Improve Your Coarse Fishing (UK)
Don’t be hasty - it’s time to get pasty!
Don’t be too quick to dismiss paste. Follow Robbie Taylor’s beginners guide to this deadly hookbait
A HUGE proportion of anglers turn their backs on the idea of paste fishing.
It is often regarded as a complex approach, with bait preparation and rig dynamics just two of the elements that differ significantly from other styles of pole fishing.
But Robbie Taylor reckons you have nothing to be worried about and that using paste needn’t be as problematic as you may fear it to be.
The Guru and Mainline Match- backed star has worked on a simplified way of working with the bait and says that following a few basic guidelines will help you use it with great success too.
“Paste has a reputation of being a really complex bait to use but that couldn’t be any further from the truth,” explains Robbie.
“Pay a little attention to how you make it and how you set up your rigs and you’ll soon be fooling some of the biggest carp in your favourite lake.”
Pick your consistency
Paste can be mixed to a consistency that suits the scenario you face. The amount of water you add to the blend will ultimately decide how sloppy or stiff it will become.
But how much water you need to add is often a source of confusion.
“I have three different consistencies I rely on,” reveals Robbie.
“Sloppy works a treat in up to 3ft of water. Anything deeper than that and it would come off the hook as it sinks so I up it to a medium. This will work in pretty much any depth. Stiff is my other option but I only use this as tiny pieces if I am fishing for silverfish or F1s.
“A piece of paste that size needs to be stiff otherwise it would evaporate quickly. Use something remotely wet on the small hook size required for these species and it’s never going to stay on.”
Regardless of the consistency of paste he is using, he places it in a cup on the end of his top kit after moulding it around the hook. It is then dropped in once he has shipped out to the target zone to prevent the paste from dragging off the hook on the way out.
In order to make sure he gets the perfect consistency, Robbie uses Mainline Match Pure Pellet Paste. It is a simple case of adding the contents to a bait box and then using the empty tub to measure the correct amount of water for your desired end result.
Reading the rig
Working out when the paste has melted off the hook is another issue that puts people off using it as a bait. Such uncertainty leads to anglers spending more time shipping in unnecessarily than actually fishing.
Again, Robbie has a set- up that makes everything very simple.
“Around 90 per cent of the weight required to cock the float is made up of the hookbait.
“As soon as that comes off, the float will lie pretty much flat and that is when you need to ship in and rebait.”
A couple of small shot are placed directly under the float and these help reduce the buoyancy. If they weren’t in place, the float would be constantly trying to ride up, increasing the likelihood of the hook being pulled out of the paste.
The rest of the rig is geared towards big fish and Robbie uses purple Daiwa Hydrolastic to 0.21mm mainline and a ready- tied 0.19mm hooklength to a size 10 hook.
Feeding the swim
A couple of baits are all you need to feed when fishing paste.
When targeting open water, 6mm pellets are ideal. They can be fed by hand to top up a swim on the short pole, with a dozen going in every few minutes. Resist the temptation of feeding more regularly as this may tempt the fish to come and feed off the deck.
When it comes to the margins, a nugget of groundbait alongside your hookbait can be a deadly offering.
“Whether it’s pellets or groundbait I go with, I’ll always feed some at the same time as when I cup in my paste.
“It helps concentrate the fish exactly where I want them and leads to a shorter wait for a bite.”
Robbie’s favourite blend is a 50/ 50 mix of Mainline Match Supreme Green and Margin Mix.
Monk magic
One of the venues that Robbie has visited to help master his paste fishing is Kent’s Monk Lakes.
Lake One set the scene for his demo in front of the IYCF cameras and he set up to target swims down his left- hand edge and at 5m.
A small quantity of 6mm pellets went in short to prime it for later, with a nugget of groundbait going in alongside his paste hookbait fed down the margins.
The sloppy paste would be used down the edge, with the medium more suitable in front.
It didn’t take long for fish to move in, with the float dipping and riding out of the water slightly.
“I don’t strike unless I feel confident that a fish has mouthed the bait. It’s definitely better to strike slightly late that too early.”
When he did get a bite it was obvious as the float thundered under at a rate of knots.
Striking at anything other than that led to either nothing being on the end or a foul- hooker.
In four hours action both swims produced the goods, with over 100lb of carp going in the net, the pick of a bunch a giant 16lb mirror.
The session had shown just how simple paste fishing could be. The hookbait stayed on the hook for a lot longer than you’d expect and when it had come off, the float almost lay flat.
“Paste fishing is no more complicated than any other tactic. Master the basics and it’ll help you catch some very big carp this month,” concluded Robbie.