly different shades and colours can stand out enough to get a quick bite. My two favourite choices apart from what I'm feeding are the Dynamite Robin Red Pellets or Dynamite Swim Stim F1 Pellets. 

Although you can use pellets straight out the bag, I have found adding oil to my pellets such as the Dynamite Tiger Nut Oil has really transformed my catches, with my last 5 macthes using this oil resulting in 4 wins and a 2nd! All I do is give the pellets a good glug of the bait liquid and swirl round the tub, before letting them soak the oil in.

The reasons why I like to add oil are actually not for the flavour boost, although the fish seem to love the flavour, rather the oil once taken on by the pellets creates a consistent sink rate, preventing the chance of slow sinking or even floating pellets which can drag fish out of your swim. Another benefit is it slows the breakdown of the pellets on the bottom, preventing them becoming a powder that the fish can sift through their gills and become distracted on rather than your hook bait. 

To fully maximise the catching ability of hard pellets, you need to make sure your pole rig is plumbed up correctly, especially when fishing on a slope like I am today. When plumbing up, I want to make sure that the pellet registers on the float, so I can quickly tell whether I am fishing on the right spot. To do this, I like to use a heavy 20-30g plummet and will plumb my rig so just below the bottom of the float is visible. 

When fishing, I will then lay my rig past my pole tip, so it falls against the slope, ensuring a tight line as the rig falls in an arc which will maximise my bite indication, and if the pellet is not on the right spot, the float will either sink (if off bottom) or sit higher ( if too far overdepth). 

As outlined earlier, the fish are actively tuned into the sound of pellets and you can use this to your advantage when trying to read your peg. If you need to draw fish in, like at the start of a session, I will always rattle the pellets out of my toss pot. However, when I am regularly catching, I will start to sneak the pellets in, tipping my toss post virtually level with the water to ensure no sound, so as to not draw the fish up in the water.

On some days though, throwing pellets in can be deadly, but on these days, I will never throw pellets when my rig is fishing, rather choosing to throw pellets when a fish is hooked. This gives the swim time to settle as I am playing the fish, so the swim is ready to go when I able to fish again, normally resulting in a much quicker bite! 

In the warmer months, one of the main struggles with fishing hard pellets is trying to stop the fish from coming off the bottom and causing foul hooked fish. As the fish, especially in deeper water will move to intercept the pellets falling through the water.

As soon as foul hookers start to become a problem, I will resort to sneaking my pellets in via a toss pot as outlined previously. If this is still not enough, then I will either resort to slowing my feeding down, feeding after every 2-3 fish. If foul hookers are still a problem then my last resort will be to feed a larger volume of bait via a cupping kit, around 1/3 of 250ml pot, to try and drive the fish down to the bottom. 

Today's session could not have gone more to plan and has shown why hard pellets are such an effective bait on commercial fisheries. Starting at a top kit + 2 sections towards the bottom of the near slope, it has taken less than 30 seconds after my first feed before I have caught a small common carp.

By changing my feeding throughout the session, I have been able to keep catching quickly, with very few foul hooked fish and most of my bites have come as my rig has settled against the slope, highlighting the importance of the reverse taper shotting and plumbing up your rig so the pellet registers on the float. So, if you want to see how effective this method then give it a go on your local commercial and see how good it is for yourself!