There are, for me, two kinds of hookable pellets. Dry skinned pellets, soft enough to drive a small hook into, but a little like miniature boilies. Then there are, what I call, wet pellets.
In the past the wet pellets from other manufacturers have been an absolute pain to keep on the hook. They have been so soft that simply dunking them in the water caused them to fall from the hook. About as much use as a broken pencil – pointless!
When I saw these from Dynamite I was intrigued, they looked very soft and moist in the plastic tub, but at the same time appeared firm enough to perhaps stay on the hook. How can you tell looking through a plastic tub? The only way to find out was to buy some and try them.
Firm enough to withstand a moderate cast
You won’t be surprised to learn that they appear to work best with the pole, either long or margin, and that they do stay on even when the end rig is pushed through the water. They even withstand a moderate cast, 20 yards or so, on float tackle, but you must always bear in mind that you can’t pull the float back too quickly to sink the line, as you can with maggots, or you will almost surely lose the bait. The great beauty of the little pellets is that the fish love them.
They come in three sizes, 4mm, 6mm, and 10mm. Also in two flavours to compliment their groundbaits and hard feed pellets, Betaine Green and Amino Original and if you’re already a fan of their other products then you’ll love the smell of these. Priced just under £ 3 per tub they should keep for weeks after being opened providing they’re kept in their tubs and sealed after every trip. Just the thing for an alternative or even as your main bait.
Jeff Woodhouse’s VERDICT
I always like to have a good supply of pellets when I go fishing, especially on commercial-like waters, but in the past I have really been disappointed with wet style pellets. However, these have really impressed me so far to the extent that they are the first bait on the hook unless word has it something else is flavour of the day.
I was even thinking of buying one of those pumps and wetting my own from expanders, but after trying these, I just won’t bother now. No point.
UPDATE After prolonged testing and using the different sizes my first impressions have now changed. It seems to me that their firmness and ability to withstand shipping out on a pole, let alone casting, is inconsistent. I have been using the same hook pattern and size throughout, but whereas the first lots did seem to stay on, more recently I have found only 1 in 6 remained on the hook after shipping out through the water. In fact many came off as soon as the hook touched the water and this is exactly the same as I’ve found with other makes in the past.
It’s not only me, other anglers have reported their disappointments also and ended up mixing them into their groundbait. The fish still like them if you can get the bait out there, but it suggests that a lot more work needs to be done before they become fully acceptable to the buying public.
