Pellet Paste made easy!

Summer it seems is on the way and for a lot of commercial anglers that means one of 2 things either starting to use or the increased use of Paste. Paste fishing on its day can be an absolutely devastating method and for some reason has the potential to pick out some of the venues specimens. I generally fish with 2 types of Pellet paste, Skretting Pellet Paste and Halibut Pellet Paste. Of these 2 types the Skrettings Paste is the easier to make (you don't need to use a blender to turn the pellet into a powder), and because of a recent request it will be the one I will be covering in this post.

Making paste is a very simple process all you will need is;

How to Guide – The “Twizzled Loop”

Looking forward to this season I need to improve several aspects of my fishing, they include;

• The long pole – All to often I fish at 9 or 11 meters and when required to fish out at 13m+ I find all skill packs up and leaves and I repeatedly slap the water or spill my feed from my cups, disturbing the fish and missing vital bites.
• Waggler Fishing – I aim to fish venues which are more than X number of pole sections wide, hopefully it will help improve my cast accuracy too!
• Feeder and straight lead fishing -  I need to fish the feeder and straight lead more often and practicing it in the summer, when the fish are up and feeding is essential. It can be a deadly method in the winter, but all too often I fall back on the pole for those sure fire winter fish.

How to guide - Using the Slider Float

After my recent trip to Shearwater I was contacted to explain how my set up. To be honest this was the first time I had fished the slider in a few years, so I was almost a case of re-teaching myself. The slider is a great method for float fishing deep venues on what could be described as almost normal waggler tactics. Unlike Polaris floats which work on a float/ledger principle, slider float fishing is essentially heavy duty waggler fishing. Once you have cracked it, it is a great method and viable alternative to fishing deep on the pole or short range bomb/feeder work. There are also a few hints and tips which make the whole process of fishing using the slider a whole lot easier.

How to attach elastic to an elastic connector.

It’s been a while since I’ve looked at my match top 3, and recently after switching all my heavy elastics to Dacron connectors I have unfortunately neglected my number 6 elastic, which has well and truly perished. I had to do the fiddly job of re-elasticating my top kit, I decided not to use a Dacron connector on this lighter elastic, and went with the more conventional elastic connector. In the past I have been asked “what are the best knots to use when using tying elastic to connectors?” I never really thought about what knot I used at the time, so now when refreshing my elastic I decided to have a look at a two variations and answer the question. There are 2 types of knot which I have used, and neither of them have ever failed (on me) but have a look at see which one you’d prefer.

It's that time of year when elastics get changed!

How to attach Hard Pellets

Over the last 2 years there is one thing that has hugely increased in number in my shed and holdall, and that is pellets. Pellets aren’t a particularly new idea and I remember them really starting to take venues apart in the late 90's early 00's when they starting to spike in popularity and it was all still a bit of a novelty. Since then pellets have come a long way, in various different sizes, styles, shapes and flavours. They have gone from strength to strength and consistently form the main stay of many match anglers "go to" bait. In all honesty I steered clear of pellets for as long as possible, believing that more natural baits would produce as well as any pellet, but the more venues I visited and the more lakes I fished, it was clear to see that although natural baits were effective, they just didn't consistently compete with pellets. Wanting to have as successful a day as possible on venues where matches are fished I switched over to pellets and to be honest, I haven't looked back. There has been a bit of trial and error, and when asked recently how I was hooking the hard pellets (on this occasion I using a hair rig) I had a look at my topkits and explained that I had few rigs set up to cover my options.

Fishing Basics - Loop Tying - Preston Loop Tyer

I’ve recently encountered some trouble with my Seymo Loop Tyer, and although the knots have never failed me, they seem to be getting bigger than I require. So I decided to give the Preston Innovations Loop Tyer a whirl. It was a bit of a school boy error, but I managed to pick on up without instructions! So I had to spend a little while working out how to use this little fella, but once I did I was very pleased with the consistent and small loops I was creating. This little tool will be in my tackle box from now on.

If you have one, but are not sure how to use it, here’s how.

