Paste on the pole

[Andrew Turton]

Hi all, I fished a soft paste on the pole for the first time the other day and the results were astonishing. The lake i was fishing usually dies by midday when the sun is strong but using this technique kept the swim fizzing all day, which brings me to my question. I have never foul hooked so many fish in one session and found identifying true bites against line bites very hard, also I found myself striking into nothing or worse still making brief contact only to lose the fish almost immediately. I really enjoyed this style of fishing and wondered if any of you had experienced similar problems and could give me some tips.
Thanks for any answers.

 

[William Spencer]

are you fishing dead depth?ideally with paste you want to be fishing probably no more than an inch over depth.are the fish taking on the drop?try varying the depth of your rig.what fish where you catching as different fish bite differently.sometimes the float darting under to reappear instantly is one way of detecting a liner,or,that the fish is mouthing the bait on a high speed pass.a proper bite you can see develop.how is your float shotted?a good shotting pattern is a bulk of number eights with a number eight or ten dropper.try a preston pb4 float as i have found these really good for paste work.

 

[Andrew Turton]

Hi William, Yes I was fishing dead depth, more often than not the float would shoot under as soon as i put in but when I struck into these i couldn't hit anything, the main fish I was catching was crucians, and good ones too, also small commons tench and bream. I used a bulk of number eights about half way down but no dropper, the hook was a size 14 barbless. When you fish this method do you strike firmly to the side or just lift as usual. I had a great days fishing but I could have caught many more if i could have contacted with the fish. Thanks for your answer.

 

[Peter Bishop]

Andrew, use a big paste float up to 1 grm with no shot on the line at all. Set the float at dead depth as you would if plumming up and adjust by the millimetre until the long tip of the float shows when you have nothing but a lump of paste moulded around a large hook-at least size 10 barbless. When the paste disolves or falls off the float rises or lies flat so you know when to re-abait.
Make the paste as sloppy as you can keep on the hook-ship paste out using a pole cup if you can-and you often get a take as soon as the float settles.Strike upwards. Ignore any bobbles and dips, when it goes bang you'll see the elastic shoot out. The harder your paste Skimmers and Crucians will peck it away and give false and unhitable bites. Best paste can be made from mashed trout pellets but if banned use 4mm halibut pellets. The important thing is to keep feeding every 30 seconds. Do that and you'll catch big lumps regularly.

 

[Andrew Turton]

Thanks peter, that sounds like the answer, I will try this next time out.