UK Coarse
The Bait Room · Everyday / traditional
Paste or a cube under a bush. A chub bait, and occasionally a carp or barbel surprise — not a commercial default.
Cheese paste is a river tradition: cheddar or a mix, mashed with breadcrumb, fished as flake-sized blobs for chub in cover. A cube of cheese on a hair has caught barbel and carp too, but it is a strong bait and a messy one.
It is not what you take to a pellet-only F1 lake. On a river after 16 June, under a far-bank bush, it still earns its place.
From the graph
Chub in cover. Occasional barbel. Stillwaters only if the rules and the fish make sense.
Open river season, especially when the water has a bit of colour. Winter chub.
A blob of paste around the hook, or a cube on a hair, legered or under a chubber into the hole.
Grate cheese, mash with breadcrumb or a bit of flour until it holds. Don't make soup.
Feeding
A small block of cheddar is a session.
A few frees, then leave it. Chub fishing is not method-feeder rhythm.
Bread, maggots, hemp. Often nothing else.
Cheese paste and bread. Cheese and maggot. A cube over a few loose offerings.
A couple of free blobs into the swim, then the hookbait. Don't make a cheese soup under the tree.
A whole commercial peg smeared in cheese. Fishing it on a pellet-only lake. Standing on the skyline while you do it.
If they take bread better, use bread. Cheese is a option for cover and colour, not a law.
Beginner tip
On a river chub hole: a marble of cheese paste, a quiet approach, a bush. After 16 June.
Advanced tip
A slightly tougher paste if eels or crayfish (where they exist) pick at it. Still check the byelaws.