Pellets have various consistencies, textures, permeability's, solubility, densities, and buoyancies before and after soaking in liquids and oils, and so on. Experimentation is the key and trying a range of various cheaper end and more expensive pellets with a range of dips and soaks can produce surprisingly effective ‘edges.'

Dips can be bought as proprietary fishing products, or from any supermarket like ‘Wal-Mart' or ‘Tescos.' One simple example is anchovy source. Liver pate with water is another. Liquidized liver and squid too. So many oils and fats work, including chip fat that practically anything is worth a try!

Some anglers swear by ‘general purpose' oils which are not meant for animal consumption and I'd always aim to at least pay the fish back in some nutritionally rewarding way for the stress of being hooked, played and landed, although of course many readers will take their catch home for tea as with guys in the States and Eastern European countries! Just as a note for UK readers, yes catfish are bred for the table in the States just as carp were distributed and used originally for this purpose historically, as a protein source in our diet.

Pellets can be scorched with boiling water to make a paste and many with bind well enough to make a paste bait to use on the hook. Some will even bind with the addition of cold water! Where pellets have become almost a staple food on more heavily stocked waters where pellets have been used intensively, the obvious next bait is a boilie or paste / dough bait to take advantage of this fact.

Many creative and effective trout pellets paste baits can be made even by beginners just getting into the exciting and fascinating world of bait making. There are thousands of flavours to choose from and so many attractors, additives and stimulators and so on. Those wishing to ‘play it safe can visit their local fishing shop and use products designed for fishing and also risk the negative effect of competing with anglers on the very same bait.

Often it is wiser to do it your own way. Use a less popular flavour for example, or one that was popular a few years ago. Fishing bait flavours often go in ‘cycles' of success and need changing or adapting. For example, take a kilogram of pellets, add 5 milliliters of flavour to a half pint of your lake water and soak your pellets for anywhere from 15 minutes to an hour or more to let the flavours penetrate.

This can vary enormously depending on the pellet and experimentation with small amounts of pellets is sensible. Soaking in oils makes pellets last longer in water, although proprietary brands of oils are probably best due to the likelihood of more water soluble oils being used which can be extremely attractive.

These are very simple ways to use or treat pellets and there are so many more. Pellets make an ideal soluble ‘background feed' to hold fish in a swim feeding for longer, without fish becoming to full-up with free bait before you getting bites and the fish moving away. Confident feeding is often easier to achieve where bait is constantly dissolving and breaking down on the lake or river bed and is very desirable. Pre-soaking of pellets in water for example is a great edge in itself on more ‘pressured' intensively fished waters.

Grinding trout pellets up to make a powder and form a boilie with eggs often incorporating yeast extract or yeast mixtures were very popular for carp years ago and still very effective today for both carp and catfish. Fashions change. Often there is not a great difference in nutrition supplied by fish based dog and cat foods when compared to many of the cheaper trout pellets and combining these 2 in a bait perhaps adding an additional binding ingredient like ‘CLO' or just plain corn flour works.

Flavours seem often just an added ingredient for the angler's confidence - so he can smell the bait. Many pellet and pet food baits without flavour can seem ‘bland' by comparison to the highly flavoured boilies and dough baits of today, but they are still potent even so. In the States, soda pop, supermarket brand and ‘Jell-O' type flavours are still in predominance, but there are far mightier flavours available so do not miss out! Garlic, black pepper, strawberry, vanilla can be ‘topped' in so many massively potent ways and not simply just by using ‘flavors' either.

Flavours today are not simply a couple of ingredients like alcohol, isopropanol or propylene glycol with added glycerine or ascetic acid. You really can make your baits ‘dynamite' upon the discovery of true gems available now from fishing bait companies. You can even make outstanding flavours and combinations yourself completely unique to you, even rivalling those very popular but expensive ones in the fishing supplies stores and online, but that's for another time...

Pellets are a ‘catch-all' type bait but can be manipulated for a variety of fish and to keep you ahead of the game, the fish and even fellow tournament or match fishing competitors and win you much bigger prizes than just the fish! Go on - be creative with your additives, flavours and added ingredients...

The author has many more fishing and bait ‘edges' up his sleeve. Every single one can have a huge impact on catches. (Warning: This article is protected by copyright.)

By Tim Richardson.