7 Best Fishing Catapults (2024 Updated Review)

A good fishing catapult is a key piece of equipment in your artillery. Being able to fire loose feed out accurately and at the desired range is a key requirement for most angling situations. But how do you know what catapult to buy?

There are so many fishing catapults on the market today made by many different brands that it can be a bit of a minefield when picking the right one.

This article will detail 7 of the best fishing catapults in the tackle shops today. Different angling disciplines require a different catapult and this guide will suggest good options for different fishing situations.

If you are in a rush and wish to skip straight to my recommended catapults, you can do so here…

What Makes A Good Fishing Catapult

There are some key fundamentals that make a good fishing catapult no matter what fishing discipline you choose. Some basic features to look for include the following…

Handle

This may sound obvious, but there are many catapults out there that just get this key basic wrong. To fire out freebies accurately, you must start with a solid base. The base on a fishing catapult is your grip. If there is too much movement when you pull the elastic back you won’t achieve accuracy.

The best fishing catapults allow for a solid and comfortable grip whether its indents in the plastic that fit your fingers or a rubberised handle to aid comfort and grip even in wet conditions.

Elastic

Depending on your tactics, elastics can differ in strength and elasticity. For example, if you are float fishing 20 yards outs, a thinner elastic with a lot of stretch will fire out small baits more accurately than a large catapult with a heavy elastic.

And to the contrary, if you are fireing out a number of large baits such as boilies at range, a thicker stronger elastic will be a lot more robust and accurate than a thinner elastic. So, it’s important to pick a fishing catapult with an elastic that suits the style of fishing you are conducting.

Cup or Pouch

Fishing catapults tend to come with either a cup or a pouch attached to them. A catapult with a cup is designed for smaller baits or just a small quantity of larger bait, whereas a pouch is for much larger baits in volume.

As a general rule of thumb, for small baits such as maggots or pellets or if you just need 2 or 3 boilies fired out at once, pick a catapult with a cup and for large baits such as balls of ground bait or for firing multiple boilies at once, a pouch should be used.

Width

The width of the arms on a decent fishing catapult should be balanced with the elastic and indeed the intended use of the catapult. A large catapult being used for large baits or ground bait should have a wide gap between the arms of the catapult to allow the heavy elastic and the large pouch or cup to follow through efficiently.

For smaller baits, the width of the arms doesn’t have to be as wide although there still needs to be sufficient clearance to allow for accuracy and to prevent your knuckles from taking a painful hit.

7 Best Fishing Catapults

The following 7 fishing catapult options have been tried and tested by myself as well as many anglers that all agree they are some of the best on the market today. I have split them down by angling discipline so you can pick which one suits your fishing circumstances the best.

Boilie Catapult

ESP Boilie Catapult

The ESP boilie catapult has been designed to help get boilies where you need them. The cone-shaped pouch, wide Y-shaped design and tough latex mean that you can get boilies out to around 40 metres very precisely. 

If you want to reach further than 40 metres, you can reduce the number of boilies, and get even further. The pouch capacity is really impressive too. If you’re using 18mm boilies, you can fill the pouch with 10 at a time. This means you’ll spend less time baiting up and more time enjoying life on the bank. 

When you’re fishing with boilies at range, you need equipment that is designed to help you bait the area quickly, efficiently and precisely, and this catapult does all of this and more. 

Key Features

• Wide gape pouch designed for boilies 
•  Tight grouping at long ranges
•  Cone-shaped pouch to aid in accuracy

Best Fishing Catapult For Maggots

Guru Catapult 

We’ve coined this ‘the best catapult for maggots’, but really, this Guru catapult has been so well designed that you can use it for almost all baits a match angler will use. It has an open basket that really makes it great for maggots, though. 

With one basket full of maggots, you can quickly spread bait onto a spot and be back in control of your rod, ready to strike. The thin elastic and open Y-shaped design allows for additional accuracy at any range, too, so you’ll always hit your mark. 

In high-pressure fishing situations, hitting the mark with bait can make all the difference. And this is why Guru developed this catapult for its match anglers. However, a pleasant day’s fishing isn’t complete unless the fish are biting. This catapult allows you to focus on creating a feeding frenzy on your swim and convert this into landed fish. 

Key Features

• Robust elastic 
•  Well-designed grip for added control
•  Precise at all ranges 

Catapults For Pellets

Preston Pellet Pult Catapult 

When pellet fishing, accuracy is really important. You may wish to have a spread of groundbait over your target area, but pellets, ideally, should be concentrated in the centre of your chosen area. That way, the fish need to come close to your bait to feed, and this is when you can catch them. 

Well, Preston has cleverly designed this pellet catapult to be highly accurate, no matter the distance you are fishing. The basket has been designed for pellets. It has a flat bottom, so the pellets can sit nicely in the basket. This also helps to keep the pellets tightly grouped in the air. 

