Pellet fishing for big carp weights needn’t be all about fishing with thick diameter lines and big hooks. And a recent match victory I enjoyed, using Sonubaits Fin Perfect Competition Feed and Hook pellets, underlines this important lesson.

The venue was the Izaak Walton Fishery in the village of Chebsey, near Stafford. The competition was a round of the  Pole Only Winter League and I drew on the top lake, taking peg 6. I won this 60-pegger with 138lb 12oz of mirrors and commons.

The peg was an open water peg, with an average depth of six feet. I decided to prime two lines, at 6 metres, at the bottom of the ledge, and at 13 metres, because this league had a 14.5 metre pole length limit and fishing at 13 metres meant I could go slightly further out if fish sat just off the feed.

My Preston Genus 2G12 pole was fitted with an 11H Preston Hollo elastic and I opted to use the lightest float I could get away with, in this case a 4 x 10 Preston Classic 10,m with a PR32 size 18 hook for my pellet fishing.
The shotting pattern was simple enough and I simply strung out five number 11 Stotz, shirt-button style, to achieve a slow drop through the water for my pellet hook bait.

The feed was a pint of 4mm Fin Perfect Competition Feed Pellets. To prepare them I placed the pellets in a bait tub with just enough water to cover them and then left them to stand for 20 minutes. After this time had elapsed I put on a bait tub lid and tipped the tub upside down, draining off excess water.

The pellets were now ready for feeding. For the hook I used 6mm Ton Up expander pellets and 4mm Competition Red 4mm hook pellets.
Initially I potted in five or six feed pellets, then picked up the catapult and pinged three or four in all the time. I would lay the rig in and as the last dropper settled the float would dot to a dimple then disappear as a fish sucked in the pellet.

If I laid the rig in and there was no bite after it settled and I lifted the float a couple of times, I would lift out and lay it in again, feeding pellets with the catapult regularly to lull the carp into thinking the hook bait was a free sample.

In the last hour-and-a-half of the match I set the rig at three-and-a-half feet deep and caught my last 25 fish there, just below half-depth. In all I landed 80 carp for my weight and I like to think that the Competition Feed pellets, which have an odd red pellet interspersed among them, adds a bit of variety - something a little bit different from the norm, which makes the fish feel a bit more confident about feeding.

Perhaps of prime interest to readers of this blog is the fact my main line was only 0.11mm diameter Preston Powerline and the hook was tied to a hook length of 0.10mm Powerline. This set-up might seem a little on the fine side, but in February and March you can fish this fine and still handle carp comfortably. It is all a matter of getting the balance between elastic and hooklength right, and the Preston PR32 is one of the best pellet hooks you can buy.

Incidentally, I won the top lake again on the following round, and finished third in the match, doing exactly the same thing for a weight of 50lb-plus.
 
There you have it. Finesse, good presentation and careful feeding can help you to better results with your pellet fishing.

Give it a go and you’ll be pleased with the results.