Pellets are amazingly successful carp baits and the diversity and potential uses of them are very exciting! Pellets range from pet and animal and fish feeds to proprietary carp pellets. They can differ greatly from boilies and from other baits such as particle and seed baits because their modes of action and soluble characteristics can be so uniquely powerful. Pellets can be formulated especially for carp and be composed of specific ingredients, additives, enhancers, colours, flavours, enhancers and so on to specifically improve numbers of bites when used in fishing for carp and improving readymade pellets and being able to make homemade pellets are a great competitive edges indeed!
Pellets may range for example from the following: halibut, trout, salmon, and corn steep liquor pellets etc. Salmon fry crumb is a very popular product applied in carp fishing too. Pellets such as these catch loads of carp just used as free baits in volumes and as hook baits. They all can be sourced in a range of sizes which is a great advantage. The carp bait industry has now such a diversity of pellets designed specifically for carp dietary requirements and this is important as these improve carp health and condition and immunity all year round and are very digestible so you can get more bites using them.
Pellets are usually cylinder shaped but they can be other shapes. Ellipse shaped carp pellets are especially attractive because when disturbed by feeding fish they can raise and flutter off the lake bed and stimulate fish more. Carp pellets made using a high percentage of very buoyant ingredients are excellent for warier fish as these can hover in the water at different depths and make it more difficult for carp to distinguish which baits are attached to a hook.
Pellets are most commonly based on a carbohydrate binder. This makes them more cost effective than many protein rich baits; however these often benefit from further enhancement. Cereal and grain based pellets are great carriers for flavours for instance which increase attraction and they can also be dyed bright colours using edible dyes to stimulate sight feeding more. Since these carbohydrate binders teamed with other ingredients such as fish meals are fairly soluble and break down relatively easily they can be exploited in many ways.
For instance you can make a mixture of many different pellets so you have baits that break down over different time spans so prolonging