Improve Your Coarse Fishing (UK)
Paste made easy – Marc Rodger
Paste has a reputation for being tricky to fish with. But Marc Rodger demonstrates this notoriety couldn’t be further from the truth
FISHING with paste is overlooked by a huge number of anglers. Everyone knows how effective the tactic can be, but there is a perception that it is among the most difficult skills to master. There are so many question marks over the approach and that leads to many quickly losing confidence before they’ve even begun. Am I using the right float? Is my bait the right consistency? Will the paste stay on the hook? These are just a few of the questions that rattle round anglers’ minds before they abandon the idea and try something else. But Marukyu and Mosella-backed Marc Rodger is determined to prove that the difficulty rating paste has acquired isn’t warranted. “If you break down every element of the tactic it is one of the simplest ways of fishing,” explained Marc. “Master a few basics and you’ll be putting big carp in the net in no time at all.”
Reading the rig
Baits such as corn, meat and maggots can stay on the hook for hours and you wouldn’t worry about whether they were still impaled. Paste is usually made from groundbait and this breaks down at a much quicker rate. But Marc has a simple trick that lets him know when the paste has melted off the hook. “I use a float with a long tip that is two different colours. I make sure that all of the top colour – usually red – is showing and as soon as the paste comes off the hook the float will lift up slightly and reveal the second colour. When that happens it is time to rebait.” Many paste fishing advocates don’t put any shot down the line and solely use the bait to cock the float. Marc believes that this is an error. “The float is obviously buoyant and if you don’t use any shot then the float will be constantly trying to rise up. This places extra pressure on the hook-hold around the paste and causes the hook to pull out of the paste quicker than is necessary.” To alleviate this problem spread three No.8 shot a few inches apart just above the hooklength. This removes the strain and makes sure that the hook stays in place for longer, with the bait then adding the additional weight to keep the float upright.
Tune the hookbait texture
Paste is a versatile hookbait and the power is in your hands to create a texture ideal for the session you’re fishing. Once your groundbait has been mixed, it should be formed into a ball and you can then pick off small pieces throughout the day each time you need a new hookbait. Having just one ball of paste on your sidetray can limit you. Marc always makes three balls which he can rotate between. “Each ball of paste is of a slightly different consistency – sloppy, standard and stiff. “As a simple rule of thumb, the softer the paste, the more bites you are going to get but you have to consider how long you are waiting for bites. “Sloppy is best when bagging and should be replaced every minute. Standard works a treat when catching at a steady rate and should be changed every two minutes, while a stiff hookbait is my choice when sport is slow and I will ship in and rebait every three minutes.”
How many fish are in the swim can change at any point throughout the day and this is why Marc has three textures on hand to enable him to swap when the pace he is catching at changes. All three consistencies are made using the same products, with a 50/50 blend of Marukyu EFG130 and Candy Skrunch making the concoction. How much water you add to the groundbaits will dictate the consistency. The less you add, the stiffer it will be and Marc will whip up three mixes and add varying amounts of water to achieve the different textures. He will also try and fish as close to the bank as he can, often fishing it either down the margins or around 7m out. “You will be rebaiting frequently so it is best to fish close to the bank to increase the amount of time you are actually fishing,” he stated.
How to avoid foul hooked fish
Carp can munch their way through huge quantities of bait at this time of year but you can keep them in your peg by feeding just a few quids worth of pellets. It is best to have just a handful of fish in your swim rather than a giant shoal as this will reduce the number of line bites and foulhooked fish you encounter. What you loosefeed and how often will control the number of fish in your swim. For this style of fishing, Marc uses 6mm pellets. “They make plenty of noise that the fish respond to and associate with food, but by trickling in just 30 of them every few minutes by hand you are minimising the amount of bait in the swim. “If you fed any more you would have too many fish in the swim.” Additional loosefeed is added to the peg each time your paste melts off the hook. “It is a fact that keeping it simple gets results in fishing and there is no reason why you can’t do just that when using paste this summer. Once you try it you’ll will realise that is nowhere near as difficult to fish as you first feared.”