‘More than twenty golden rudd, weighing up to a pound, were very unexpectedly caught at a small, local childhood pond in the late seventies. My first fishing rod had only experienced small gudgeon and roach at the time’
A piece of white breadcrust floats innocently on the surface of the pond. It sails slowly on an occasional light breeze, moving ever closer to a bed of lily pads, until it gently nudges up against one of the saucer-shaped floating leaves. It’s accompanied by three or four other pieces of crust, all clearly visible, drifting towards the same bed of lilies. After a short while, a pair of eyes and the beige head of an inquisitive carp slowly appear from the murky depths beneath the shade of the lily pads. The curious fish has already enjoyed several other free offerings of crust and now has its eyes well and truly on this next piece. There is, however, one small difference that sets this piece of crust apart from its neighbours; this one has a hook hidden within.
Seconds pass like minutes as the fish appears to closely examine the floating morsel, with a level of scrutiny usually reserved for laboratory scientists. The crust passes its inspection and the carp’s mouth opens wide, simultaneously taking in a gulp of air and the piece of floating bread. An audible ‘gloop’ sound is heard as the bread is sucked downward into the gaping mouth. The surface boils and swirls as the fish turns away. I can hear my increasingly frantic heart beating but despite an overwhelming urge to strike, I do my best to pause for a second or two and try to lift the rod slowly. The line tightens as the carp tears off across the lake, leaving a bow wave in its wake and forcing the old cane rod to sing its creaking song under the strain…
Extract from the Bible – Mark 6:41:
‘Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, Jesus spoke a blessing and broke the loaves. Then He gave them to His disciples to set before the people…’
Since the story of Jesus feeding the five thousand with five loaves and two fishes, it is fair to say that loaves of bread and fish have been inextricably linked through time immemorial.
A ‘paste made with only crumbs of bread’ is referenced in angling’s own bible, Izaak Walton’s The Compleat Angler, written in 1653, and the humble loaf has continued to play a rich and productive role in the annals of angling history.
Indeed, many volumes have been written by vastly experienced anglers on the relative merits of bread based baits. I am not about to challenge their advice or to offer anypreviously unknown secrets when it comes to angling with bread. My aim is as straightforward as bread itself’; to simply acknowledge this wonderfully modest, multi-purpose bait.
Extract from Izaak Walton’s The Compleat Angler, published in 1653:
‘in August you may fish for them with a Paste made only of the crumbs of bread which should be of pure fine Manchet; and that must be so tempered betwixt your hands till it be both soft and tough too; a very little water and time and labour and clean hands will make it a most excellent paste: But when you fish with it, you must have a small hook, a quick eye, and a nimble hand, or the bait is lost and the fish too (if one may lose that, which he never had); with this paste, you may, as I said, take both the Roach and the Dace.’
Richard Walker’s Stillwater Angling, first published in 1953, describes ‘plain bread paste’ being used for big carp at Redmire Pool. Bread paste is also mentioned as a bait for tench, with reference to alternative bread pastes flavoured with, for example, Bovril, Marmite or crab paste.
For many a young person, bread was their first ever bait at the outset of their angling journey. It can be inexpensive, it is easily accessible and its versatility is the key to its success. It can be used in so many different forms to entice a wide variety of freshwater species and can surely rival the worm or maggot for the title of ‘bait enjoyed by most species’. Roach, rudd, bream, carp, tench, chub, barbel, dace, bleak and gudgeon can all be fooled into readily taking bread based baits, and this is not an exhaustive list. Trout have been known to snatch bread baits on certain rivers and estuary mullet famously adore it. Bread’s simplicity means it is also widely used as a saltwater bait, with sea anglers worldwide seeing success with a small hook and piece of bread.
‘Using your loaf…’
In the space of fifty years, the market for freshwater fishing baits has been transformed from a small number of natural options to large-scale commercial offerings. Small, beloved tackle shops on the high streets of villages and towns are slowly being eroded and replaced by online megastores. We live in a time of overwhelming bait choices for coarse fishermen in the UK. Great quantities of mass-manufactured, multi-shaped, multi-coloured and multi-flavoured bait varieties are advertised in order to tempt one into thinking ‘that’s what is needed.’
As part of this migration, baits such as worms, gentles, bread and hempseed are now compared with man-made creations in the form of pellets, boilies and pastes, usually adorned with shiny brand names and exotic ingredients. All of these are at quite a considerable cost to any angler wanting to try them. Indeed, one wonders if they are aimed at catching fish…or at catching the fisherman.
Bread as a hook-bait can take many forms; flake, crust, punched bread discs and pastes with cheese or various other alternative additives are all proven over many years. In addition, bread crumb can be used in a swim-feeder and both crumb and liquidised bread can also be used as groundbaits and as water colourant. In its most natural form, bread flake, folded and pinched around the shank of the hook, allowing it to flutter down naturally, either in the current of a river or on any stillwater, is hard to beat.
