Give 'em a pasting

Paste has never been something that I have used much until this year. I’d used it on the odd time whilst out barbel fishing a few years back but had never used it on carp. I began experimenting in the spring when I learnt that I was fishing a water that held crayfish this year – not a problem I’d encountered before.

They were particularly active in the spring as the water temperatures began to rise. Within three- to four-hours of positioning the rods and hookbaits you would reel in and the bait would have totally disappeared; the crays would have either worked it off by removing the Hair stop or just snipped it off with their sharp pincers. I had tried all the plastic shrink-wraps and meshing that were available but I was still receiving problems. The only other way was to go down the road of air-drying the bait out, which really I didn’t fancy doing. I want fresh bait, not dry, crusty boilies with no attraction. I then thought about using paste. 

My thinking was that by wrapping a small pinch of paste around the hookbait it would give it an extra 2mm skin. This would prolong the hookbait inside and potentially keep the crayfish at bay as they found the doughy paste harder to whittle down. Not only that, it would also make it very high attraction. With all pastes though, they will slowly start to breakdown in time; this can’t be helped but it can be prolonged.

First trial

At first, I tried it out with some standard Belachan paste. I tested it out over the course of a week’s overnighters and my theory worked, managing to keep my hookbaits which I fished hard to the bottom on for eight-hours and actually got a full night’s fishing in. This resulted in takes at first light, which were hit and miss before I added the paste to the rig.

So by adding the paste on my hookbait, I now had something that lasted a lot longer, giving me the opportunity to leave my rods on the spots for longer periods of time and knowing my hookbaits weren’t getting destroyed. I had no problem using the Belachan paste, but with me being me, I wanted to make it slightly different and add my edge onto it. 

‘Boilie dust’ is the base of paste for mine. I’ve been using the Pacific Tuna freezer bait which is quite soft in texture and generally if you break a freezer bait up, nine times out of ten you will be able to squeeze it back together. I then add a powdered additive, along with a little bit of water to get some more moisture into the mix again so it binds together nicely.
That, as a paste, would be great to use just as it is, but I wanted even more attraction. I then add a little Pacific Tuna glug and either the Tuna Extract or the Salmon Extract and a small amount of oil either hemp or salmon. The liquid foods then leak out, staying near the hookbait wrapped in the paste and the oils lift so there is something for the carp to home in on, standing out above the rest of the bottom baits out there. 

Rig changer

I’ve found that I haven’t had to change anything rig-wise, it works on most conventional bottom bait rigs. I have found that the combi rig presents itself best, as the paste is heavy and the fluorocarbon pushes the hookbait away from the lead. I also mention it’s heavy, and due to this weight it will aid hooking potential, dropping the hook a lot quicker, so it also has added advantages as well as just doing its original job.

There’s a lot of variation with the paste, you could go on forever changing the powered additive or liquid extract and even the base of it, even changing from boilie crumb over to groundbait – it’s down to you! The best way to do it is just make a bulk amount, then split this into small balls before sticking in the freezer and then removing it before each session like you would your normal bait.

This edge has put those extra fish on the bank for me, whether it’s just to protect that hookbait from crays or just added attraction. Whichever the case, it’s well worth looking at as it might just work for you. 

Bait bushcraft

How to make James's paste: not only ultra attractive, but it prevents crays too