Depends whether you are talking pole fishing it on the commercials or using the stiffer stuff on rivers. I suspect people with more of an all-round river portfolio than I would fish it for chub in the winter or use paste wraps for barbel?
I sometimes use paste in the winter on a river when after Chub and Barbel to wrap around my baits.
I use it because; as it slowly dissolves in the current it emits a nice flavour trail downstream leading right up to my baited hook.
However when it's really cold I would rather use baits with the wriggle factor like maggots or worms which can tease the fish into feeding even while they are trying to conserve their energy.
During the cooler weather I will still use paste but to ensure that the flavours are not locked into bait by the cold water I’ll add lecithin granules to fishmeal based pastes. I also use alcohol (usually vodka) for the same reason.
Jerry
PS Vodka is probably the better alternative on a cold winter’s day, you can always drink the rest then you won’t give s sh1t if you blank or not.