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SHAUN HARRISON BAIT QUEST Bait Quest Shaun Harrison

PASTE... THE FINAL FRONTIER Shaun Harrison needs no introduction, he’s one of the quickest minds in carp fi shing and has a depth of knowledge about bait that is second to none. This month Shaun looks in detail at what can be achieved with paste!

III|III Paste – have you got the balls? hink of a bait that can be any size, any What Is Paste? II|I shape, any colour, any flavour, floating, For the purpose of this article, each time MAX 0gms T sinking, soft, skinned, air-dried, coated, I refer to paste I am relating to the ball of impregnated, and can be used with the hook dough-like substance created during boilie- buried inside it so that it can be presented on making. This is the soft paste before it is the top of soft weed and silt! Sounds great, actually rolled out into separate baits and doesn’t it? So, why is it that I see so few anglers boiled. Paste baits can be made in different carrying paste, let alone using it? I, for one, ways, using water, or any other liquid come to would feel lost without a couple of tubs of that. Again, for the purpose of this article, I paste in my pack. There are so many uses for am referring to pastes made from boilie base it other than the obvious one, as an alternative mix ingredients, additives and eggs. The few | hookbait to the more commonly used boilies, people I do see using paste simply use it as a I I particles and pellet. For many years I was a soft alternative to a boilie. It does, however, I I | little blinkered into thinking that I could offer many advantages to the standard hard- I I only get away with using paste baits during skinned boiled bait. The whole idea of the I I | the colder winter months when nuisance fish boilie was to make it difficult for small I I become less of a problem. Then again, I only nuisance fish to eat the baits. By boiling

I I saw paste as a soft mouldable bit of unboiled the paste a skin forms on the outside of the |

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I boilie mix. So, what other variations does paste bait. If you continue to boil the bait it will I

16 I present, or what else can we do with paste? become hard all the way through as the egg |

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016_Paste.indd 2 20/12/06 22:41:59 |I 40gms II 700ml I| II I I Bait Quest Shaun Harrison What’s your fl avour?

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a ball of paste to form a boilie destroys many paste on the Hair. For years I used to tie a of the additives that are added to the mix pre- plastic bead or a button onto the Hair Rig boiling. Not only this, but some of the more then mould the paste around this. It was a subtle attractors that carp find so appealing method that worked well for so long, simply are often trapped behind a sealed skin. With giving the paste something to grip and mould standard paste baits, all those expensive bits around. These days I prefer to use a small and bobs that went into the mix remain boilie on the Hair and mould my bait around in the mix and are free to slowly leak out this. If the nuisance fish do strip the boilie into water surrounding the bait. The mere of paste, at least I still have a bait in place. fact that the bait hasn’t been cooked keeps Having said that, I have now caught so many everything more soluble. A piece of paste has carp on artificial baits I would400ml probably still so much more pulling power than any boiled have caught on a plastic bead or button. Who 400m bait. However, there is a drawback – small knows – I probably have! nuisance fish will peck away at the bait until Just for the sake of keeping things it is small enough to be consumed. This non-boilie-related I tend to offer paste in isn’t always a bad thing. There is no better different shapes and sizes. Some large bits, feed stimulant I am aware of than other some small, some round, and some flat. I fish actually feeding, the tiny puffs of cloud don’t want the carp to truffle up everything emitting from a paste bait being harassed by with the same amount of suck. By mixing Nailed on the paste! nuisance fish is as good a feeding gong as any sizes and shapes there is less chance of the I know. So yes, fishing with paste can be an carp detecting any extra resistance from the (and some of the other ingredients) start to absolute pain with smaller fish present, but weight of a hook and hooklink. For what it cook and stiffen up, resulting in a hard bait. there are always a few dodges you can employ. is worth, when boilie fishing I also bait with All very basic stuff I know, but take a step different-sized baits for the300ml same reason. If back and re-read what Attraction I can get away with fishing paste over paste, 300m I have just written. There is no better The simplest and this would be my preferred method of attack. Do you really suffer feed stimulant I am easiest way is to After all, it isn’t completely removed from from nuisance fish reverse the situation my years of work in rehydrating boilies back problems everywhere aware of than other and feed with paste, to paste form. you fish? Do you use fish actually feeding, but fish with a boilie Another basic paste method I employ conventional boilies on the Hair amongst is rolling the bait as you would in boilie- simply because that the tiny puffs of cloud the paste. The boilie making, and then simply air-drying it. This is what you have used “emitting from a paste will be sampled but ends up as a hard bait that will give a slower for years? Do you use quickly neglected in leak-off of flavour. boilies because they are bait being harassed favour of all those So yes, I know it is hard to believe, but simply very convenient by nuisance fish is as tasty little morsels the paste baits are actually very attractive to carp and fire out a long nuisance fish can peck and offer advantages that200ml you don’t get with a way? Well, if one of the good a feeding gong away at. This way you conventional boilie. 200ml three aforementioned have the full benefit questions has stirred as any I know of paste attraction, Clever Edges anything then it may be worth taking a look but with a boilie on the Hair, which should Th ere is so much more to paste, so much more at a few alternative approaches I use. last until your bait has been wiped out. It is you can do with it. Up to this point I have So, let’s start off with the most basic form then that the nuisance fish may just start to listed the obvious. Now let us look at a few of paste fishing – using paste on the Hair persevere and play blow football with your little dodges where paste can help you put a instead of a more conventional boilie. This hookbait.” During the colder winter months, few extra fi sh on the bank. One thing paste is offers many advantages over the standard small nuisance species are less of a problem incredibly useful for is disguising your hookbait hard, dry boilie. The simple process of boiling and you may well be able to get away with from waterfowl, as well as other anglers. 17

