Paste is out of fashion, which is exactly why it is worth writing about. It is cheap, you make it yourself, and in cold water it does something no manufactured bait does as well: it leaks attraction continuously from the moment it hits the bottom.
Why paste works when other baits do not
A boilie is designed to be tough, which means it releases attraction slowly. That is a feature in warm water where fish are moving and will find it. In cold water, when fish move very little, you need the bait to reach the fish rather than waiting for the fish to reach the bait.
Paste breaks down. It clouds, it softens, it puts a scent trail downstream, and it does all of that within minutes rather than hours. On a cold river in January that is the difference between a bite and a blank.
Cheesepaste
The classic, mostly used for chub and barbel. Grated strong cheese worked into breadcrumb or bread with a little water until you get a firm, pliable lump.
The mistake almost everyone makes is making it too soft. In pacy water a soft paste is gone in ninety seconds and you are feeding rather than fishing. It should be firm enough to survive a cast and hold for several minutes on the bottom. Add breadcrumb until it is stiffer than you think it needs to be.
Danish blue and strong cheddar both work. The stronger the better in cold water.
Bread paste
Stale bread with the crusts removed, dampened and kneaded until smooth. It is the softest of the pastes and it suits still water and slow rivers where it will not wash away.
Excellent for roach, chub and carp. Almost free.
Meat paste
Luncheon meat mashed and worked with breadcrumb. Combines the attraction of meat with the breakdown of paste, and it is very good for barbel and chub in coloured summer water.
Wrapping paste round a boilie
The technique that bridges old and new, and the one I use most. A boilie on the hair with a skin of matching paste moulded round it gives you the immediate attraction of paste and the durability of a boilie once the paste has gone.
You get the best of both, and if a fish arrives in the first twenty minutes it finds a bait leaking attraction hard. If nothing turns up for three hours you still have a proper hookbait sitting there. See the boilies guide.
Presentation
Paste needs a hook with the point clear or you will miss bites. Mould it round the shank and leave the point and barb proud rather than burying them, which feels wrong and hooks far more fish.
Cast gently. A paste bait launched at full power arrives at the far bank as a bare hook.
For firmer pastes a hair rig with a small mesh or a bait band underneath gives the paste something to grip, which lets you fish it at range without losing it in flight.
Worth the effort
Making paste takes ten minutes at the kitchen table and costs almost nothing. On a cold winter session for chub or barbel it is the bait I would take ahead of anything in a packet, and the fact that so few anglers now use it is a small edge on pressured water.
Dan Whitfield started fishing aged seven on the canal at the end of his road and never really stopped. He spent his twenties and thirties on the match circuit – club level rather than national – before deciding he’d rather catch one decent fish than a net of small ones.
These days he mostly fishes the River Trent for barbel (personal best 14lb 2oz), the Oxford Canal for roach and skimmers in winter, and the occasional gravel pit when tench are spawning and the surface fishing is too good to miss. He’s a former club secretary and still helps with junior coaching at his local angling club in Nottingham.
At The River Bend, Dan writes the coarse species guides, river fishing technique articles, and the match and pole content.
Covers: Barbel, bream, roach, tench, carp (coarse context), river fishing, canal fishing, feeder, float, match/pole