Fishing Basics - Knot Tying - How to tie a Lasso knot

This is just a quick post in response to a question I was asked a few weeks ago when out fishing using Pellets. I was alternating between a few rigs which had various hook set up's (using the pole), these were;

• A haired 8mm pellet,
• A banded 6mm pellet, and
• A lassoed 6mm pellet. 

I was then asked how I tied a lasso knot, as the angler asking didn't have any pellet bands with him. I admitted of the three methods I like the lasso least as I think the presentation of the pellet is not as good, when compared with either the haired or banded approaches. However, I proceeded to show him how I was taught to tie the lasso knot, and for those wondering, here's how you can too!

How to connect and disconnect your line to a Dacron Connector. Double loop method.

In keeping with my most recent post about which connector is better, a standard Elastic connector or Dacron connector, I hit another snag when finding out how best to attach your rig to the Dacron! A crucial point where catching fish is concerned... Unlike a standard connector where you physically clip the loop of the rig into the connector, line can be attached to a Dacron connector in a number of different ways.

This is what I ended up with! A solid efficient and reliable connection.

How to connect a Dacron Connector to Elastic.

After recently reading both online and in the angling press about the types of connectors people prefer to use when fishing the pole, I decided to conduct an experiment to see for myself which one was better. The 2 most recognisable connectors are the standard Elastic Connector (sometimes called the Stonflo Connector) and the Dacron connector.

The finished article!

Fishing Basics – Plumb the depth - Using a plummet.

Speaking with my father-in-law recently we started discussing fishing basics which are now often overlooked. He remarked that once when fishing White Springs (near Swansea), he was asked how to use a plummet without losing it on the retrieve. I also asked one of my other angling friends how he would plumb the depth of a swim and his answer was “guess the depth until I catch fish”. That’s one way of trying I suppose. He also didn’t know how to use a clip on plummet. The next blog will show how to use a plummet and clip on plummet effectively on both pole and waggler set ups.

Types of plummet, cork and rubber bottomed and clip on.

Fishing Basics – Knot tying - How to tie a knotless knot.

This post is designed to try and demonstrate how to tie a very sturdy and reliable knot which can be used when targeting bigger fish using techniques such as the method feeder or hair rigged baits. I have tried and tested this particular knot and can guarantee, if tied correctly will hold a lump of a fish.

The knot held this fish with ease.

The knotless knot is an essential knot which is used up and down the country by a variety of anglers who have made the jump from standard hook knots such as the grinner or half blood to the more technical elements of tying our own hair rigs. For the purpose of this post I have used a straight shanked eyed hook, rather than the conventional off-set eyed hook, which is more commonly used.

Fishing Basics - Knot Tying - The Half Blood Knot

Following on from my recent post about tying the 5 Turn Grinner knot, this is another very reliable knot which can be used to attach hooks, swivels and clips to your line. The Half blood is a knot which ties down very small and is a good alternative to the Grinner. What’s more, it is easy to tie. Again for the purposes of post I will be attaching the line to a fairly large swivel.

Fishing Basics - Knot Tying - 5 Turn Grinner.

Following on from one of my most recent posts I thought this time I would highlight how to tie one of the most heavily used knots in fishing. The 5 Turn Grinner knot. Tied correctly it is reliable, has a good knot strength and can be used to attach pretty much anything to your line! For the purposes of this post however I will be demonstrating using a fairly hefty swivel.

Fishing Basics – Loop Tying

While fishing recently I was asked by a young angler if I would tie a hook on to his rig. On handing over his rig, and having a look at his set up I was alarmed at how his whole rig was set up. After a brief conversation I persuaded the young angler that some of the knots I knew may mean when he hooked a fish it was less likely to get away and over the next 5 minutes I slowly deconstructed his rig and then carefully put it all back together in a way which (he assured me) made sense and was helpful. But it got me thinking and on speaking to another of my angling friends I found out that only a few knots were consistently used while fishing. So I thought I may do a few posts, hopefully to try to demonstrate what I find the most useful and practical knots and how to tie them; with the hope that some people will find this information of benefit.