100ml 016_Paste.indd 3 20/12/06100 22:42:13 l I| II |I I 220gms II I SHAUN HARRISON | Shaun’s Fruity Trifl e Paste Mix BAIT QUEST gms Ingredients: 1 2 * 14oz Base Mix (Shaun has used his Yellow Birdy Base Mix, but he wouldn’t tell us what

was in it!) Both the enhancer and stimulator s

Bait Quest Shaun Harrison are already blended into the base mix. Any good quality base will do for paste making. However, Shaun’s tip for winter paste is 0gms

The fi rst job is to weigh out the Next up is to crack three eggs into

to avoid Fishmeal mixes. Fishmeal in the |

14oz of base mix accurately on a a clean mixing bowl. Shaun wears I I

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set of quality scales. gloves to stop any contamination. I 170gms

summer, Birdfood in the winter. |

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* Three eggs I 1 I 3 4 |

* 1.5ml Sweetener I * 3ml Fruit Flavour * 3ml Dairy Flavour * 3 Drops Fruit Oil Shaun adds in the Fruit Flavour Again, Shaun uses a pipette to * Eighth of a teaspoon of Colour using a pipette at a rate of 3ml for add in the Dairy Flavour, again at the three eggs. a rate of 3ml.

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Three drops of Essential Fruit Oil Now it is time to add an eighth of All the liquids, eggs and powder Now Shaun adds two thirds of the are added to maintain a constant a teaspoon of red-powdered colour colouring are now mixed together measured base mix into the liquid, fl avour in the paste. to the liquids and eggs. thoroughly with a fork. keeping a little back.

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The base mix is slowly mixed into Now the remaining dry mix The fi nished paste should be To keep the paste fresh until you the liquids, again using the fork to is added to help soak up any slightly stiff but tacky, and should need to use it, label it and then bind it all together. remaining liquid. still hold together. simply freeze it down.

A stimulator works alongside the Particularly on busy waters it can become a from quite a distance, therefore from many sweetener to round off the taste. problem keeping little tricks up your sleeve swims away – not when it is covered in dark I to allow yourself long enough to actually I paste it can’t! The aforementioned situation I | benefit from whatever little edge you may can also be reversed with a thin coating of I I have found. Bright hookbaits work incredibly bright paste around a dark hookbait. The I I | well for periods of time, and then just as clever use of PVA as a Hair stop should I I quickly stop working. This is usually because release the bait during the fight so it isn’t I I everyone else soon jumps on the bandwagon. hanging there in full view when you come |

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I I mean, isn’t it just a little bit obvious when to net a fish. Crafty? Me? Well, sometimes I

18 I you cast out a fluorescent bait? It can be seen you need to be. I had two brilliant summers |

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016_Paste.indd 4 20/12/06 22:42:25 |I 40gms II 700ml I| II s I I | Bait Quest Shaun Harrison I The colour is really down to ons gravel.I Similarly, I Have you ever a pale-colouredI bait personal choice but red for | that mightI blend into some reason has provided I considered baiting up I gravel willI stand out Shaun with some good results. | against0gms I silt. By carrying with Snowman baits? Only a small amount is needed, I both lightI and dark an eighth of a teaspoon. I Carp love them and |

paste aroundI with you I

it is a simpleI case of you don’t need kilos

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| moulding0gms I a little paste

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aroundI the boilie and

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that, orI dropping it

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I I an alternative-looking in boiling water for a short while to skin gms bait. For years I have them. I could have simply rolled some 22mm

approached my fishing balls of paste but I needed to conserve the

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I with the smallest bit of paste I had. Besides, my 18mm Smokey

