STEWING WHEAT

     Not a new bait for me but another one that was once way more popular than it is these days. In fact I've only met one other angler who regularly uses it in maybe the last 25 or 30 years. When I left school and first found employment, Friday mornings in my drawing office would see suspicious noses wrinkling in distaste as a couple of pints stewed slowly beneath my light table. It was my go-to Tench bait for Friday evenings in the Royal Parks. Even then, it has to be said, we used it more in a spirit of experimentation than as a mainstream choice. For all that it worked well enough.

     Today Tench were not my quarry, Roach were and in keeping with other semi-forgotten Roach baits that I've been using it worked well for Bream. Determined to fish for Roach, I tackled up Old Marmalade with a tiny quill taking just a few dust shot and an 18 hook on a 1.3 lbs hooklength. Roach are a delicate, exquisite species worthy of finesse tactics to get the most pleasure from their pursuit. Sadly it is almost impossible to use such tackle these days as everywhere is packed with big powerful fish against which it is almost powerless. Of course, after two or three promising Hybrids and Roach in the 3 to 4 ounce bracket, my fine hooklength was effortlessly destroyed.

     Some people are mystified at my enjoyment of catching Bream but they offer weight without risk and are part and parcel of my Roach fishing, even on 1lb line. I did land a feisty male Tench after stepping up to 2lbs fluoro but lost another in even more violent fashion than the first. All four of my Bream came to the net though, as indeed they ought, even at the hands of somebody as clumsy as myself so I had a nice and varied morning's fishing in the end with a moderate catch consisting of Roach, Hybrids, Bream, Chub and Tench. With a bite pretty much every cast from first to last, it was proof if any were needed that stewed wheat is still a fine bait; readily available and cheap to boot. What's not to like?