The elastic is strong enough to cope with a basket full of pellets time and time again, so this won’t let you down in high-pressure fishing situations. There are also two sizes available. One catapult is perfectly suited for 4-8mm pellets, the other, 6-10mm pellets. So, no matter the size of pellet you fish with, these pellet catapults can help you accurately place your bait where you need it every time. 

Top Features

• Designed for pressured, commercial fishing waters.
•  Flat bottomed pouch designed for pellets   
• Two sizes available for different sized pellets

Drennan Waggler Range Pellet Pult Catapult

If the pellet catapult above doesn’t have the range for you, perhaps this range catapult by Drennan will. We all know that fishing with pellets at long range can be a bit challenging, especially when it comes to baiting up. Yet this can be really important for tactics such as the pellet waggler method.

Well, that’s why Drennan came up with this pellet catapult specially designed for longer ranges. The moulded pouch keeps pellets in a tight grouping no matter the range. They are also lightweight and durable. So, the catapult will keep working throughout the session. 

The elastic on this catapult is perfect for longer ranges too. It is a medium elastic that really allows you to get your bait out to where you’re fishing. Plus, this catapult also has twin swivels in the wide arms to keep everything tangle-free. Finally, the grip of the catapult allows you to hold it steady and always hit the target. 

Key Features

• Medium elastic to help make hitting longer distances easier.
• Lightweight for accuracy  
• Long pull cord for precision

Best Method Groundbait Catapult

Fox Rangemaster Powerguard Catapult 

Catapulting groundbait can be a very challenging part of fishing, especially if you are doing it often and require accuracy with tactics such as ‘the method’.

If you have to squeeze groundbait really tightly to catapult it, it can take ages to break down when it lands. If you don’t squeeze it too tightly, the ground bait will dissolve as it hits the water and spread over a much larger area than you expected. 

This fantastic catapult by Fox has been perfectly designed with groundbait in mind. It comes with a wide, open cup, which allows you to catapult balls of groundbait really easily. It also features an ergonomic handle that prevents wrist flexing and offers a lot of control. This aids in getting the groundbait where you want it every time and ensures that the handle is always comfortable, no matter how much you are baiting up during a session. 

Fox has created the ultimate groundbait catapult here, but that doesn’t mean this catapult is limited to only precisely flinging groundbait. There are additional pouches available for this catapult, so you can use this for any baits during a session. 

Key Features

• One-piece polymer frame 
•  Highly accurate in any baiting situation
•  Cleverly designed pouch ensures your groundbait won’t crumble on release.

A Great Fishing Catapult For Particles

Rod Hutchinson Large Particle Catapult

When you’re fishing with particles, you are usually using a lot to draw fish into your baited area. This means that using a small catapult can often result in a very tiring baiting session. 

This is where the large particle catapult from Rod Hutchinson can really come into its own. It has a large, cone-shaped pouch that doesn’t impede the particles as they leave it. The wide arms also don’t get in the way. This means that any particles that leave this pouch will land where you intend them to. 

As this catapult is designed for particles, it has to be comfortable too. Most anglers using particles use a lot of them, so the equipment you use to bait up has got to be comfortable and practical. Well, this catapult has a really nice handle that ensures comfort throughout even the longest baiting sessions. 

Top Features

• Hard-wearing latex
•  Easy to load and fire 
•  Delivers many baits accurately, but particularly particles.

A Good Multi-Purpose Fishing Catapult

Jag One Pult 

What if there was a catapult that you could quickly set up for every bait you had? A catapult that made fishing really simple in any situation you faced? Well, if you’re an angler that is always facing different situations on the bank and you need a catapult that can keep up with your varied fishing lifestyle, Jag has created it. 

This catapult is supplied with a medium elastic and medium pouch as standard. However, there are loads of pouches and elastic available for it. This allows you to customise the catapult for any fishing situation. There is a roller wheel and through pouch system to make changing the elastics and pouches even easier too. So, even with cold hands, you’ll quickly go from baiting up at range with boilies to close quarters baiting with maggots. 

The supplied pouch and elastic are a great all-rounder that will get you baiting up in no time. Still, if you ever want to expand what this catapult is capable of, you can do so easily. 

Best Features

• Mix and match the pouches and elastics for any combination 
•  Quick change features  
• Highly accurate at all ranges with all bait types.

Final Thoughts

In simplistic terms, the best fishing catapults allow you to fire out the required bait at the required distance accurately. To do this the fishing catapult needs to be well designed with the width of the arms, the elastic and the bait container all balancing nicely.

Hopefully, this guide has provided you with some clarity on the features to look out for as well as the type of fishing catapult you require if you are looking at purchasing one.

Many thanks for reading

Tight Lines!