BAIT CLINIC Make a super sticky paste bait
Stiffen up your hookbaits for a summer of hauling
ITS SOFT nature allows the attraction to flood out, drawing fish into the swim and keeping them looking for food.
A thumbnail-sized piece of paste is highly selective at picking out bigger fish, but paste can be tricky to use, especially on a running line or the leger.
Even on the pole, it can be difficult to ship out and often a pole pot is the only way to keep the bait on the hook.
TOUGHEN IT UP
Fortunately, you don’t need to use a super-soft paste at this time of the year. By adding just a small amount of wheat gluten to your favourite groundbait or soft paste mix it’s possible to adjust the ‘stringiness’ of the bait, giving you the perfect bait for summer carp.
Wheat gluten creates stretchy strings in the core of the paste, helping to bind it together. The more you add, the stringier and tougher the bait becomes. I find around three tablespoonfuls is enough to turn most groundbaits into a great paste.
LITTLE TRICKS
A good tip when paste fishing is to use a big hook. This gives the bait more purchase and will help it stay in place. A size 12 hook is a good starting point.
It also pays not to make the paste too stiff, as this can make it difficult to strike off the hook, resulting in missed bites. Normally, I feed just by striking off the piece of paste when I want to recast, although you can loosefeed small pieces of paste if you want to up the amount.
Stringy paste will dry out faster than normal paste, especially on warm days, so store it in an airtight plastic bag or bait tub and only remove what you need for the next 30 minutes’ fishing.
Paste fishing might have a reputation of being quite tricky to master, but starting off with a stringy bait makes it much easier.
Over time you can rein in the amount of wheat gluten you add to the mix to make it softer as your technique improves.