BUOYANT PASTE
When the river is carrying more water and visibility is reduced, a paste bait becomes my first choice – the extra smell it gives off definitely gives the bait an edge.
Making a paste that is naturally quite buoyant is actually quite tricky, but a good idea is to feed with a normal paste and then use a buoyant paste hookbait.
This could be as simple as wrapping paste around a small pop-up boilie on a short hair, but the problem with this option is that it puts the hook even further from the chub’s mouth.
I prefer instead to glue a small piece of cork to the back of my hook and then mould enough paste around this to make a slow-sinking hookbait. This is not a job to do on the bank, so I make a batch of hooks up at home so that I just have to tie them on and mould the paste around them.
With trial and error you can get the size of the cork just right to balance a nugget of paste so that it only just sinks. I use enough bait to cover most of the hook, leaving the point exposed.
There are loads of paste options to choose from. Why not make up a batch of stinky cheesepaste by mixing equal amounts of grated Stilton and readymade pastry mix? The resulting paste has a nice soft consistency, but stays on the hook well and gets better the longer it stays in the bait bag.
I will also make up a few batches of boilie paste, using egg to bind the mix together. This helps to keep it on the hook. Of all the boilie ingredients, squid powder is definitely one of the most powerful chub attractors, so halfa-teaspoon of this stinky powder goes into any boilie mix that I use. A fine base mix that makes a sticky, but not lumpy paste is ideal. Unlike cheesepaste you must keep this bait in the freezer between trips to stop it going mouldy.