Trending tactics: Pellets in the margins
There have been many methods and tactics used over the decades, but here’s Nigel Sharp’s top ten which have seemingly dominated the big carp scene for the past 20 years - next up, pellets in the margins
Dominance started: 1993
Influential anglers: Glynn Gomersall, John Coxhead and Steve Pagulatos
PB using rig: 37lb 2oz
Nowadays, pellets are pretty much part of every carp angler’s armoury, but the first time I used them was as a tench angler and we used to soak the pellets up and use them as paste baits. The tench absolutely loved it and they became a bit of a secret bait at the time. As for pellet’s use in carp fishing, I first came across them again during the summer of 1993 when my friend Glynn Gomersall produced a bag of them while we were starting the season on Frimley’s Pit 3. We went on from that session to fish the Yateley Match Lake and pretty much straightaway The Match Lake fish seemed to like them so we kept the use of pellets very quiet. Later that year we befriended Terry and Scottish Dave and found out that part of their short session successes was down to the relentlessness of drip-feeding pellets on both The Match and Copse lakes.
A couple of years after that, John Coxhead and Steve Pagulatos made margin fishing fashionable on the complex and ‘pellet piddling’ and ‘bush ratting’ became the norm. Funny really, because after both of their Yateley hits, a new-breed of ‘edge anglers’ was born.
I personally like to carry pellets for both ‘edge chances’ and open water fishing. Last year I got through literally hundreds of kilos on Pit 4 and like hemp, they don’t blow.