Seems pointless to make two threads so...

Puddledock-snake lake:
Been over p'dock a couple of times in the last month or so and fished road lake with ledger set up, first time was a swanshot ledger, second time was method feeder. Tried cheese corn and mixers (soaked to make them hookable and sink) and had plenty of bites but only 8-10 fish, and only just got them! Definitely not fishing like it should be so im thinking a trip to snake lake is in order. I havent fished snake much at all, probably only 3 or 4 times and never caught much if anything! BUt going by what others have said on the forums snake lake seems to be fishing better lately? There was a match on there yesterday (fished road with the method) and as a keepnet came up near me i heard a fair bit of flapping so i know he caught a fair few fish so is snake worth a try or am i better to stick to road? My gut feeling is to try for a few hours on snake with the pole. see how i get on and if it doesnt work then move, but i know i wont be bothered to move with all my kit set up and if i dont catch then its a wasted day! Be handy if anyone knows the match results lately?

Any info is golden!!


As for pellets....
I want to start using pellets as they offer a great bait it seems, but im not sure what to look for and really hot to use them effectively? I guess i need soft hookable pellets for the hook? But then what about free baits, do i just get a bag of ordinary pellets? (as the hookable tubs are too small for freebies as well as hookers) And what about expanders? Do i need a pellet pump for them? (something i dont have)

Again, any info would be great!

i never use the soft sort of plllets as i find that they dont stay on the hook when casting
i think these are more suited to the pole not the waggler or when quivering

i use van den eynde/dynamite baits or what ever carp pellets in 6-8mm in size and use a bait band in the appropriate size and feed a mixture of different sizes from 1-8mm
and hair rig pellets from 10mm upwards

when useing the quivertip i use a wire cage feeder and just make a mix up of groundbait of some type and mix in some small pellets and what ever takes your fancy

got some expanders but like them you can use a pellet pump or just soak them in water but most seems to float anyway and i realy want them all to sink (i must be doing them wrong)

hmm.... Im still undecided about using the pole or quiver/feeder setup. Depends if i can be bothered to support a pole at 10m for 7 hours! It's not the most comfortable fishing!

Ive used bait bands before, well... I had braces a couple of years back and had these horrible rubber bands, about 3mm diameter which happen to be almost exactly what bait bands are, so i used those, and without one of those nifty pellet band application tools its a pain!

Im trying to think of the advantages of pellet, but when i think of it i can probably use meat to the same effect. I dont think hookers would be too bad if i used them with the method as they would be sheltered from the cast.... Fishing takes up way too much thinking if you ask me!
I like the micro pellet idea ive seen in the IYCF mag, using 2mm pellets softened with water and stuck to a method feeder. But im not sure what hookbait to use.... Damn this! Any suggestions? Wouldnt be so difficult if i knew how to fish the lake but its not my lucky lake!

just use the same type of bait as you have in your method mix
corn
pellet
meat
boillie

i think the advanages of useing pellets of 6mm and upwards is that it should avoid the small silver fish

Mm.... Im thinking of using the method, but taking the pole and leaving it in the car. I was going to use vitalin, but im not sure about pellet or not, what advantages does pellet have over other baits? If any?

depends on the lake
my local club water does well on pellets and boillies
it's just what you have confidence in, try same and see

mm I might get some hookers, seen some "jelly" pellets in the mag might give those a go with a meaty vitalin mix or feeder pellets...choices choices....If it responded to sweetcorn id use that, got to be the best bait there is but they wont have it at puddledock, not compared to more meaty baits anyway.

Thanks for the info! The only last choice is flavour...but theres no straight answer to that one!

Well i used 8 mil bolies side hooked on a size 10 over on arrans lake a few weeks back as using corn was attracting too many rudd. it worked a treat and i caught carp to 5 pounds and a small tench. the bolies stayed on the hook well on the cast but were gone when i unhooked the fish, i don't like hooker pellets as already said no good for the waggler as they fly off on the cast. i feed small hard pellets as loose feed but other ground bait might be good.

Hum... Perhaps i wont bother with hookers then, again in the mag im reading (IYCF) there are bags of expanders advertised, just add water n pumping needed and they sink too, so if they sell them at county angling on the way then ill buy a bag and band them on with the softened ones on the feeder. If not ill stick with a meaty vitalin mix and spam on the hook. I really like the look of tiny 2mm pellets softened and squeezed on the feeder, looks really neat and a hefty feed which should be ideal as they start moving and feeding more, its just a small matter of the preparation time and finding a suitable hook bait to match.