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A summer venue which I love to fish is Rosemary wood where you can target the lakes Carp population with a variety of methods including Pellet Waggler and Bomb and Pellet. An open water venue, with Carp to over 20lb within the lake which also gets heavily fished by Carp anglers too so the resident Carp are well fed with lots of feed going into the lake. With this in mind I had a bucket full of Catalyst 8mm Pellets for feed and hookbait and also a selection of 8mm GO2 Catalyst Wafters to try.

Arriving at the lake I was greeted with some of my go to pegs available so I settled in quickly with just the minimum tackle I brought along. 2 rods were all I needed for the session, an 11ft Waggler Rod and a 11ft Feeder Rod, both using 4000 reels along with 8lb line, a simple inline bomb setup to a 14s hook with a band to use the Catalyst 8mm Pellets on. The Waggler rod I used an 8g Pellet Waggler, again down to a 14s hook also with a band.

I started off on the bomb and pellet, just so I could prep the same line by firing the 8mm Catalyst Pellets over the top, to see if I could get the carp milling around the surface layers taking the pellets after hitting the surface. It was very evident that the carp where already up in the water and showing themselves too, so the bomb rod got quickly put away and the Waggler rod was out.

What I like to do when feeding using the pellet Waggler line is to vary how much feed I put in over the float, so I start off with just one or two pellets in the catapult just firing in constantly but aiming the catapult high in the air so when the pellets hit the surface, they create more disturbance, which to me switches the Carp on quicker to the free baits going in, but once the Carp are swirling I tend to pepper the swim more with 7-8 pellets and again directing the catapult high to create more disturbance with the pellets. Realizing early on I had lots of fish in my swim I found it very hard to hit bites while using the 8mm Pellet on the hook so I swapped over to an 8mm Catalyst Pellet Wafter and this made a whole lot of difference. Prior to making the first cast I always drop the hookbait in close to see how its falling through the water using the size 14s hook and it was perfect.

Starting off at 2ft deep I made the first cast and no bites, again another cast and nothing, brought my set up in and dropped the float to 12 inches cast out and instantly the first fish was on a stunning looking ghost carp. Repeating the process of casting out the floats, firing the 8mm pellets over the top and twitching the float back they were self-hooking on every put in. Through the day as with all fishing, the fish did shy off a bit but by casting another 5m past my feed area I was able to pick off the odd carp sitting further back and one time I did this I managed to bag a double at 11.5lb which put up some fight.

I had to follow the fish at times as they dropped down beneath the set depth of my hookbait so again when it went a bit iffy I put a few inches on the depth until I found them again. Finishing my session off with 175lb. I had one of my best summer days this year. If you get it right using this method it can be a very rewarding summer tactic and this session was up there for me as one of my best on the Pellet Waggler.

The right bait choice is imperative also as I struggled early on with an 8mm Pellet on the hook but by making the right change to the GO2 Catalyst 8mm wafter I never looked back. Give the deadly combination a go, both products can be purchased from your local tackle dealer or online.

Tight Lines Dave.