Everybody has a different take on preparing their pellets and I have a certain way I like to do mine when I decide I'm going to use my favourite Sonu Baits Fin Perfect feed and expander pellets on a session.

Let's start with feed pellets. No matter the size, whether they are micros or up to 4mm pellets, I do them the same way.

I tip the required amount of pellets into the bottom of a bucket and I then carefully pour on just enough water to cover them. In fact, the water sits level with the pellets. The bucket is them left in the garage overnight, and by the morning the feed pellets have taken in every bit of moisture.

I then give the bucket a shake up to separate the pellets and I then add about a third of a bag of groundbait to them. At the moment my favourite groundbait for dusting the pellets is the new Sonu Baits F1 brand. I again shake the bucket to spread the groundbait over the outside of the pellets, and then, using a fine pinkie riddle, I riddle the pellets so that they are left with just the merest dusting of groundbait, which acts as an added attractor as the pellets fall through the water. I take the pellets to the bankside in a sealed bait tub - job done.

Moving on to expander preparation, the way I do it, you do not need a pellet pump. I simply separate the pellets by sizes into small amounts, and then place them in separate polythene bags. Next I add just enough water to cover the pellets, and then I knot the bag down tight on top of the pellets.

What happens is that by the following morning, the pellets have absorbed the water but because of how tightly I have tied the bag, they have not had room to expand to their optimum size. What you are left with is a firm, robust expander pellet, which will not fall off the hook during shipping out.

The other benefit of this preparation process is the fact that you end up with a neutral buoyancy pellet. By this I mean that you have a pellet which hasn't been able to take in as much air as it could if pumped, and it also has not been able to absorb as much water as possible, therefore it is not as dense as a pellet which has been pumped in a lot of water. The weight of the hook is just enough to take this pellet to the required depth.

I have shown these preparation techniques to lots of other top anglers and they have all been impressed enough to try it for themselves. Why not try preparing your pellets my way? The results will be instant!