Adding pellets into your bait application will usually greatly increase your chances of success on both lakes. When any species feed on pellets, masses of tiny food particles are created. These sink back into the silt and remain long after any boilies or whole pellets remain. They provide strong food signals continuing to make the spot attractive and a hook bait more likely to be found. But, for this to work, it is important that they are the right type of pellets.

After a great deal of research we have settled on using a combination of Coppens ‘Carpe Intensive’ pellets in 10mm size and ‘Premium Select’ pellets in both 10mm and 16mm sizes. The ‘Carpe Intensive’ pellets are used during the earlier and later parts of the season and for feeding throughout the winter when the water temperatures are low. The ‘Premium Select’ pellets are used during the warmer months. The main difference between the two pellets is the fat content with the ‘Carpe Intensive’ pellets being lower in fat making them much easier to digest at lower temperatures. Both pellets have a high protein content optimised for the nutritional requirements of carp.

The protein spreads are also optimised to have the highest possible BV (biological value) for carp meaning that a high percentage can be assimilated and utilised (unlike many pellets designed for other species like trout, halibut, etc). They also have a full spread of vitamins and minerals added that are designed to optimise heath and boost the immune system.

These pellets are also designed to minimise waste from the fish therefore reducing ammonia loading in the water. This can be especially important in high summer with warm water and very active feeding.

Another advantage is that these two pellets have distinctly different breakdown times and we can offer both types to anglers would like to incorporate this into their bait application strategy.

New for 2018 – Due to the importance of maintaining the best possible water quality and providing the carp with a safe, high quality diet, we only allow the use of our Coppens pellets at the fishery.

We are asked by quite a few people about pellets so here are a few things to consider:

• Only buy pellets that have a ‘use by’ date on them. Pellets have a relatively short shelf life due to oxidisation of the oils in them. Many sit on shelves for long periods of time!
• Do not use trout, salmon, halibut and other pellets designed for other species. These are totally the wrong pellets for carp. They are deigned for fish farms to rapidly grow salmon, etc for humans to eat. They grow these fish as quickly as possible and the life expectancy of the fish is obviously of no interest to these fish farmers. They use very high oil contents, around 40-45% in many, to fatten the salmon, trout, etc as quickly as possible. This is really terrible for carp and will reduce their life expectancy significantly if fed on a regular basis.
• High oil pellets also ‘stodge’ the carp up making them lethargic and stopping them eating more for long periods of time due to the digestion difficulties of all the oil. This is the opposite of what is required from a pellet used for bait!
• Buy pellets with a reasonable fishmeal content. Protein derived from other sources has a lower BV for carp but makes for much cheaper pellets. These pellets are pretty useless for carp.
• Store pellets in a dark and cool place. Never leave them in the sun. The oils will oxidise rapidly.
• Many pellets sold for carp fishing are cheap pellets that have been spray coated with flavours to match the bait companies boilie ranges. They are not very effective and, although smell good to the angler, they miss the vital food signals that high grade fishmeal based pellets provide. Pellets DO NOT have to smell like the boilies that you are using. In fact if they do then they are probably going to be much less effective than you expect. Don’t be caught out! Ask us for advice if required.

Here are the nutritional details for the Carpe Intensive pellets and also information about some of the unique ingredients that are included in all Coppens pellets: