When the weather changes in the autumn soft expander pellets come into play for my pellet fishing. Hard pellets can still be a great bait as it gets colder but I feel more fish will take a soft pellet over a hard at this time of the year and this is when I reach for a bag of Pro Expanders.

Expander pellets have been around now for a few years but the chaps at Sonubaits really have made the pellet pump redundant since the launch of there Pro Expander range in recent years. Due to a special process that is undertaken at Sonubaits, they have produced an expander pellet that no longer needs to be pumped for every pellet to sink! This process allows an ingredient exclusive to Sonubaits to be infused through the pellet and they don’t split unlike some other types of expander pellet. All you need to do is to place some Pro Expanders into a freezer bag, pour enough cold water just to cover them and leave them on the fridge over night. You can also add attractant at the same time if required and come the morning when your off fishing they are all ready to use and perfect for the hook.

Just keep them in a tub with a little water to stop them drying out. Especially if the suns out as they soon dry out and become a little crusty. 2mm and 4mm’s are great in the winter and they enable you to use larger hooks for better hook holds than using 18’s and 20’s with maggots which leads to less hook pulls and Carp, F1’s and Skimmer Bream love them. In the summer months I don’t tend to use them when fishing the long pole as bites can come quickly and a lot of time can be lost shipping back to re-bait from missed bites. I prefer the firmer hookable versions when fishing the long pole which saves time out of the water. But the 6mm and 8mm’s again with large hooks are fantastic in the margins over a bed of micro pellet for large Carp. They can’t resist them.

These pellets come into there own on the days when maggots just attract micro silvers into the peg. Yes you can’t beat maggots for winter fishing and they will catch anything but on these days when little fish are grabbing your hook bait before anything half decent gets a look in. Soft expanders are the way forward so your hook bait offering has more of a chance of a bigger fish sucking up your hook bait.

Freezing left over bait

Make that bag of Pro Expanders go that little bit further. At the end of the session just place them back in the freezer bag and pop them straight back in the freezer when you get home. I’ve been doing this for months now and the quality of the pellet isn’t affected. I’ll often re-freeze them several times!

Hookable Soft pellets in the summer

The hookable versions are a little firmer and I use these in summer as a hook change over hard pellets when it’s hard going. Sometimes little tweaks like this can make a difference and I always keep a few tubs in the bait bag. Plus firmer hookable versions are great when fishing the waggler and don’t come off during the cast.

Des Shipp shows how he prepares his Pro Expanders.