THE VERY REAL PERIL OF USING TOO MANY PELLETS

MANY years ago I read an article about pellets, which at the time were all designed as fish feed, not bait. The author soaked pellets to see how long it took for them to break down and some didn’t – for over a week at room temperature.

That made me very circumspect about their use, and even now I make sure my pellets are completely suitable for the water and fish I am targeting.

Dr Paul Garner’s piece in last week’s issue was a good basic explanation of pellets, especially when he wrote about digestibility and ‘waste’. I believe it is this waste – excreted material that can’t be digested in the time it takes to pass through a very simple digestive system – that becomes part of a fishery food chain. It feeds not only fish but also invertebrates.

Worryingly, this waste generates huge amounts of bacteria and algae that use oxygen.

This is why I’m an advocate of strictly limiting the quantity of pellets that goes into a fishery, especially a typically small commercial water.