Commercial Fishing Tips | Ready your pellets with Steve Ringer

Given the range of pellet sizes, shapes and colours on the shelves of tackle shops, it’s easy to see how anglers can get confused about which is the right one to use.

Years ago, life was a lot easier. We had plain brown pellets in just a couple of sizes but now we’ve got micros through to big 10mm ‘donkey chokers’ and colours from bright yellow to black. You’ll get bites on them all, but some will be much better than others – if you know which ones!

I tend to use just a couple of sizes – micros and 6mms – for much of my summer pellet fishing, and I stick to plain-coloured baits. Most carp and F1s are reared on plain pellets, so they see them as part of their diet.

Having an edge, though, is important and that’s where colours come into play.

On some venues, I’ve struggled to catch on a brown pellet but emptied the lake by changing to a red one. Swapping sizes can also have a big effect. Experimentation is key, but getting the basics sorted is the first thing to get right.

Micro pellets

At this time of year micros won’t get to the bottom due to small fish. I will only use them in shallow water and on a Hybrid feeder.

Micro pellets are best used in shallow water or soaked for a feeder

Big pellets

The best all-rounders are 6mm pellets. Big enough to be loosefed on a waggler or feeder line, they make plenty of attracting noise.

The plop of a 6mm pellet is hard for a carp to resist

Expanders

Expanders are a great, light hookbait for carp and bream. The only time I’d feed them would be on shallow and very silty lakes.

Expanders make a great hookbait for bream and carp

Colour them

On venues where the water is heavily coloured, a red expander pellet will stand out that bit better because it creates more of a silhouette.

Colouring your pellets can be a real edge