The Traditional Fisherman's Forum

Some very interesting and varied details and methods above for a great range of venues. A lot of strings for one's bow - more like a 12 string guitar than a violin!

Keith was an excellent river angler mainly with the float if I remember.

However winkling out fish under certain hard conditions prevent a blank! And you can always use those methods to catch fish when they are feeding well.

Totally agree about the marvellous Keith Speer. He gave me invaluable advice over the years and he is sorely missed.
Also this Idlers Quest piece has given me a lot of inspiration and ideas in the past.
http://idlersquest.blogspot.com/2012/01 ... d.html?m=1
Russ

Some good links to further reading there gents Having been a Warburtons 'blue medium' and 'orange toastie' fan for ages, I read on here about the Robertsons 'extra thick' (perhaps posted by Martin James?) and that has become my hookbait of choice for bigger species. I'll have to find some of the jewish challla/kholla and try that too

As I said - don't taste the challah or you'll get no bait made (or buy two loaves and prep one for bait before you taste the other).

There's a fair bit about bread - especially chewed bread as groundbait; the salivary enzyme keeps digesting it, though this wasn't understood at the time - in J. Greville Fennell's "The Book of the Roach":https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id= ... =1up&seq=1

Challah is delicious --- as Vole says never just taste it - you cannot without eating more!

Fennell's book is expensive for it's size -- but very informative .

Lots of interesting info. My own experience has been mainly with using bread for bigger roach 8oz+ on size 12 to 8 hooks and always flake wrapped around then nipped onto the hook shank or around the knot. I've never had a problem hooking fish but I've seen many have a problem and it was always due to squeezing the bread too much. Most of the time I've been fishing at dusk and into dark or winter river fishing usually with quite a bit of colour in the water and either laying on or light ledgering. I use bigger lumps of bread on a bigger hook for chub. I find fresh bread best as it goes doughy where you squeeze it and stays on better and like others find Warburton's very good for hook bait.

Most of the time when fishing for smaller roach I tend to use maggots as they are easier to fish with than bread punch but I have found some spots where the fish prefer bread. I'd be interested to hear others experiences where they have found this to be the case. Also if there a difference in the size of fish caught on maggot and bread punch.

Roll on Friday, I'll be trotting bread on the Test for roach and will doubtless have a few other species as well.

Oddly enough, I saw the original post in this thread on the day Mrs. AC asked me if there were any little things I might like as stocking fillers for C
Christmas.

My search on Abe Books led me not only to "Bread Punch Fishing Diaries" by Mr. Ken Joslin ... but also "The Rising Antenna" by Jim Baxter ... a detailed account of 40 years waggler fishing ... both of which, I am led to believe, will be spirited down our imaginary chimney on Christmas morning !!!

I hope to report back.

My second roach book, Big Roach 2, is still available unlike the first one, Big Roach which is truly sold-out. A storyboard video about it here:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bfiPWv2QWHo

Also a storyboard video of Ivan Marks and the Likely Lads: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nTD4Y7QSN9Q and related to that, the first part of recorded interviews with Ivan's protégé, Phil Coles: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TTjp2JUoge0&t

In the brief window that the local Stour was 'perfect' I got out three times using bread punch and caught very well, with roach to a pound-plus. I need to do a bit of editing but might be able to put a very short video of the last session. I had a few technical issues though!

I too have had issues whilst fishing with bread... in my match days it wasn't a problem with fishing punch for smaller Roach on small hooks... but trying for larger specimens, with bigger hooks the bread never seems to stay on the hook... Even punching bigger discs and hair rigging, it seems to wash off in even the lightest flows