Our esteemed editor’s dislike of the use of oily pellets in excessive quantity – or during the colder months – is well known but even he is the first to admit they are nonetheless a vitally important part of the anglers’ bait armoury. It’s fair to say that to fish for species such as bream without them is pure folly and they can be hugely important feed and hook items for species such as carp, tench, catfish and barbel too.
We were recently sent a sample of the Bait-Tech range to take a look at and, as with all of the products we have seen from the company so far, we were impressed – even Welchy got a little bit interested in one of the pellets!
So they are halibut pellets, what’s to get excited about?
Halibut marines; dark, oily and in a good range of sizes from 3 to 20mm to cover all uses and all species from use as a carpet feed and groundbait addition right up to catfish hook baits. What is nice though is that the 8, 12, 16 and 20mm sizes are all pre-drilled – and anyone who has struggled with a bait drill (and cursed every time a pellet split) will appreciate just how useful this is. Sure pre-drilled and baiting needle-friendly pellets have been around for a while but mostly it has been a case of a few drilled pellets in a bag of standard ones – not here. When you buy a bag of drilled each and every one is ready for the hair.
Having a hole through the centre does, of course, alter the pellet in that the increased surface area exposed to the water makes them break down quicker than a standard pellet – something you can use to your advantage when baiting. Similarly if you are soaking your pellets in fish oil to increase their underwater breakdown time then you get a better penetration – and an increased breakdown, similarly soaking them in other flavours or attractors.
The Bait-Tech Halibut Marine Pellets are available in 900g bags of standard pellets in 3, 4, 6 and 10mm sizes and pre-drilled in 8, 12, 16 and 20mm sizes for easy hair rigging.
Moving along we came to Bait-Tech’s ‘Super’ version of the halibut and these even had our Mr. Welch interested! Packed with shrimp meal to give them a unique red colour these are halibut pellets which are very different from the majority on the market and offer something totally different in terms of attraction.
Oily, yes – but less so than a ‘normal’ halibut – and with a slower underwater breakdown time too. Packed with water soluble fish protein and shrimp they are worth looking out for and are available in 900g bags of 4mm and 6mm standard pellets and pre-drilled in 8mm, 12mm, 16mm and 20mm sizes.
Last up was a very practical pack of Mixed pre-drilled Halibut Marines which contained both Halibut Marines and Super Halibut Marines in 8, 12, 16, 20 mm sizes. With 175-190 hook baits in each tub it made for a very convenient and versatile pot of baits. Nice.
