Make Perfect Mashed Bread
How to make the best mashed bread. Mashed bread is a killer bait for chub and roach especially. Heres how to make it!
Mashed bread is a fantastic loose-feed. It is cheap, fish love it and when done right is not only easy to make, but an absolutely brilliant bait. It is particularly effective on rivers for chub and roach, but bream, tench, carp, dace and most other fish will be attracted to the cloud it creates.
The trouble with mashed bread is that there is a technique to making it. If done wrong, mashed bread either ends up a ball of dough more like bread paste, which can be thrown well but does not break up - filling the fish up far too quickly. On the other hand, mashed bread can end up too runny and cannot be thrown any distance and will not stay in a feeder for casting. I have had both problems in the past!
The trick is to ensure the bread is prepared properly for being mashed.
Step One - Prepare the Bread to be Mashed
To prepare the bread for mashing, it must be dried. I have found that a good way of doing this is to freeze the bread, then remove it from the freezer and break it into pieces and leave it in an open container to defrost and dry out. The freezing and defrosting of the bread helps it to dry faster - providing it is defrosted where air can get to it i.e. not still in the wrapper or sealed bucket. The ideal container to use is a shallow plastic container used for under-bed storage, because they allow the bread to be spread out letting more air get to each and every piece. The bread is given a good stir with the hands every day, to ensure all of the bread is dried; this process also creates a lot of crumbs - which is a bonus!
After a few days or so, the bread will be dry, but NOT stiff and hard/crunchy. It will be soft enough to be squeezed, but the bread will return to its original shape - rather than stick when compressed like bread flake would, for example.
Step Two - Wetting the Bread
Once the bread is dry enough (but not rock hard), it is ready to be mashed.
Add water bit by bit, until all of the segments are soggy, but not saturated or drowned in water. If the bread was left to dry a bit too much, and has gone hard, leave the bread to soak for 10-20 minutes, this will soften it back up.
Step Three - Break up the Large Pieces of Bread
Break up all the larger pieces using your hands, then give the bread a good mash, scrunching it through your fingers in the tub. If you are fishing for large species, like chub or tench, leave some fairly large lumps in there. If you're fishing for smaller species, such as roach, its a good idea to really give the bread a good going over to help ensure the feed won't fill the fish up too quickly.
Step Four - Add Extras to the Bread
Once the bread has been mashed to your desired consistency, you can add any extra bits and pieces. If the bread is a bit too wet to be made into a ball and thrown, adding a little dry ingredient can help absorb excess water that cannot simply be squeezed out. I like to use Vitamealo, which is a calf milk replacer with a beautiful creamy-sweet smell, which gently binds and helps form a lovely cloud in the water. Be careful not to add too much, as you may end up with a ball of paste, rather than mashed bread! A little at a time will do the trick, until the bread reaches the desired consistancy.
Step Five - Test the Mashed Bread
Test the mashed bread by dropping a small ball into a bucket of water. The bread should hold together for a little while - long enough to sink in the swim - then break up into a cloud of small bread pieces.