Match Fishing Bait | How to colour your micro pellets to catch more carp

For ages anglers have been using plain old pellets straight out of the bag, but as a match angler I’m always interested in ways to make what I’m feeding stand out from the crowd.

Changing hookbaits is one way to do this and, on the feeder, so is casting further than everyone else – but most important of all is altering the feed that is going into the swim. Carp will see plain brown pellets a lot, but give them something yellow or smelling completely different and it all adds up to a distinct advantage.

Micro pellets are such a versatile feed that you can change their colour or smell, add groundbait to them or coat them in a strong-smelling sweet gel.

By having something different to try with them on each cast, I can soon find what’s most appealing to the fish, and that adds up to more carp in the net!

Adding groundbait

Some anglers never use groundbait, but I’ll break out a bag of Ringer Baits Green if my swim is deep and I want to make sure the feed is getting to the bottom without breaking up prematurely.

Adding groundbait will also make the feeder payload break down more slowly. This can be useful when you are not getting bites straight away.

A 50/50 split of pellets and groundbait is about right, and I’ll mix the crumb to a normal consistency – too dry and it will take the moisture out of the pellets and not allow you to make a Method ball properly.

Boilie Crush

This is a new addition to my fishing – finely ground boilies that work really well as an additive on waters that see lots of boilies. I’ve also found it brilliant on lakes that don’t see boilies!

It’s a good way of adding colour to your feed, with the yellow being good for bream and the orange for carp and F1s when using Orange Wafters. Two caps of crush is about right for a kilo of pellets, adding them once the micros are fully soaked.

Impact pellets

Sometimes even colouring micros and adding some Crush won’t be enough, especially in really coloured water. This is where a smear of Chocolate Orange Gel Spray comes into play.

Once the feeder is loaded I’ll give it one squirt to add flavour and smell for the fish to home in one. Don’t go mad – it’s possible to put too much scent into the water.

How to add colour to micro pellets

colouring micros can make a big difference if you think fish are struggling to find them on the lakebed. In heavily coloured and clear water alike, coloured pellets stand out so much more than plain ones. Colouring micros is very easy to do on the bank – I like to match the hookbait colour to what’s around the feeder – so for yellow pellets, that would be a yellow Wafter. Here’s how to colour micros…

1) Dampen the micros, pop them in a plastic bag and add a capful of Ringer Baits Yellow, enough for half-a-kilo of pellets.