Carp are just starting to think about feeding a little bit now and the pellet feeder is starting to work, with the bomb/sweetcorn approach less and less effective until next winter.

It is mid-March and I’ve just won a match using Sonu Fin Perfect 2mm feed pellets and the Preston Innovations Pellet Feeder, putting 75lb of carp on the scales at an open at Higham Lane Fishery, near Wykin, in Warwickshire.

I’ll talk you through my match in a moment but first a quick words about how to prepare those Sonu Fin Perfect 2mm feed pellets.

All I do is take a fine micromesh landing net with me and I will dunk a couple of pints of pellets in the net, into the lake water, as I tackle up. I will keep the pellets immersed for 30 seconds, then transfer them into a bait tub, draining off any excess water. By the time the match begins they will have fluffed up and will be nice and soft. It’s just a case of putting a lid on the bait tub and giving the tub a shake every few minutes to separate them. When you squeeze them into the feeder, within a minute of casting, they expand slightly and push out, sitting on top of your hookbait.

On the match at Higham Lane Fishery, I drew an open water swim and used the 20 gram pellet feeder model. I teamed it up with the new Preston Carbonactive Sentient C series 12 foot feeder rod and 4lb reel line, with a four-inch braid hook length in 4lb breaking strain, with a Preston PR36 size 18 hook, fished hair-rig style with a Korum Quickstop.

The hook bait was either an 8mm standard Sonubaits S Pellet or a 6mm Sonu Fin Perfect Expander. It seemed that early on the fish were happy to take the S pellet but as the match progressed and they wised up, the softer expander pellet was better.

I was casting a round 25 yards, just my side of the middle of the lake, and it was a case of being patient and waiting for bites. I will leave the feeder in place for 20 minutes or so at this time of year, before reeling in to reload and recast. And that was exactly what I did on the match.

When fishing the pellet feeder, the golden rules are to utilise your reel’s line clip, be accurate, and leave the feeder where it hits bottom so that it can do its work.

I always leave the line from the quivertip to the pellet feeder slack. This way you can see your line bites, watching the line between the tip and the water surface, without the tip moving. If the line was tight and a fish bumped into the line, it could move your feeder and hookbait away from the pile of pellets, which is defeating the object of the exercise.

When you get a proper bite you know about it, the tip pulls round, stays there and you simply pick up the rod because the fish is on.

One final word about line bites, which puzzle a lot of anglers. The ones you don’t want are where the rod pulls round dramatically like a boomerang. These are liners from frightened fish spooking out of the swim, or fish that are not interested in feeding but simply bump into the line. The line bites you want are the ones where the tip just continually pulls forward an inch or so then drops back. This is a sign of fish feeding on your pellets. Sit on your hands and wait for the rod to pull round properly.

Now that spring is upon us it is the right time to give the pellet feeder a go. Fish are starting to feed and it’s a deadly tactic right now. Why not give it a try - you know it makes sense!