Mashed Bread For Chub

I buy half a dozen loaves, break them into approximately 2ins pieces, throw them in a landing net and hang it in my garage until the bread dries out - not hard but crumbly.

Drying out in the landing net

I soak the bread overnight and then squeeze as much water out as I can. It is then mashed by hand, but not too much, for that way there will still be a number of lumps left in the mash. These will be small hookbait samples trundling through the swim as the finer mash gets caught in the current.

Very often I add a helping of hempseed to the mash, nothing measured, just so that it looks liberally sprinkled with it. Then I split into session sizes, usually about enough to fill a 3 pint Drennan baitbox. This gives me enough for a 6 to 8 hour session. The lot is then stowed in the freezer.

But remember to take a portion out the day before you intend using it, for it can take several hours to thaw out sufficiently.

Sometimes I push a few pieces of squeezed flake into the mash when I'm at the waterside and a dose of trout micro-pellets. The trout pellets are added at the last minute so that they stay reasonably crisp and whole for the session. If they're added at the same time as the hemp, prior to freezing, they end up soggy and part of the mash. Of course, you could add a few pellets at that stage and some more at the waterside and have the best of both worlds. Then I feed it with a cage feeder and sometimes give them extra by hand if they're well on.

Liquidised bread

FISHINGmagic writer Gary Knowles added:

I do the same thing except that I also squirt some cheese flavouring into it. When it's really cold and clear I use fresh bread liquidised. This you can squeeze by hand without adding water, ball it in (small pigeon egg sized) or through a small cage feeder.

Dave Cooper our 'Purely For Pleasure' author, says:

If you want much finer particles that break down into a real low feed cloud, break down a loaf into breadcrumbs in the liquidiser/food processor and then let the crumb go stale in a bucket for a day or two. Add crushed hemp and then use 'as is' without adding any water in a cage or open end feeder. Especially good when there is little flow in the river as it explodes into a fine cloud. Good for roach fishing too.

ready for mashing

I find thick sliced bread works well with those Drennan punches if you want a more resilient hookbait as it squeezes together more. Use medium bread if you want a more fluffy texture. I haven't found that cheap bread makes any difference to catches. My near '5' a couple of weeks ago was caught using a Sainsbury's 19p economy loaf.

Eddie Bibby said:

If you go to Kwik Save late on Saturdays they often have large sliced loaves for about 10 or 15 pence each. Just dry them out and they keep for ages.

Dave 'Chub' Johnson added:

Graham's method is spot on, plus you can add all sorts of flavours to the liquid. I tend to use Graham's preparation when I am using a cage feeder to get the mash into my swim.

However, for all round general bread work, I prefer to leave the bread to go stale, and then feed it by rubbing half a slice between the palms of my hands. This way you can control how big or small the particles are.

You can add a flavour

I fish this method on smaller rivers where using a feeder would spook the chub. You can add small balls of this rubbed up bread accurately and quietly and it creates a wonderful trail /cloud as it disperses and sinks.

Perfect Mash!

I usually buy four or five loaves every week so that I have a rolling stock of stale bread in the garage, and I f I don't use them when they are reaching their 'ideal' state, dump them in the freezer or make up a freezable paste.