Bread the ultimate winter bait?

Lord Paul of Sheffield · Mar 8, 2010

Fishing yesterday I spent an hour trying to get a bite from one swim using maggot, sweetcorn and bread as hook baits before deciding to that the fish simply wasn't there (not even a dip on the float)and it was time to try another swim.

Casting to a different swim with bread on the hook and immediately the float began to dip and within 5 minutes a fish was on.

I then fired out a few grains of corn and half a dozen maggots and recast, again with bread as the hook bait. For the next half hour I caught steadily using bread and using maggots and corn as loose feed, then switched to maggot on the hook. The float remained still. I then tried corn and again the fish didn't bite.

Thinking the swim had gone dead I switched back to bread and again caught straight away. Over the next 3 hours I caught all my fish on bread, missing a few bites, but a change of hook bait would see now action from the fish.

So is bread the ultimate winter bait for catching fish when all else fails?

Peter Jacobs · Mar 8, 2010

Lord Paul of Sheffield said:
So is bread the ultimate winter bait for catching fish when all else fails?

I will typically start a session on a bread bait in the winter, and for matches in the summer I'll go on punched bread from the off, with punch crumb as groundbait.

It has always been, for me, an 'instant' bait that guarantees to put fish in the net but in a match you will find that it only lasts for maybe the first half an hour.

As a winter bait I think it is nigh on unbeatable on my rivers.

Stealph Viper · Mar 8, 2010

I thought Plastic Corn was the best natural bait going .......................... :wh

Rodney Wrestt · Mar 8, 2010

I do the same as Peter except I use liquidized bread instead of punch crumb. Flake and punch are great instant baits but they do tend to tail off after a fairly short time, but by then the other swims have been building and hopefully start to produce the odd bite.

Specihunter · Mar 8, 2010

I found worms can be a real killer . Even when bread fails.

Tilman Bieselt · Mar 8, 2010

Bread can be deadly for a lot of species. Carp for example love it as well. Last winter i had 10 carp (no big ones) and missed a few bites as well, in as little as 3 to 4 hours in January.

jcp01 · Mar 8, 2010

I've found bread to be the only bait for the small stream roach I've targeted and they go mad for it, but feeding even tiny amounts puts them down for ages due to the huge effect even a tiny cage feeder load has in such a cramped channel. They chase every crumb downstream of course, and then make their way back when it's all gone.

I never leave home without half a loaf for the hook and half a loaf liquidised in winter on rivers.

paul123 · Mar 9, 2010

I always use bread

Had two very good chub on a big lump of bread on Sunday. And lumps of bread thrown in for ground bait.

Stick_Float · Mar 9, 2010

I used to have that age old phobia of bread, that it 'doesn't stay on the hook' and whilst not doubting it's quality as a bait I never had any confidence to stick with it and would go back to worms/maggots etc.

Realising this was pretty daft I went chubbing recently and only took with me a loaf of bread with some liquidised for the feeder so I had no option but to fish with it, and I'm glad I did, catching a lovely big chub. I'm now a massive bread convert.

Lord Paul of Sheffield · Mar 9, 2010

I have in the past found that when all else fails bread will get a bite - I've used bread on the hook when float fishing but never had the confidence to use it has a hook bait when using the quiver tip

How does anyone else do this? - I've thought of putting a large piece of bread on a hair rig

Jeff Woodhouse · Mar 9, 2010

It's one of my favourite methods to start at the head of a river fishery and work down casting breadflake under the tree branches downstream. Take one or two extra pieces of bread from the slice and squeeze them to expel the air and throw them in so buy the time they should hit bottom they'll be on the target. You do that for 15 - 20 minutes and then move to the next swim. If you catch a fish, unless you're convinced there could be another fish sitting alongside, you move to the next swim.

I used to spend some nice afternoons moving down the river and taking chub after chub.

---------- Post added at 15:55 ---------- Previous post was at 15:53 ----------

Lord Paul of Sheffield said:
How does anyone else do this? - I've thought of putting a large piece of bread on a hair rig

Forget the hair rig, just fold a piece of bread over the shank of the hook and squeeze the top end to weld the bread together.

Lord Paul of Sheffield · Mar 9, 2010

Woody

I'll be trying that method on Saturday - last river trip of the season for me - Sunday being mothers day I have to stay in and make sure my kids help their mother - bloody check she's not my mother

Rodney Wrestt · Mar 9, 2010

Lord Paul of Sheffield said:
I have in the past found that when all else fails bread will get a bite - I've used bread on the hook when float fishing but never had the confidence to use it has a hook bait when using the quiver tip

How does anyone else do this? - I've thought of putting a large piece of bread on a hair rig

G'd evening your lordship,
I use a Drennan flake punch and as Woody suggests, just pinch the top around the shank/eye of the hook, I used to worry about it coming off in the swim, but now I want it to do so, I will flick the rod tip on the retrieve to make sure if I haven't had a bite to help feed the swim.

Tilman Bieselt · Mar 9, 2010

Lord Paul of Sheffield said:
How does anyone else do this? - I've thought of putting a large piece of bread on a hair rig

That´s how i caught the carp. I used little pieces of sticks as a stopper.

Jeff Woodhouse · Mar 9, 2010

Here's another way of presenting your bread.

Alan Tyler · Mar 9, 2010

You could always try "Bread in Bondage" (the gimp who lives in your dungeon will be able to help) - roll up pieces of bread (with crust if you want floaters/pop-ups) and give them a few wraps of white thread, tying the ends with a granny knot. Use a baiting needle if hair rigging, or just side-hook several strands of the wrapping.
The pellet bands applied with the four-pronged speculum thingies (Gimp will explain) can also be used for bits of fresh bread, but the bondage trick can be a trip-saver if your bread's gon a bit dry and crumbly.

P.S. please dispose of your threads responsibly, folks!

Mark Wintle · Mar 9, 2010

Bread is a superb winter bait but far from infallible. I use it and maggots almost exclusively in winter but getting the best out of it takes a lot of practice and experimentation. I use punch as well as flake. Flake punches have never impressed me but i've been using flake a long time. Keeping bread producing all day takes a lot of skill but I manage it a lot most winters - best catch this winter had punch producing for 5 solid hours, and doing the same in a math is only the same skill - the feeding must be spot on.

That said I wouldn't be without maggots for the world in winter, in summer a different story! I still think that maggots just shades bread for big roach but it is often the case that bread is better.

Alan Tyler · Mar 9, 2010

I really must check for "new posts" before writing!
My method is an adaptation of the above bread roll rig, but scaleable-down, and with the advantage that baits can be prepared in advance; frozen, even.

john conway (CSG - ACA) · Mar 9, 2010

For me it's cheese 1st followed by bread. But here we are talking exclusively Chub.

Ray Daywalker Clarke · Mar 9, 2010

Breadflake on the hook as Woody said, but make sure the point of the hook can be felt.
It's a bloody good summer bait also, but many don't bother using it in summer, other than surface fishng for carp.

Bread the ultimate winter bait?

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