Losing roach whilst fishing the banded pellet.

[rob48]

I could be barking up the wrong tree here, but for roach I think your rod's a bit overgunned and the hooks are too big.
A more forgiving rod is less likely to bump the fish off and I've always found that smaller hooks penetrate better than larger ones (nearly all my bigger chub, 5lb+ fish, have been accidental captures when roach fishing with 20s/22s in clear winter rivers, none of the hooks have fallen out) also, the smaller hook would be less likely to be hindered by the proximity of the banded pellet when striking IMO.
I've caught a few lower severn roach on banded pellets and found the Gamakatsu wide-gaped maggot hook to be a decent pattern. Again, I think the width of the gape keeps the point away from the pellet, so hooks the fish cleaner.
Could all be nonsense of course.

 

[Alan Whitty]

Would agree Rob, I think I need to go back to my old Preston Excel 13ft as it is quite soft at the tip, but I've landed very big fish on it, no good for the river however, probably use my 11ft Cadence #2...this would be fine for the lake but I think I'd prefer the extra length for ease of casting and striking...I would say I've used maggot on the slider on the lake and had no real problem on the Cadence #3, if it was simply roach fishing I would use my Titan 2000 12ft then you hook a 20lb cat or carp,lol...

 

[markcw]

If you are concerned about hair ris getting caught in the landing net mesh , you can buy landing nets with close mesh at the bottom that helps to eliminate this .
Some people advocate rubber coated nets but I am not sure on these ,I think they can take the protective slime off a fished body .

 

[Crystal Bend]

I found Rob's articles very good on the topic.

Trotting Pellet For Big Roach

This is a fun way of fishing and on it's day can be really quite effective, I could argue that on it's day cannot be beaten, but that's obje...

trottingdowntheriver.blogspot.com

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgI8ML3l0UQgIUnq5I7Q-mfqs09xz-8Es9yaCVjHA-cpAMk3E9HoR89vvesor5PxNEc8VFRlvP_q2bKEP6sV93IOAvQtDnHfKbtb0xx6JbK0fKiVMPfHtfcvAaCuh3eKLdFRMfnUqKna79lkRc48WO7aO_Y532uypnC0r3dRxccwnJSFZK5IEhVnjcE0A/s2816/IMG_2076.JPG

 

[Crystal Bend]

Also this video.

 

[Alan Whitty]

I remember reading this when it was put up,I haven't seen Rob(the artist) for some time, I usually bump into him two or three times a season, maybe his dad isn't well, though I hope that's not the case(lovely fella).
The thing that sticks out from that blog to me was the mounting of the pellet band on the shank, which should leave the hook bend free to stop bumping fish...

 

[rob48]

Still thinking about the rods you're using Alan and I know I'm biased in their favour, but I'm sure a spliced-tip rod would be worth a try. The better ones have a fast and soft enough tip to set hooks while reducing the chance of bumping off, and enough backbone lower down to handle decent sized fish.
I keep hearing about the advances in rod building technology rendering them obsolete but I don't agree with any of that. It's definitely what I would be using.

 

[Alan Whitty]

To be honest Rob I haven't fished pellet on the band since opening this thread and have already put more suitable rods in the holdall in readiness...

 

[chevin4]

I gave up using banded pellets years ago although it is fiddly I superglue a couple of pellets back to back on a short hair

 

[Keith M]

I’ve never liked to use banded pellets and I much prefer to either drill my own hookbait pellets using a small model makers drill; or use pre drilled pellets; and I use baitstops, quickstops or boilee stops to mount them onto a hair.

 

[Alan Whitty]

If I were fishing for barbel or chub on the lead I would hair rig them too, however I'm floatfishing for roach, a species not synonymous with hair rigging...

 

[markcw]

If I were fishing for barbel or chub on the lead I would hair rig them too, however I'm floatfishing for roach, a species not synonymous with hair rigging...

Have you tried soft hooker pellets , no need for bands, As the name suggests they go direct on the hook .

 

[Alan Whitty]

Don't really work that well Mark, hard pellets are resistant to the smaller roach present,or on the river small chublets,which in the summer are a nightmare(3ins long or smaller).

 

[rob48]

Bit of an update for you Alan.

I spent last week in a cottage on the Severn just upstream of Upton. Lots of pellets go in there for the large bream and barbel that reside.
The river was about 2' above usual summer level when we arrived with a decent flow for the time of year. Ideal.
While it was holding or slowly dropping for the first few days I had cracking bags of roach and chubb close in on the stick, fishing hemp and tares.

As the weather warmed, the level and colour dropped out and I had to chase the fish further out with the bolo.
I tried bait-tech fishmeal pellets banded on Colmic B957s with the barb pinched down and they worked a treat. I was into roach, chubb and skimmers after half an hour of messing with depth and shot, so they're obviously used to them and the barbel evidently don't eat them all.
I tried my new (last winter) Acolyte 17' for bolo fishing and have to say I was very impressed, as I had reservations following my experince with the 14' Ultra. The 17' couldn't have been more different, excellent action for float control and line pick-up, and hardly any fish bumped.

On the stick I was using a 12' garbolino essential ultra-light which is absolutely fantastic. Fast strike with a soft tip spliced into a blank that bends and bends so no hook pulls, even when bullying them in to beat the pike, and even when a double figure pike had got a 12oz roach across its jaws. It eventually released the roach which I was able to net and return.

The best fish I had were roach over 1.5lbs and chubb over 3lb, in catches of 30lb+. I never bothered setting up a feeder rod with float fishing as good as that.