The Traditional Fisherman's Forum

A simple ground bait but very effective.

My question is two part, how do you make your mashed bread and how did they make it in the 50's and 60's?

Dry an uncut loaf in a airing cupboard for a couple of days. Blitz in a 'whizzer'. I'm sorry I don't know the technical term, the gadget is white therefore 'hers'.
Take dry crumb to bank (it's lighter ) and introduce river water to make a sloppy mash. A dash of crushed hemp works well with it as it permeates different depths as it drifts.

Can't help with the 50's or the 60's really as I was still but a twinkle in the ol' mans eye...
.. but later diagnosed as mere hay fever.

"Good morning all",

.....mash.... or as Edward Ensom (Faddist) would describe it, soft paste, would be made by scalding slices of white bread, minus any crust, then kneading it between the fingers having added a sprinkle of sugar, until it became a soft and messy mass. Water was then added to achieve the required consistency for use as groundbait (slop, basically) or hookbait.

Or alternatively .. as in todays methods, prepared on the bank by saturating slices of bread, again minus the crust as it sinks at a much slower rate and "pulls" fish further down stream, in the landing net, allowing it to drain for a minute or so and then mashing it between the fingers until it becomes an almost uncontrollable "milky" mass.

The Roach bait supreme!

I collect up olds and sods of stale bread and dry it out in a bag in the airing cupboard - when I've got enough for a session I just soak in water and mash with an old metal potato masher before squeezing out all the excess mositure. Simples!

Same as The VFC and use cheese cloth to squeeze water out.

I leave the crust in as it travels farther downstream and will pull fish up as they attempt to source the feed. Just dunk a few slices of stake bread in the landing net and away you go. For new bread wreck the food processor and soak before balling in.

I save the heels and odd bits of loaf and let them air dry, tossing them in a bag the day I plan to use them, just grinding it up by hand so there is a variety of particle sizes, if it needs to be bulked up, I'll. add some dry cereal or crackers and mash those up too, a little water from the swim and good to go.

when i go tench fishing i use odd bits of bread put in a bag with water mash it up with hand then throw it in

I bought an American blender from a car boot sale for making my bait "The Osteriser" more or less the same as our smoothie makers, it's ideal for munching dried bread into bread crumbs. Before I had that, I used to take a loaf of bread and soak it in some water, after giving it a good mixing it was ideal for throwing in as a ground bait.

My favourite ground bait for a river is bread crumb spiced up with turmeric and curry power.

I use curry powder in a lot of my baits actually, apart from cheese pasts.

I buy bread from the local shop that is almost out of date 39p today and wizz up in the mixer and store in the freezer The night before I go fishing I let a bag thaw out in my bucket I put 1 sachet of dried yeast with 1 table spoon of rod Hutchinson liver extract and cover with some warm water.
When on the bank in my swim I add river water to the crumb and frothy mess and mix well with some hemp.
Bumble