Both work well
Bread flake or paste both work well in the winter, but what about the summer?
I have made two evening trips to the same swim on the same river, to find out the effectiveness of bread flake or paste in the summer. On the first trip I used bread flake with liquidised bread as feed. On the second I used bread paste on the hook.
The river is weedy in the summer, with lilies and eelgrass growing up from the bottom. I will not be able to trot the bait close to the bottom because of the eelgrass. I will have to draw the fish up out of the weeds with the liquidised bread.
The first trip
On the first trip the weather is fine with a blustery wind. I decide to use a Crow Quill Onion float; sensitive, but stable. I have slices fresh white supermarket bread for the flake, with freshly made liquidised bread for the feed.
Pleasingly I catch fish right from the off, but I get a lot of bites from fish too small to take the bait. Not something that happens in the winter. I fish until dusk catching a plenty of Roach up to about half a pound.
The second trip
On my second trip, with soft bread paste on the hook. I do everything as I did on the first visit, except the wind causes me to use a small 3BB Billy Lane style Avon float.
The fishing is much the same, a few Roach, some Rudd and lots of missed bites. I quickly discover the small fish are able to demolish my soft paste very quickly, more quickly than the they could the flake.
Bread flake or paste
After only two trips, my rather subjective opinion is that flake works better than paste for Roach in the summer. The reason is that flake lasts longer against the small fish than paste.
Winter fishing
The fishing is different in the winter. Not only are the Roach in better condition, but most of the small fish have gone. But where have they gone?
The answer is simple, they’re dead! This river is full of Pike, Perch and Chub every one of them eating their fill of the abundant small fish in the summer months. By the winter, thousands of the small fish are simply gone, eaten by the other fish. Any survivors of this decimation have grown on.
Conclusion
Bread flake or paste ? Flake has the edge over paste, but does this mean it’s not worth targeting Roach in the summer? No, it just means accepting the tiddlers as a temporary nuisance or using a different bait.
Related
Small river float fishing for chub
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