I’ve got three or four that I always find myself coming back to for feeding on commercials, simply because I have generally enjoyed good results when I use them.
Earlier this year, though, I encountered an unexpected problem. I wanted to use a small Method feeder and I also wanted to mould my trusty 2mm Sonubaits Fin Perfect feed pellets on to it. However, try as I might, I couldn’t get them to stick properly to it, even after soaking them carefully.
Apparently, though, I wasn’t alone, and not long afterwards a few tubs of Sonubaits Stiki Pellet landed on my desk. Ian Day from Sonubaits explained that this was just what I needed, designed, as it was, to make pellets stick. The clue’s in the name…
Uncertain as to how this fine, yellow powder would work, I followed the instructions on the pot to the letter. First, I added 10 spoonfuls (spoon provided) of water to the pellets before drying the spoon and adding just one spoon of Stiki Pellet. A good mix followed after which I ignored the pellets for half an hour while setting up the rest of my kit.
After 30 minutes, the pellets were a dryish mass, which separated into individual pellets with a quick and intense mix. And guess what… they clung to the feeder brilliantly.
I tested them out in a bait box and they took around 30 seconds before starting to fall away. That gave me the confidence I needed to know that the feeder would hit the water and sink to the bottom with the pellets intact.
With a 6mm banded hard pellet hidden among the pellets, the tip soon started to go round.
That was the easy bit over. Since then I’ve experimented a lot, adding more Stiki Pellet in water deeper than, say, six feet. I’ve also used it with other makes and sizes of pellets. As I said, you don’t need it with some pellets, but I’ve found that light-coloured 2mms work really well with it.
I don’t know what this powder is. Other powders like Horlicks, soya flour and brewer’s malt have all been used to help pellets cling to a feeder, but when something’s been developed specifically for the job, my view is that, as anglers, we’d be foolish to ignore it.
| Sonubaits Stiki Pellet RRP: £3.99 for a 100g pot Contact: www.sonubaits.com |