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I ” I I truly believing that glug as the 22mm, so I reasoned the food carp prefer to eat signals given off would be closer500ml by coating small items. For a the glugged inner baits rather than offering 50 long while this chain unglugged 22mm baits. Three carp later and of thought gave me a my confidence was still well and truly intact. massive edge, as most Similarly, small baits or alternatively-shaped anglers couldn’t be baits can be produced on a whim. I have bothered to produce always done well fishing two barrel-shaped tiny baits. It was boilies in a ‘T,’ or hammer-head fashion. rare for me to use Fished this way around, the carp seem to hookbaits larger have a bit of an imbalance problem when it than my favourite enters the mouth on a longish Hair. They 10mm. However, do seem to have difficulties ejecting these. small baits are used Very often a subtle change of hookbait shape more and more these days is all that is needed to get those bobbins on the Mangrove fishing with fluorescent and it occurred to me that it was rare to moving again. Talking of altering400ml the baits 400m bits of plastic over a conventional boilie. see anyone using larger than 18/20mm on and making them difficult to eject, just start Fortunately I got away with it for a couple of the waters I was fishing. So, for the start of putting your head into gear with long barrel- years before anyone saw what I was doing. I this past summer I decided to start using shaped baits weighted at one end only. With know only too well that the action wouldn’t 22mm baits everywhere. As expected, the paste you can get your bait behaving just have carried on as long as it did if everyone bobbins were flying again. Carp fishing can how you want it and you don’t have to mess had been using the same. Everyone needs a be so simple at times as long as you make an around inserting lead and polystyrene balls, little trick up their sleeve. Edges are hard to effort to be different and avoid following etc. A standard boilie and a pop-up trimmed gain these days. trends. During one memorable Mangrove down, then moulded inside a coating of session this last summer I had run out of paste, can make for some rather strange- Change The Look the 22mm hookbaits on which I had been behaving baits. Have you ever considered Waterfowl in particular can become a catching. Again, the paste saved the day. It baiting up with Snowman baits? Carp love nightmare picking up certain hookbaits. A was a simple matter of turning my 18mm them and you don’t need kilos of the things. dark bait that blends into a silt background hookbaits into 22mm baits simply by rolling They are different enough300ml to create interest will stand out like the proverbial sore thumb the paste around them then dropping them and investigation from the carp. 300m Sweeteners take any bitter edge of any fl avours you have used in the bait. The sweetener is added at a rate of 1.5ml to the three-egg mix.

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The Blended Fruit fl avour is put into a bait to provide an initial leak off at a steady rate. This is added at a rate of 3ml to the three-egg mix. 19

100ml 016_Paste.indd 5 20/12/06100 22:44:22 l I| II |I II 220gms There’s nothing too complicated about I SHAUN HARRISON this rig, in fact it’s the rig that Shaun uses Shaun’s Paste Rig for all his carp fi shing. Basically it’s a BAIT QUEST combi-rig, but with a slight difference. gms

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Onto an Ashima C310 Size 6 hook Shaun The supple part of Shaun’s rig has been created The Dyneema braid is fused to the 25lb I

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whips on a fi ne Hair. The Hair is actually a with a Knotless Knot length of Dyneema braid. Maxima boom using the knot shown above, | short length of whipping silk. This is then tied to a stiff boom. this creates the combi-link. I

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Shaun is adamant that the hook must be very A 10mm yellow bead is threaded onto the Hair The paste hookbait is moulded between sharp and also clear of any coating. He uses and trapped in place with a wide Hair stop. thumb and fi ngers around the bead so that it a fi le to achieve this. This gives the paste something to grip onto. completely covers it.

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II|IIII|III MAX 0gms This should give you an idea of the size of A standard bottom bait can also be For something different a pop-up could also paste bait that Shaun prefers to use. Note the encapsulated in a paste wrap to make the be wrapped in paste, providing a slow leak distance between bait and hook. presentation slightly different. off for attraction. I| III I| As I keep saying, it is all about offering the fish a different scenario.

Remember We must remember that carp live in a watery environment. Everything they eat in the wild is wet. Sometimes they have a crunchy outer, but in the middle the food is very soft indeed. Boilies are dry in the middle for a considerable period of time after being introduced into the water. The harder the baits, the longer they remain dry. It is little wonder that on many waters these days it is Baits out in winter time. unusual to catch within hours of arriving.

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Another big ‘un falls to the power of the paste.

