The principles behind a stick mix.

They were designed to create an area of feed which would pull fish in, with added bonuses of disguising the hair rig and keeping it tangle and debris free.

Because 95% of Hemp & Hali Crush is made from Hemp and Halibut pellets the mix is rich in oils and feed particles. The oil from the ground hemp is very light and so will begin to come off the mix quickly and the oil from the Halibut pellet is a heavier fish oil and so will come off more slowly so providing a constant and prolonged stream of oils which fish will naturally home in on. It will even pull fish from different levels in the water because as the oil comes up in the water fish will follow it to the source.

The variation of feed particle size and quality will entice the fish to feed and take as much of the bait as it can.

Stick mixes can be made to different lengths depending on what presentation you are hoping to achieve and how much bait you wish to put in. My preferred method for most fishing is about 2 inches as I find this is enough to stop any potential tangles and provide enough attraction without putting out a larger amount of bait which the fish may pick through without picking up the hook.

Mixing a stick mix.

Sticks can be made and used at the bank by adding water to Hemp & Hali Crush until it binds easily, however I prefer to make mine before I fish.

I like to use some Sonubaits Tuna Dip in my mix for extra attraction and will add this at the same stage as the water. For a kilo of Hemp & Hali Crush I will add 300ml of water and a good glug of the Tuna Dip. This will create a mix which is damp enough to compress but not too damp so it melts the PVA stocking.

I then will leave this overnight for a couple of reasons, I believe that it enhances the smell as the mix absorbs the water its particles will begin to break down and therefore they will smell more. Also because the particles absorb the water they become fluffier which is much more appealing on the lake bed as they will come up in the water column much easier. It is also easier to compress the stick mix if it has been mixed the night before as the particles become softer.

I will tie up 20 or 30 sticks so they are ready to go and then I can spend more time watching the water, knowing that if I see a fish show I can thread one on the hooklink and cast to the fish which more often than not results in a fairly instant take.

The compression.

For this I use a Korum narrow PVA dispenser, and scoop up the mix till the tube is full. Then place your hand underneath the stocking and compress the mix with the compression stick until the mix cannot be compressed any more. Then push the mix out of the tube and tie an overhand knot as near to the end of the stick as possible. If you always fill the tube to the same height then the sticks produced will be the same length which makes them more consistent for casting.

This is important for a couple of reasons, it is so much easier to cast when the weight if the stick is compressed into a small area and also when you have threaded your hooklink through the stick it gives much better presentation.

To thread your hooklink through take a long gate latch needle, push it through the stick get the loop of the rig and pull it back through and clip it to your swivel. I will always push my hook back into the stocking so the eye and the point are buried as I find this will reduce any potential tangles.

Because the point of the hook is masked the stick can be cast to debris filled lakes and the presentation will be fine. Once the hooklink settles the PVA will dissolve and the Hemp & Hali crush will be left exactly where your hook bait is and disguise you hooklink. Because the mix has been compressed it will expand in the water so creating the perfect way in which to present a small offering around your hookbait.

This has proved an awesome tactic and stood the test of time on many different waters and I now rarely cast out without one.

Whilst the waters cold and in high-pressure the best time for a bite is an hour ever side of dusk. Try casting every half hour of so with an open ended feeder to build a swim. Plug one end of your feeder with a little Sonubaits ‘Explosive Fishmeal Feeder’, add twenty maggots and plug the other. If using live maggots you will need to press this quite tight but if using dead press lightly together, just enough to withstand the cast. 

The Right Pellets

Now I hear all kinds of tales from anglers about how their hook pellets floated, or fell off as they shipped out, or fell off as they shipped in, or just fell apart when they tried to hook one on.

But for starters, let’s strip everything right back to the basics. I like to keep everything nice and simple. Fishing need not be complicated, so here goes.

To my mind there are only two ways of preparing expander pellets. Both involve the use of a pellet pump, and once involves just using water, the other incorporates an amount of gelatine, which can be found in sachets on the bakery shelves in your local supermarket.

The latter pellet, the one prepared using gelatine, is the one that will not fall off your hook, even if, when you lift the pole to set the hook, you miss a bite. Simply lower the rig back down and it will go under again.

Now that I’ve got you interested, let’s go through pellet preparation. The first thing to say is that not all expander pellets you see in the shops are the same. They have different amounts of ash, fibre and fishmeal. They do not all pump to the same firm consistency once expanded.

