Stonze and Jungle Paste are an Excellent Marriage

It was through Tackle and Guns that I learnt about Stonze.  Nothing new I thought in using Stones, I’d been using them on and off since the 1950s for bass fishing. My stones couldn’t be purchased in the tackle shop, they were found along the beaches of southern England.  It was a time consuming job trying to find a few with a hole in them created by nature.  In those far off days, I didn’t use them because I believed we shouldn’t use lead; I used them because I thought they were a better option in camouflaging the end tackle when fishing a prawn or peeler crab over fine gravel in between patches of weed on the foreshore.

Having read the feature on Stonze in T&G a couple of times, I soon realised that this was the ideal solution to the problem of lead in the environment, something that I had been against for many years.  I always reckoned that getting rid of lead shot in cartridges and fishing was a good thing.  We are more educated today.  We realize that we have to protect this fragile earth. Lets be honest, lead is a toxic material, and we anglers are naturalists.  In the past we had lead water pipes, not today.  Many anglers and companies tried to camouflage weights, none really worked, and many are still using old fashioned lead.  Not a good thing. 

It was time I gave Simon a call.  After a long chat, I realised the man was a forward thinking angler who would make a good subject for my “At The Waters Edge” programme on BBC Radio Lancashire and decided to travel down to Pallington Dorset, which is not far Thomas Hardy’s cottage, his home until the age of 34. It’s where Hardy had written Under the Greenwood Tree and Far from the Madding Crowd. 
Arriving at Simon’s work place I was impressed with the clean green environment. A few yards away from the car park I could see part of a lake.  Everything looked peaceful. Within minutes I was on the banks of the gin clear River Frome with lots of clean sparkling gravel and swaying water crowfoot.  Minutes later, I had seen three water voles.  Peering intently in the water, I could see a group of grayling; further upstream a solitary sea trout. 

Back with Simon I was given the story of the Stonze.  It was then I got the surprise of my trip.  It wasn’t the Stonze that were at the heart of the business, it was bait.  I then learnt from Simon that Pallatrax baits were designed for the fish in his lakes.  This man hadn’t just grabbed some ingredients then made a bait mix.  He worked with fishery biologists to get the right ingredients so he could feed his fish a healthy mix, which was good for the fish.  The syndicate members quickly realised it was a good hook bait.

Since that first visit I have used Stonze for much of my angling both coarse and bass fishing.  They are environmentally friendly, naturally unique in colour, shape, size and weight.  They settle on the bottom as opposed to crashing like a lead therefore excellent for silty bottom. They are naturally camouflaged and look like other stones on the bottom of lakes streams and rivers.  I thoroughly recommend these weights for better angling results. They are excellent if you fish the method mix.  I store a few stonze in a glug for a few weeks which then leaches off the flavour into the water.

The latest E U directive is to see lead banned from all angling by 2015, which has to be good for the environment.  I well remember seeing a six pound plus chub over some clean gravel; I dropped a chunk of crust with three LG shot just upstream of the fish. It was ignored. I then tried various baits. Nothing. I thought, let’s try a small Stonze and crust.  Within minutes that chub approached the crust and took it with confidence.  Just one of the many fish I have caught through the use of Stonze.

As many listeners and readers know, in the past I have used bread, cheese paste, sausage meat and lobworms for most of my fishing with some success.  Having listened to Simon discussing his baits I decided to try some Jungle boilies. Before doing so I called Paul Smyth one of those anglers who knows how to catch big fish and win matches.   After a long discussion I took Paul’s advice and used Elixir 6 for the River Kennet and Ribble barbel, the Jungle for my tench and chub.  Paul recommend I use a small piece of Elixir 6 Whisker Stick wrapped in paste on a hair.  It worked straight away - my catch rate increased, though I still used sausage meat paste. 

The bait for me that certainly increased my catch rate was the Jungle paste. I would recommend everyone to give this a real work out. Not just for a single session but for a few sessions under all water and weather conditions.  It’s worked extremely well for me on the Teme, Kennet, Ribble, Aire, Dorset Stour, Loddon, and the Hampshire Avon.  Last winter on the LAA stretch of the Avon at Britford, I didn’t suffer a single blank when chub fishing.  Even on the toughest of days, Jungle helped me put a fish on the bank. 

On the Kennet last winter I had several sessions where I had twenty or more barbel with several doubles. Yes, I used Sausage meat and crust, but I reckon most barbel fell for Jungle paste. As I write, I am using some small cushion shaped pieces of Jungle for tench which has accounted for quite a few tench – the best at 6-8-0 from a very difficult ten acre limestone lake at Tewitfields.  On a recent rudd fishing session on Pallington lakes using float tackle and 4lb Gamma line I had a 15-8-0 common carp and three other doubles. Anglers using other baits were struggling!