The attachment of the bread flake to the hook can have a great effect on one’s success rate in actually hooking a fish. As a young beginner, I simply squeezed and pressed the fresh bread into a teardrop shape that usually covered the small hook. I have long since learned that the top third of a piece of fresh loaf can be pinched onto the shank of the hook, leaving the hook protruding and the remaining flake to form a light fluffy morsel which hopefully wafts and flutters, becoming an attractive, tantalizing offer to any fish in its path.
Plain bread paste can be made with a mix of flour and water. This allows the bait to be moulded around the hook, with the size of bait depending on the species and size of fish being pursued. An assortment of flavourings, additives and enhancements have been used for centuries, from simple saltto custard powder, almond oil, cinnamon, curry powder, mashed prawn, crab paste and, of course, different forms and flavours of cheese. Food colourings are also favoured by some to enhance the appearance of the paste.
Small hand-held punches are used by some to create circular discs of bread for a consistent presentation. The size of disc and hook size used is dependent on the size and type of fish being targeted.
As described in the opening paragraph, floating bread presented at the right time and place can tempt various species. Seeing the fish taking the bait, together with the likely explosive aftermath can all combine to provide the most exciting of angling experiences.
Fish can sometimes be attracted to very shallow water by the presence of floating crust
Success stories…
Many exceptional fish have been captured by anglers ‘using their loaf’. Many years ago I remember reading about the first chub landed in the UK weighing over 9lb; a fine, handsome fish captured on a piece of bread.
Some personal experiences have merely served to reinforce the reputation of this renowned bait and, upon reflection, if I was to review my historic ‘stand out’ angling days, it is fair to say that one bait provides a thread through the majority of them (perhaps because in my younger years, other options were either not available or not affordable).
Without wishing to go overboard with detail, it is worth sharing some examples where ‘back to basics’ has proved a fruitful approach…
More than twenty golden rudd, weighing up to a pound, were very unexpectedly caught at a small, local childhood pond in the late seventies. My first fishing rod had only experienced small gudgeon and roach at the time. The rudd were not interested in small worms, or even a friend’s maggots, but they simply couldn’t resist a small piece of breadflake.
Bread paste made with custard powder accounted for many a fine chub on the river Wye in the 1980s. Our local angling club’s river competitions were dominated by 100lb+ weights, invariably caught on bread paste made with custard powder. Its reputation was spread by word of mouth, everyone used it and more often than not, it gave excellent results. Success has continued over recent years and a simple white loaf, mixed with blue cheese, continues to tempt many fine chub and barbel on the river to this day.
An extremely aromatic cheese paste afforded me a memorable day on the Wye in the early eighties. With nothing but a size ten hook, a small ball of the paste was free-lined down a small run whilst standing in mid-river on a cold October day. All around me, golden yellow leaves were blowing on the breeze and landing on the water. I watched the end of my line for any sign of a bite, whilst feeling the line between my thumb and fore-finger. The bait trundled slowly along the gravel bottom. There were plenty of indications that the resident shoal of chub was very partial to the cheese paste. Approximately twenty five of them were tempted that day, weighing up to three pounds. (This day also lives long in the memory thanks to me leaving the remaining ball of cheese paste in my Barbour coat pocket, only to find it extremely mouldy and ‘fragrant’ the following spring!).
More latterly, an unforgettable time was enjoyed in the run-up to my son’s wedding in Kent. At the height of summer, amongst several special fish caught in the grounds of Leeds Castle, were a 5lb tench and a bream close to 9lb. I fished for a few hours at a time when circumstances allowed, across a number of days. I used nothing but a few slices of basic white bread.
Whether rolling cheese paste for chub and barbel, or float-fishing for rudd as a young apprentice angler, or many years later, tempting a memorable tench and bream using bread from the same loaf, there was the one ever-present ingredient that made those days happen. It was the one basic element that completed the jigsaw puzzle on all those days, an offering that fish of various species found irresistible.
Many memorable fish have been tempted by bread in some form or another
And so, ladies and gentleman, boys and girls, in these days of technological advances and scientific developments, let us pay homage to the humble loaf of bread: readily available, adaptable, versatile and affordable to most. It is a bait that allows us to enjoy the best of times when angling. Look no further for a proven, unassuming, consistent bait, capable of seducing so many of our resident species of coarse fish.
Anglers of our time are indeed following the lead of our prominent predecessors. From Izaak Walton to Richard Walker, their experiences and guidance often form the basis of our ways and methods today. Whilst there continues to be an unbreakable link between ‘loaves and fishes’ in modern times, it is reassuring to know that their hands too would have mixed bread with water, flour, cheese, honey or many other tempting ingredients, in search of that all-conquering bait, ahead of a day’s angling.
Writing & Images Carl Hier – Winter 2024
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