QUICK QUESTIONS

PASTE has worked well at my local commercial all summer, but is it still effective at this time of year?

Darren Martins, Colchester

PASTE traditionally scores best in the hottest months of the year, but if you play with the consistency of it you can still get plenty of bites in autumn.

Make sure your paste is stiffer than you are used to. You’ll have to wait longer for bites, and a sloppy paste will fall off the hook in the meantime.

You can also add dampened micro pellets and hemp to your paste so it provides the one mouthful of food that the fish are craving. I HAVE started fishing for big perch on the pole but seem to be losing a lot of fish – what’s going wrong?

Wayne Thackeray, Shrewsbury

ONE of the most common mistakes anglers make when targeting big perch is to fish too light.

A big perch has a very bony mouth, and penetrating that with the hook can be tricky.

But by using a fairly heavy elastic and a big hook this can still be achieved, and you can land every fish you hook.

Use a Preston Innovations 12 or 14 Dura Hollo elastic and a medium-wire size 12 hook and your fortunes will soon be transformed.