Introduction.
There is no doubt about it, but boilie stops and drilled pellets just do not go together. I was fishing a water near my home which contained carp and a lot of bream. Cast out with a hard pellet on a standard hair, there was a good chance you would wind in twenty minutes later and it had gone. I also wanted to use pellets on a river and wanted a rig that would guarantee that the bait stayed on the hair.
After giving it some though I decided the best way was to tie on the pellet, so i came up with this rig.
I've been meaning to expand the site to include rigs for sometime, but I'm crap at drawing. Any how I've got a new drawing programme which helps, so here goes.
Drilling the Hole in the Pellet.
Some pellets now come with hole already through the middle of the pellet. For those that don't all you need is a small bait / pellet drill, which costs a couple of quid from a tackle shop. I use the Drennan Bait Drill which is shown on the right, but many other companies offer similar drills.
The secret is to take your time drilling the hole, don't put to much pressure on the pellet when drilling the hole.
Tying the Rig.
Having drilled a hole through the centre of the pellet, you heed to make a loop in the hook length material. The loop needs to be of sufficient size to be able to pass the hook through it.
Having done that thread the pellet onto the hook length.
Thread the loop over the other end of the hook length material and pull the hook length so the loop sits tight on the pellet.
With the pellet in place make a hair rig using the "knotless Knot". You need to tie the "knotless knot" with the pellet in place, as it is difficult to judge what length the "hair" needs to be.
Although I haven't shown it on the above drawing, all you need to do then is attach a swivel or make a loop at the other end of the rig, for attaching to the main line and you have your finished rig.
Removing the Pellet.
To remove the pellet move the hook down towards the pellet and slacken off the loop around the pellet. Push the hook through the loop, which you should find goes through quite easily.
Continue to pull all the hook length through the loop.
Once the hook length is clear of the loop, the pellet can be pulled off the hair.
Attaching Another Pellet.
I'm sure it's no great surprise, but attaching another pellet to the rig is just like removing one - only in reverse.
Firstly attach a pellet to the hair and then push the other end of the rig through the hair loop.
The hook is pushed through the loop and the loop is then pulled tight around the pellet. It may need a little manovering to get the pellet sitting right, but it only takes a few seconds.
We now have another pellet attached to the rig and ready to go again.
There is no way that a pellet can come off this rig unless the pellet is crushed or it dissolves away.
Attaching and Detaching the Rig.
One of the disadvantages of the rig is that the entire rig, needs to be detachable from the main line. It can be cut off and retied, bit it's a right pain.
One of the ways around this is to use a "Gizmo" by Carp 'R' Us.
The drawings on the right show how it works.
The main line is passed through the rig sleeves and rig safety clip and tied to the Gizmo.
The hook lengths swivel is then clipped onto the Gizmo. This is then pulled into the rig sleeve and your all ready to cast out.
To detach the rig simply pull the Gizmo out of the rig sleeve and unclip the rigs swivel.
In Conclusion.
I've tried this rig with a number of different hook length materials including 12lb bs. Florocarbon and it works well. What i have found is the softer the material the hair is made of, the better the pellet sits on the hair.
One variation I haven't tried yet, its to tie a small rubber band onto the hair in place of the loop. There wouldn't have to be to much tension on the rubber band, or it would simply pull the hook down to the pellet. When I get time I will give it a go and see what happens.