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boilies, be it as a result of flavour-release rate, Carp like soft, wet food softness of bait, or whatever else. You will get and appear to accept action far quicker on paste-type baits than you will on hard, dry boilies. and eat it far more quickly than hard dry 50/50 or Quality Food Base Mixes I have, in the past, seen written the suggestion boilies, be it as a result that the cheap 50/50 flavour carrier-type base “of fl avour-release rate, mixes are perfect for paste fishing. By 50/50 mix I am referring to baits made up from softness of bait, or cheap, low food value ingredients, such as 400ml various flours and semolina. Now don’t get me 400m whatever else wrong, ingredients don’t have to be expensive to be effective. We must look at what the A classic example of this can be seen by my ingredients do, rather than the cost of them. I exploits on the Mangrove the first year I personally shy right away from simple flavour- fished it. I never had a fish the first night carrier base mixes. It can be argued that this until I started to use rehydrated boilies,” type of mix will be very soft and smooth and which were, in effect, a boilie which had been release the flavours very quickly, thus making in soak for a couple of days – resembling for instant attraction. Now the theory sounds a bait which had been on the bottom for a good until you take a step back and think couple of days. Not only did I start catching about it. Is instant attraction really what we carp the first night, I also started to catch the want to achieve? There is a difference between odd one whilst still setting up the other rods! instant attraction and quick attraction. On 300ml The point I am trying to put across is that most of the waters I fish the carp quickly 300m carp like soft, wet food and appear to accept vacate the area once a lead has gone crashing and eat it far more quickly than hard dry through the surface. So, the bait is in the swim.

Check out the size of the mouth and think again about the size of your bait.

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SHAUN HARRISON BAIT QUEST Bait Quest Shaun Harrison

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Back you go, the paste

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016_Paste.indd 8 20/12/06 22:46:19 | I 700ml Bait Quest Shaun Harrison Lots of flavour and stimulators are oozing Paste... not just for small carp. out into the water, quickly spreading around the area the carp have just vacated. Great! Take it to the next stage where most of the soluble ingredients have escaped from the bait and have dispersed into a large area of water. They have now become virtually undetectable and the carp are back in the area. Mmm. Not ideal, but a carp has miraculously found a few pieces of paste and decided 6 to drop down and have a munch. One piece taken and hardly any taste. It may try another piece, but soon it moves on looking for something a little more palatable. Put into easy to understand human terms, it is like someone trying to make a living selling plain unflavoured cooked pasta at the side of an Indian From the moment a high food value-type bait enters the water, 50 to the moment it totally breaks down, it is still “recognisable as food. The profi le of a bit of fl our and egg with all its original attractive- baits are left undisturbed for long enough, disappeared doesn’t offer a great deal of and the majority of the attractor labels appeal to anything. smelling labels having have all escaped the bait, you then have the disappeared doesn’t carefully chosen nutritious base ingredients I will sign off now, hoping to have starting to emit tiny food signals from put a few ideas into your head.400ml Boilies 400m offer a great deal of the soft paste left behind. This is where are incredibly useful carp-catching aids appeal to anything the quality food ingredients really come but are not the be-all and end-all of into their own. No longer do you have a carp fishing. There are many times when restaurant (or a chip shop if you still totally unappetising piece of unflavoured paste will be more useful, or the fish prefer old money). The piece of pasta to offer someone for a meal, you still will want particles. Similarly, pellets unflavoured pasta is what you have a proper tasty food morsel. From the will undoubtedly have their day, as will are offering when there moment a high food value-type bait enters maggots, as will floating baits. The only is a whole ”world of the water, to the moment it totally breaks thing we can definitely be sure about is the interesting tastes down, it is still recognisable as food. The angler who can adapt and not rely upon out there. So, profile of a bit of flour and egg with all its one method of fishing to catch his/her fish you will have original attractive-smelling labels having will undoubtedly catch many more. guessed I don’t rate highly soluble 300m flavour-carrier NEXT bases that much for paste fishing. Everything is speeded up; MONTH... it’s so much quicker when a seal isn’t put around the bait. Next month I will look at Quality Food winter bait choice; what to The clever use of quality food ingredients, look for and what to avoid stimulators, and flavours, and a little bit in a bait. Just because of thought when first putting the bait together, can really pay dividends. Let’s one particular bait may be keep things simple and revisit the scenario a very good bait during 200ml mentioned in the last section. The lead the long warm summer has crashed through the surface and the carp have departed. Immediately the most months certainly doesn’t soluble of the liquids you had put into the mean it will be anywhere bait will start to leak out, then some of the thicker ingredients will start to ooze, near as attractive in the and the more soluble powders will start colder water. Until then, to give a tiny clouding effect as the bait best fi shes. starts its slow breakdown process. If the 23

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