Natural bread, This bait can be bought in many varieties from plain white sliced bread to seeded batch type tin loafs fresh from the bakery all have their individual qualities and attributes for best targeting specific species of fish under different water conditions, every angler has read the tales from older angling books of an angler placing a large piece of flake upon their hook only to strike into a big fish moments later, if only it were that simple, in years gone by this bait was praised for being one of the most efficient and consistent baits the angler could use largely due to the amount of bread that entered the waterways on a regular basis not only from anglers but from people feeding ducks, swans and geese, perhaps these times brought with them a more relaxed way of life when an angler could sit down to an afternoons fishing without the overwhelming urge or necessity to catch a single fish content with watching the summers evening go bye and sharing time with other people, I believe that bread fishing is still as effective today as it was then but that we have lost favour with this once common bait favouring a more up to date method of fishing with baits that were unheard of and unused in those times, natural bread has its own distinct flavour, colour and texture which lends it to excel in certain situations, it will float, sink to the bottom like a stone or cloud the water depending on how it is fished, I will list the different forms of bread fishing below with information on rigs and tactics.

Bread Flake, this is one of the most common forms of bread methods used for big fish, bread flake should be torn from a fresh uncut loaf of any type (most commonly white loaf) omitting the crust, tare off the size of bread flake that you wish to use, place hook into middle of flake and squeeze or pinch flake around hook shank without disturbing the flake around  bend or point of the hook, this should ensure that when the flake is submersed in water the amount around the hook will swell concealing it and give you the best presentation, flake should be used with hook sizes 12 - 6 depending on size of flake and fish being targeted, if you want to add a flavour or colour to your bread there are two ways to do this the first is to add the flavour or colour when the flake is on the hook either by dipping it in or via atomizer, the other method is to cut of the end crusts of the loaf and spray them well leave for about half an hour and then repeat the process before freezing it, when the bread is taken out of the freezer repeat this action again and the bread should absorb the colour or flavour to a reasonable depth, I prefer to use the first method as it is better to use fresh bread rather than frozen.

Bread Punch, this is a firm favourite when it comes to winter bread fishing with fine rigs and light tackle and should ensure some kind of sport from most venues, you can use either fresh liquidised bread as feed or fine dried bread purchased from a tackle shop, personally I don't believe that you will beat a good fresh loaf finely liquidised without the crusts, fishing the pole is the definitive method with fine rigs and light tackle feeding your prepared bread into the swim via a pole pot, there are many good bread punch sets available from good tackle shops and once you have bought a set they should last forever, you will have to prepare your bread for fishing the punch by removing the crusts, steaming it over a boiling kettle or a few seconds in the microwave, rolling flat the slices with a cool rolling pin and then rolling these flattened pieces up wrapping them in cling film as you do so, keep these rolls of flattened bread in a cool fridge until used, the reason for this is so that when you punch out your chosen size of bread you can pass your hook through the middle of this piece without it splitting or being pulled from the bread punch and when it is immersed in water it will swell disguising your hook point, a good tip when fishing punch is to prepare two portions of bread paste , one yellow and one red from a little liquidised bread and some flour with two or three drops of extra virgin olive oil added, knead into a putty and wrap as before in some cling film to prevent it drying out then use this bait in small round balls every now and again or when bites become difficult it may just score you some extra bites or better fish during a match.

Bread Paste, you can make good bread paste adding almost anything that you like to flavour or colour it as you go as long as you use the same basic base ingredients first which is any bread base be it from a fresh uncut loaf, sliced loaf with the crusts removed or even flour, an egg to bind it and some oil to stop it drying out along with a little water to help the process along we will assume that you are using a fresh uncut loaf to make your bread paste base, the method is as follows, remove all of the crusts on any bread that you are using and tare into small pieces or lightly liquidize, place into a large mixing bowl, add about a capful of olive oil or grape seed oil, add any flavour or colour that you decide upon, you can even add fresh bananas, strawberries, fish, cheese, garlic, meat bases or anything else that you fancy trying, knead into a stiff paste adding a little water or an egg to bind when powder type flavours have been added, you should end up with a stiff smooth paste that does not crack when flattened, if this is not the case then you have probably not added enough oil or your paste is too dry, you will have to experiment a bit with ingredient amounts but it is well worth it to learn how much is needed, remember to wrap any paste in cling film or a damp cloth and keep pot of direct sunlight in the summer or it will soon dry out, if it does dry out a little just wet your hands and knead excess water into paste, fish paste baits on a wide gaped hook using sizes 14 - 8, either pinch straight onto the hook, form a round ball or fish in conjunction with a hair rig moulding the paste around a large bead or cork ball.

Bread crust, this bait is primarily used for surface type fishing for Carp, Rudd or other surface feeders, there are many ways to use and prepare a piece of crust to use on the hook but most just tare a good piece from an uncut loaf and place on the hook, if you are going to target small mouthed surface feeders like Rudd or Roach then buy a stick of French bread and cut it into different sized pieces, leave to harden over a couple of days and then place it in an airtight bag, this hardened crust will absorb water very quickly fluffing up into a soft piece as soon as it hits the water and is perfect for fishing small pieces on lighter tackle and fine wired hooks for smaller fish in conjunction with a small surface controller, it will keep very well when dry lasting for around three to four months in an air tight bag.

Other Bread Based Uses, a bread feed base is used in most if not all of the commercial type ground baits that you will buy from a tackle shop, it is far better to buy your ground bait (dried and milled bread) from a seed merchants by the 25 kilo sack, as a general rule use dark coloured crumbs like Black, dark red and dark brown in clear water and lighter shades in coloured waters, brown crumb will give you the best all round ground bait with white being added to stiffen the ground bait mix as it usually contains more fat, if you want to make your ground bait fizz and work in the water then add  50% ground hemp, dried or crushed cereals, desiccated coconut or some olive or grape seed oil.

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On this page Bread including paste made from bread crumb or flour