chinese-paste

Fishing the Chinese Paste UK style!

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I have been experimenting for some time with Chinese paste mixes but before I go further I have to explain that the way paste is fished in China is different from over in the UK. Big differences include using two hooks, having a firmer paste that allows casting, plumbing up using the paste as a plummet plus more. I am going to China later on this year and will do a write up of paste fishing there.

So firstly the paste, if you think we have a wide range of groundbaits then think the same for paste but more so. Paste for varying speeds of break down, for different species(tilapia, carp, black carp, sea fish, crucians, bream…), different flavours within each species, you get the idea! I have stuck to a limited range and experimented within that narrow selection. The paste I have available currently …

As you can see the packets are all in Mandarin so the diagram at the back is helpful as a starting point. Anyway let me show you it in practice. The venue is Crookwood Lake on the Devizes ticket peg 23.

Once I got my box set up I began on the paste preparation.

Left to right, top to bottom – main bulk paste; second paste; mixed in ratio 70/30%; two full pole pots of water added and stirred in then left while I sorted out the rest of my kit. Mix after 15 minutes: Jellyfish powder, this forms a stringy texture to the paste; Jellyfish powder added/sprinkled on; paste after quick mixing and kneading.

In China they use very long floats for paste fishing with rolled lead strip making a form of olivette, the lead strip is trimmed to get the weight correct so the float cocks just at the top of the body, the paste then acts as the weight for the long antenna.

I tend to try and adapt the paste to UK style venues so use two basic rigs- the float used can change but the shotting is the same. First a bulk with one dropper, the second just the bulk.

You will notice the relatively small hook by UK standards for the paste – a 16. Partly because Crookwood is a true mixed fishery so I wanted to see what I could catch on a 16 rather than a 10 or 12 which is usual for paste when it is used mainly for carp. Bait size was roughly a small walnut of paste, feeding a few 4mm pellets in the toss-pot with the paste in the area marked by the lillies.

I began at 10:15 and stopped at 1:25 when the ball of paste had run out. The float was constantly dipping and moving but I ended up with tench of 3lb and 5lb in the net together with a bream of 2.5lb, 5 skimmers and 3 roach. I also had 4 small carp (best 1-04) and two crucians of 12oz and 1-04, these where returned straight away as club rules do not allow carp to be retained in keepnets.

To be honest I probably put too little jellyfish powder on the mix as it was not as stringy as usual but it works. At some point I am going to have a go with a Chinese two hook set up if I find a venue that allows two hooks! Similarly I am tempted to try the paste on a river to see what would happen!

July 2026 Part 2 -A mixed bag

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A mixed bag of venues!Wednesday 22 sees me visit High Penn for a couple of hours before it got too hot. I set up in what I term North 8 (the fourth peg on the north bank, I start with the furthest peg on the west bank as peg 1!), very straightforward waggler approach but with bulk of 6 no 8 shot set about 15 inches from a size 16 hook with just a further no 8 about 9 inches below that. No groundbait just loose fed maggots, about 10 every couple of minutes on the equivalent of 3 rod lengths. Despite a prolonged attempt with corn, not a bite on it all the bites came to double maggot, ending up with approx 1-13 according to my ounce count, comprising of 3 roach and 16 perch.

Fast forward to Friday and I arrive at Crookwood and despite myself I set up again on peg 56, partly because it was in shade and partly I wanted to see if I could make the Chinese paste work. Set up was as previous visit and fished at 10m. I started by putting in two balls of crushed expander laced with micros and a few 4mm, thereafter I fed 4 -5 4mm pellets with the paste each put in. First two put ins I opted to fish corn, to test the state of play and had a roach and a skimmer , then moved on to the paste. I ended up with the roach, two skimmers, 2 carp of 0-08 and 1-00, 2 tench of 0-12 and 2-00, 4 crucians and 5 bream- best 3lb. I clicked 20lb in total.

