Egg-free the ‘best paste you’ll ever use!'

Since the previous blog entry was posted online I have received a number of requests asking if the same paste cannot be made without eggs. Well the simple answer is yes, but I usually ask the question back, why do you wish to avoid eggs? Not all the folk I ask can answer this!

Eggs are great at binding flours and fine powders together but they also have a couple of slight drawbacks where carp bait is concerned. The first is that they contain a substance called ovumucin, a protease inhibitor that inhibits the action of the enzyme trypsin. This enzyme is very important to carp and other coarse fish ( and humans too!) as it is involved in the breakdown of many different proteins and thus enables the fish to gain the maximum amount of nutritional benefit from the protein content of a bait.

The second reason that eggs can be a slight disadvantage in a carp bait is that they have a strong buffering effect on pH, thus raising the pH of the otherwise highly attractive acidic trigger(s) in the bait to render it less effective. So egg-free is the way to go if you wish to achieve maximum attraction and nutrition in your paste bait.

Like the previous blog the bait is a simple one:

You will need:

500ml of fruit juice(s) 500g of a fishmeal base mix (I am using Blue Trigga ATS.)
200g Haiths CLO
300g Haiths Red Factor

These dry ingredients are blended together in a polythene bag, as described in the preceding blog

You will also like to add your favourite attractors of choice. Here I have used G-Force Liquid, Blue Oyster Flavour and Caproic acid.

The full recipe is shown in the photo below

To create any paste I prefer to use a powerful stand mixer with a dough hook attached coupled with a strong stainless steel mixing bowl.

First I add the attractors to the bowl and give them a fast whisk to blend them together.

Here are the blended attractors.

Now it is time to add the fruit juice(s).

Place the mixing bowl back on the stand mixer and set it on its slowest setting. Mix the liquids together thoroughly and then start to add the dry powders a bit at a time.

As you add more dry base mix the paste will start to thicken and the machine may start to slow slightly with the added pressure. This is quite normal and should not harm a good stand mixer.

When you have added all the base mix use a wooden spatula to push the unmixed powders down into the bowl itself.

Now allow the paste to rest in the mixing bowl for 10-20 minutes. Keep the air out by placing a polythene bag on the lip of the bowl, holding it in place with the spatula or similar. The paste will stiffen quite considerably while it rests.

Finally as before split the paste into two as it is unlikely you will use it all at one go…a little goes a long way!

Place each half into a polythene bag and then seal the bag. Here I have again used a heating bag sealer.

The bagged paste can now be kept in a refrigerator for up to 6 weeks or you may chose to freeze it.

As long as you keep the paste cool and stop it from sweating in the polythene bag, it should last anything up to a week in your tackle box or bait bag.

Here’s one I caught earlier.

Tight Lines!

Written by Ken Townley