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Dear Lads, and maybe the odd few Lasses,

I've been using this method for about ten years now and in my opinion, it out scores all methods for long term use associated with fish on the bank. Especially at this time of the year when we begin to approach the autumn and winter.

Yes I know, pellet is supposed to be the going hook bait but it’s not for me as I want something that stays on the hook, can last out there on the bottom without either melting or picked at by invertebrates or small fish as it begins to melt. So for me, even though it will go down like a lead brick in some circles, the boillee in whatever shape or size should form the foundation for the paste "wrap around". The idea is the boilee lasts a lot longer and can be recast time and again with a coating of fresh slow melting paste.

Length of hair? I use exactly the same length of hair for paste wraps as I would for bait fished without it. Basically about 2-3ml from bait to bend of hook simply because I want my hook very close to the bait when a fish picks it up with its over-slung mouth. This aspect is "VERY" important especially as the water temperature goes down which coincides with a downturn in the barbel’s metabolism.

So picture your boilee on the hair what to do next? Taking it that you are using say a 14ml bait ok.

Take a piece of paste about the size of a hazelnut and squash it out flat to the size of say a 50p piece between your thumb and finger. Place the boilee in the centre of this flattened out paste and begin to wrap it up around the boilee. You will notice you have some surplus paste once the bait is covered and that’s ok because you want this surplus. Begin then to mould this surplus up the hook shank almost to the hooks eye. This is taking into account you are using a size 6. Mould the paste so just the hook point, barb, and say the length below that just going into the bend and you have it about right.

So looking at the finished preparation the hook point, barb and a little bit below that will be sticking out of the side of the paste wrap. If you have done all this correctly try dropping the finished bait in a bucket of water or the river margin if it’s shallow. Once dropped in your hook point should be facing upwards off the river bed or lying at right angles to it but never facing directly down on the river bed itself. The neat little side effect trick of this method is it will protect your chemically sharpened hook until a fish picks it up!

What type of paste?

You need to be looking at a paste that will take a good while to melt once in water. My pastes will not melt entirely for at least a couple of hours during the summer and a lot longer than that as the water temperature goes down. Fast melting pastes are a complete waste of time so you need to experiment with any type either purchased or made until you are happy they will last once out in the river. Also, and this is again "VERY" important, it has to be water soluble "NOT" oil based like most pellets are. Once the paste begins to melt you want the melting residue to waft off down river along the bottom thus sending a signal to bottom dwelling fish your bait is ahead of them up stream? An oil based paste or pellets for that matter release their oil sending the signal up towards the surface which in our case is over the fish’s heads lying down stream of our melting paste!! So as we approach the autumn and winter always go for a water soluble type paste. The ones I use which I always make myself are;

Liver, Spiced Liver, Strong Cheese and Nature Identical which contains various invertebrate concentrated powers. These pastes all contain natural ingredients and are very powerful in terms of smell and taste. They are however pretty complex in their make up and considering I buy some of the more exotic ingredients in bulk there’s not much point in going over these in detail here. However, a really good paste can be made up with simple ingredients ready available and fairly cheap. Here’s one that will catch you loads of fish right throughout the season.

Take one pound of fish pellets. It doesn’t matter what type or how much oil content they have because I’ll tell you how to neutralise the oil in a moment. Place these pellets in an old towel and form a bag shape around the pellets. Now crush the pellets within the towel. Gently use a hammer of stout piece of wood to do this. “DON’T SOAK TO SOFTEN” but crush or grind them in a good blender/grinder. To this powder now add 3ozs of either “Lambs Milk Powder or Calf Rearing Powder” These are very easily obtainable via agricultural suppliers in 10-15 kilo bags so why not go in with a couple of mates and share a small bag? Thoroughly mix the 3oz of milk powder in with the pellet powder. Powdered milk of the human type is not as good and will make the paste melt at a more rapid rate so be warned!

Now take say 3-4 four good sized eggs and beat until thoroughly mixed. Add any flavour you might want but go easy on the dosage because the pellets are strong enough already. 2-4 mils are easy enough. Personally I wouldn’t use a flavour at all. To neutralise or emulsify the pellet oil content simple add 25mil of “condensed milk” to the beaten eggs and whisk in. This condensed milk is the very thick sweet stuff and “NOT” the “carnation” type evaporated milk. Condensed milk is a natural oil emulsifier.

Mix the blended powder in with the eggs until you have a dough very similar to plastercene almost a bit on the stiff side but still pliable. Get your hands in to do the mixing once it becomes hard going with a spoon! At this stage I would add a small jar of salmon paste and a good squirt of concentrated Anchovy paste that’s available in any supermarket. These will add a “flavour zing” to your paste that barbel will home in on.

So there you have it, an easy to make water soluble paste that will catch barbel anywhere.

Regards,

Lee.

Cheers Jon,

Not so sure some will agree however when they read my post on the cane rods thread.

Regards,

Lee.

Dear Guy,

I love my barbel fishing like everyone else on here I should think, but I would draw a distinct line between the "spiritual" needs of fish and my own.

Mind you, I remember a well known tackle dealer selling spirit type flavours for carp anglers a while back. I got slightly confused with the litre bottle of "whiskey flavour" I purchased especially when I got half way down the bottle because it only made my ears burn and didn't get me drunk at all!!

Regards,

Lee.