Time to scratch that itch- last time I fished Viaduct we had thunder and lightning coupled with monsoon style rain and I caught little, I wanted to try and redeem myself so entered the Tuesday open which surprisingly attracted 20 anglers compared to 8 the last time. Anyway money paid and my fingers pull out 115, the good news being I was on the shaded side of Campbell lake. I had made the decision that I was going to fish exclusively with Chinese paste and as such set up 3 rigs; the first was a basic homemade Chianti style taking 0.6g on 0.20mm line, the second was my Chinese set up fished bottom only with olivette and one dropper to a 14, the final rig was for the margin- just in case! I did relent and also set up a bomb for banded pellet as a back up. Depth was identical at 5m and 10m, starting at 5m was slow with a couple of skimmers and I soon went out to 10m where I spent most of my time ending with 3 carp for 20-02 and a bream net that I clicked 40lb but weighed a lot less at 28-12 for a 48-14 total. I only lost one carp at the net with a hook pull but suffered with numerous liners/ghost bites! The guy on 116 tipped back complaining that he had kept foul hooking the fish and loosing them, the guy on my left had a late run of carp but only had a handful of skimmers. Generally I was happy with that but surprised at the bream as when I have weighed them before on Cary (next door lake) they weighed heavy, hence my clicking!

Moving on to the end of the month I decided to do something I had not done in ages and also visit a venue I last fished about 16 years ago in a snow storm- Flaxlands just outside Royal Wootton Bassett. I had decided to do a bit of pellet feeder work with my 8ft Tricast Power Carp Wand. I rolled up and was fishing by about 8:30 through to almost 1pm. I set up on a very awkward peg on the small lake, peg 14, but it did give total shade up until I left!

Despite me getting my initial pellet all wrong I persevered and the tip was hardly still but few positive bites, 5 small carp were netted best only about 2lb. About 11:45 I decided to put up a float rod- an old Silstar Ian Heaps 11ft canal and using corn had 6 roach on the waggler plus missed several bites in the margins. Total weight about 5lb.

Zachary showing Gareth how to do it!

June 2026 Part 1 – It’s summer?

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June kicks off with me driving down to Viaduct for a Tuesday open on Campbell. Now before we start I have to admit I was under no illusions that I would struggle against the regulars but I wanted to see if fishing Chinese paste in a match would produce! Draw puts me on 131, all alone with nobody I can see on my bank as there is a bush blocking the view some 40m away – yes I had a lot of water!

Look carefully at the weather in the photos – it lasted for about an hour then we had thunderstorms, hail, driving monsoon type rain. Fortunately in one respect the wind came off my back but left me with the only water without ripple on the lake! At the end of the match I had 2 inches of water in my bucket! Anyway I managed a couple of skimmers and a carp at 10m fishing paste with a Chinese float (bottom end only) before the heavens opened. The right margin looked inviting but produced a solitary bob, the left margin gave me a carp three small roach and three further skimmers. All bar two skimmers came to the paste. I was nowhere to be seen in the match with the two carp weighing 13-03 and the silvers 13-04 for a 26-07 total, only about 150lb short! My kit took 4 days to dry out!

A week or so later I ventured out to the K&A fishing the short pound at the end of the Willows. I fished 10:20 to 11:20 on the whip, in the time nine yes boats went through so the canal was flowing like the Trent most of the time as the locks were in almost constant use. When I managed to get a little bit of still water for more than a minute, I got a bite, ending up with 2 roach, a gudgeon and 3 skimmers, one about a pound the rest small as you can see from the total of 1-04. Again double maggot produced whereas single was studiously ignored.

Saturday 13th sees me drive up to Meadowlands for a Maggotdrowners match on Warren. Peg 36 was to be my home for the day .

The left margin was alive with carp, coming right up to the platform, 10:30 match starts- not a carp to be seen! Basically set up three lines, a margin, one 5m out from the margin which was to be my paste line at 45 degrees to the platform and one directly in front at 10m. Groundbait went in at 10m and 5m line, while a toss-pot of micros and 4mm and a couple of kernels of corn went in on the margin line just past some inviting grass growing over the water. First hour was okay with 4 skimmers and a carp from the margin. m line on paste was dead and 10m line produced one skimmer. Decided to stick to the margin and added another skimmer and a carp. Things then went quiet and had a cast with a method along the bank into the corner bay to no avail. Put paste on down the margin and lost 6 foul hookers two pulls after crazy first runs then 4 “dinner-pate” scales. Managed to get a few more carp out before the end of a frustrating day! Nothing on the 5m line and 1 skimmer on the 10m. Weighing showed 8lb of skimmers and 31-03 of carp for a 39-03 total.

Monday 15th (new river season eve!) went up to High Penn for a couple of hours on the pole to use up some bait. Set up in the furthest peg on the west bank and found 8 -9 feet of water at 10m. Fishing corn on a 1.5g Paster float and 18 hook had a nice time with 12 roach and 20 dumpy rudd for a weighed 6-07.

Gareth in the meantime adds another new species to his list in China – a climbing perch.