Now you could spend a long time eliminating various makes, but I’ll make it easy for you. The Fin Perfect expanders, from Sonu, are absolutely spot on.

Cynics might say, ‘Oh, he’s sponsored by Sonubaits’. That is the case, granted, but I can only speak as I find and I can assure readers that the make-up of the pellets is such that, once pumped, they do not fall apart, and the pellets prepared in gelatine really are the business - I kid you not.

Preparing Standard Expanders

I always pump my expanders the night before a match. I use tap water and I put the required amount of expanders, be they 4mm or 6mm, into my pump and in seconds they have had all their air extruded and they sink. I will then leave them in the pump, in water, for two minutes. For standard expanders I then drain the water out and put the expanders in a plastic bag with just enough water to cover them.

The bag is knotted tight with the pellets and water in a corner of the bag, and they are put in the bait fridge overnight. On arrival at the venue next morning they are all perfect. They all sink, and they are not so soft that they disintegrate when you try to hook them.

Gelatine Expanders

The other way to go about creating the perfect expanders is by using gelatine. Here, I will pump my desired amount of expander pellets and remove them immediately from the pump once they have sunk. Then, I will pour boiling water into a mug, half filling it. To this hot water I then add a sachet of gelatine and give it a vigorous stir with a spoon. I will then add the pumped expanders and give them a stir to make sure they are all coated. I then leave the gelatine pellets in the mug for around half an hour.

By this time the liquid in the mug is starting to cool down and at this point I will drain the gelatine off  and spread the pellets on some kitchen roll. I leave them for a few minutes then bag them up, removing all excess air, and the tightly knotted bag can go either into the fridge, for next day use, or the freezer.

Micro Pellets

Micro pellets, for feeding your swim, are also simple to prepare but a lot of anglers make a hash of it, by either ending up with pellets that are simply too dry, or reduced to a sloppy stodge. What you want are re softened micro pellets that are all still in their basic format once prepared.

I have a simple rule and it means the amount of time pellets soak for is governed by size.

So, if I were feeding 1mm pellets, they’d soak in water for one minute. Two millimetres micros are soaked for two minutes, 3mm for three and 4mm for four. That’s how simple it is. Once they have spent the right amount of time in water I simply drain the excess water off carefully, and they are ready to use.

Again, they can be soaked the night before a match and then transferred to a plastic bag, with some air blown into it. They will be perfect the next day but on the bank add a good handful of dry fishmeal Fin Perfect Mix 1 and this separates the pellets to perfection and adds a little tasty extra kick.

If you’re looking for the slightest of edges, then something that I have found to be an almost instant attractant is soaking your hooklink in a flavour, one that the venue has responded to. By flavouring a hooklink, you will find not only it lays better on a lakes bed, but also its flavour leak can create an almost instant response on a winter’s day.

A lot of anglers are gob smacked that I catch on luncheon meat in winter and spring. They wrongly assume luncheon meat is warm water bait, but feeding meat with your usual cool-water pellets can give you an edge at this time of year. I use meat on the hook and for feed, together with Fin Perfect pellets – a deadly combo.

I personally think it is all to do with water clarity. Meat definitely works best when the fish can hunt by sight. It falls temptingly slowly and its light colour stands out well on the bottom. I am convinced the fish follow the almost-white bait down in the water column.

Freezing the meat is absolutely essential – the more times you continually freeze and thaw the meat out, the softer it becomes. Also, the flavoured meat will go darker the more often it is refrozen, while the un-flavoured meat will go paler, almost white. I use Sonubaits Fin Perfect pellets in combination with my meat. Covering them with water in the morning helps soften them up, which is very important at this time of year. You don’t want them too sloppy however, as that can attract the attentions of nuisance fish.

I like to feed the 2mm size in shallow water, and the 4mm version in the deep water so that the fish don’t come up off the bottom too much. You could possibly squeeze the 2mm pellets together into a ball to sink faster but that would mush up your meat feed.

As far as the ratio of meat to pellets goes, you only want a small amount of meat among the pellets to keep them searching for it. Something like 5:1 in favour of pellets is about right. One other interesting change bait I have been using is sonubait.com’s 4mm S-Pellets. Flavouring these with Sonubaits Scopex and refreezing them expands them to 6mm and turns them the lovely pale-white colour that has been so crucial for me lately.