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Bread Mash

Les Jones

Active Member
Hi Guys,

Can anyone put me right on the following:

1) What consistency should good bread mash be? I am using a couple of sliced loaves that have been left out to go stale in the garage. The slices have been torn into smaller pieces and I have soaked the bread in around 1 & 3/4 mugs of water. When mashed the 'dough' resembles soft cheese paste. Will this be to stiff to break up when thrown in a river? I don't want to overfeed (very few fish) but I also don't want the mash drifting a long way down stream. Under 'normal' cold water conditions the river is 3-3 feet deep and flows at a medium walking pace

2) I have see reference to 'heavy' mash. Whats the difference between ordinary and heavy mash? Is it the consistency/water content?
PHP:
Thanks

Les
 
Les,
the way i make bread mash is as follows:
leave as you say a sliced loaf to go stale,not in its bag
when stale put in a large bucket and completely cover with cold water,leave it in full slices
leave it submerged over night,then with both hands scoop it out and squeeze the water out of it and put bread into a seperate bucket,do this untill all the bread is done then mash up the bread with your fingers until its the consistancey that you require.
the more water that you squeeze out the "heavier/dryer it will be
Also i have found that if half the bread that you use is brown the better the mash for handballing into the river.

sorry for the long ramble:rolleyes:
i am sure others do it differently and get it to work just as well

mike
 
Bread that has been left to go stale will have varying degrees of bouyancy Les, some will sink and some drift down the current. Generally, sliced bread is very gluey and usually benefits from having some dry, unsliced wholemeal bread added or bran or similar cereal to prevent big stodgy lumps settling straight away on the bottom. A lot depends on the flow of each swim as to the dispersal of the mash. It can help, if you only have sliced bread, to crumb some of it in the blender and mix this in with the slices you have torn up by hand. This will give a good variety depths/distances in the dispersal of your mash. The amount of water added is also important and if the mash only has to be lowered into near bank swims then a wetter, more dispersable mix can be used than if a mid-river swim is being primed.
 
Use 2 week old sliced bread that is still bagged.

Break up with fingers and hands.

Add a VERY small amount of water, about 1 Tablespoon per loaf, so it's still fairly dryish.

Mix up again so its got some pieces the size of 5p pieces.

Fish a pressed handful upstream, when trotting or push it into the feeder firmly. Use a good longshanked size 6 for chub. A fresh piece of sliced bread pressed on the hook shank.

Matty Brown did ok with me using this method .

http://www.mattbrown.co.uk/html/fishing12.htm

Graham
 
Remove all crusts, cut or rip into 1" pieces. Throw it into your landing net, dunk it in water for 5-ish seconds, take out of river and squeeze most of the water from the mash. Dependant on your preferred choice of consistency as to how long you do this next process, quickly rub through hands to break up bigger pieces of bread and ensure a even mix.

Should say this is obviously best done in a landing net with small mesh and only ever use stale bread.
 
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I'd agree with the landing net method. As long as the bread is stale and you squeeze as much water as possible out it comes out perfect.
 
Rhys,
if you use fresh bread you get a gluey mess ,when stale its more of a crumble and breaks down better in the water

mike
 
Would you use slale bread for the hook as well? I've used fresh bread for hook and in the feeder, not noticed any problems. Can't imagine stale would be any good on the hook. One thing I have learnt though, is not to use cheap asda's own bread, awfull stuff, not even good enough for fish, let alone human consumption!
 
buy a loaf from the bakers and chop the end off, much better than any sliced loaf, use the rubbish for mash.
 
The cheap stuff makes good hookbaits as it's stodgy/ sticky and stays on the hook but doesn't impeed the hook when you strike imo

Trevor
 
I find the cheap stuff to be not as 'fluffy', ok for feed, but doesn't stay together as a flake on the hook.
 
Tesco home brand - cheap as chips (are chips actually cheap?). Wouldn't want to eat the stuff as it'd clag your mouth shut with every bite but it does stay put on the hook and doesn't seem to put the fish off either. Good for punch bread too i found.

Trevor
 
Rhys i use the cheap bread to make my mash then i use FRESH warburtons as my hook bait. Be just the job for the river sow mate
 
The best way I've found of using bread on the hook is a method called super crust, basically take a slice of bread cut the crusts off and put it under the grill for a few seconds until it turns a brilliant white colour turn it over and repeat the process, what your left with is a slice of bread with a much tougher surface and when you put it on the hook you will find it is capable of withstanding multiple casts.
 
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