WHAT'S THE MATTER WITH BROWN CRUMB? 
- by George Glen

I was chatting about groundbait at a fishing meeting recently, rabitting on about my favourite mixes and where to use them. 'What's the matter with brown crumb?' came the question. 'Well errr ...', good question! I fired off a few standard points and comments to get me off the hook.

BEWILDERING CHOICE

I thought hard about this later on. I may have been talking right over the heads of most of the anglers present. The choice of groundbaits used to be simple, brown or white! Now to newcomers to the sport it must seem like a black art - fancy bags with different impressive colours and smells and all at impressive prices. Many anglers must be bewildered with the choice and something that most of the time needs to be kept simple will seem complicated and daunting.

My first thoughts on this article were to describe the mixes I use on various Scottish waters. On second thoughts I knew that though this might be useful to the readers they wouldn't neccessarily understand WHY I arrived at each mix and HOW the groundbait behaves in the water. (I'll still give some example mixes at the end).

Thinking further I realised that I don't really bother too much exactly which component groundbaits I use as long as they work for me and fit in with some key principles from my understanding of groundbait. These principles help me decide which groundbait to use in which situation. For example I could use almost any combination of Cloud, Special, Supreme, Super Cup, Noveau, Black and fine brown crumb (and I often do ) to make a light mix that would work exactly the same way as any other combination. Who made the groundbait or what the packet says it catches isn't important to me. It's what I throw in that counts and it doesn't matter how I arrive at that, as long as it works!

It's worth getting right down to the real basics of what makes groundbait behave the way it does.

All groundbaits, however fancy and complicated, are made up of one or more basic ingredients. Each ingredient has it's own properties and behaves in a certain way when mixed with water. The ingredients, and their combinations, give a mix it's overall properties. The key basic properties, as I see it, are - Stickyness (or binding), Weight, Activity, Texture, Food content, Taste (or smell) and Colour .

Breadcrumb groundbait basically has only one ingredient - bread! This is very useful stuff and is an important part of many continental style mixes but used on it's own it has some limitations. The key thing about bread is the nature of it's stickyness.

STICKYNESS

If you take a slice of bread and squeeze it gently it will stick to itself but can be prized apart. Squeeze it hard and you end up with dough. That will never come apart! This stickyness comes from bread's high fat content. Breadcrumb is usually the product of drying and grinding bread. The longer and more thoroughly it is dried the lower the fat content.

You can get many varieties of breadcrumb but the only main differences are the texture (fine to coarse) and the fat content. Fat also hardens more in cold water. Many of us have put that hard ball of pure white crumb in the water at the side, it's still there when you go home!

Crumb is still good on it's own if you get good quality stuff and mix it carefully. Fine stuff can make a good soft cloud or can be presed harder to get down. It is a good summer bait but can be a bit filling for the winter. It is still a useful base or filler for a mix but fat is not the best sticking agent for groundbait. This is why the continentals keep the bread content down. They have worked out more versatile things to bind groundbait together with.

Sugar is the answer! It's sticky but dissolves quickly, even in cold water. You can add sugary ingredients in various amounts so you can control the stickyness. Molasses meal is a common form in continental mixes but the best stuff to buy on it's own is PV1. If you carry some PV1 you can bind even the lightest groundbait, it is very versatile, and it only needs a little to stick a lot! Sticky binders will help the ball stay together to the bottom but will dissolve quickly to let the ball break up.

Many other ingredients have some binding properties. Some grains are sticky, like fine maize meal. Grey Leam is a very fine powdered clay that is a great binder in small amounts but add it carefully and don't get it too wet.

WEIGHT

Weight is the next factor to consider. Maybe 'Density' is the scientific name for what I mean. The key heavy ingredient in continental groundbait mixes is soil or clay. One important kind is sold as Damp Leam. This is very heavy on it's own and squeezed tightly it will sink like a stone. Riddle it thoroughly before using, to remove lumps.

A very light groundbait like 'Cloud' will contain very fine particles of ground seeds and grains that have relatively little food content and will sink very slowly.

Maybe it's obvious which situations require a heavy or light mix but remember that it's the combination of ingredients that matters. If you mix pure Cloud with 10% riddled Damp Leam you will get a mix that is heavy enough to throw well, but it will still burst near the surface and make a light cloud.

Damp Leam also has binding qualities. Squeeze it together very hard and it's very fine particles will 'lock' together. This property is often used in a mix to make balls that will hold together for a long time before slowly breaking up.

ACTIVITY

'Active' groundbait is often talked about but not so often understood. The idea of groundbait 'fizzing' away on the bottom sounds great but what is really going on?

Activity is simply caused by particles that move in the water. This has much to do with the nature (density) of some particles in the mix. Some ingredients float, and particles will break out of the ball and rise to the surface. Some are dense and will sit inert on the bottom.

Those ingredients that have a near neutral density can rise and fall. They may float a little bit, then absorb some more water and slowly sink, then be wafted about by water movements and the fish. Particles that are oily often behave this way and the classic of course is crushed or ground hempseed.

Crushed Hemp is a great ingredient - it smells and tastes lovely, it is oily and helps groundbaits break and move, the broken shells are shiny and drift around - perfect, especially for roach. I prefer to roast uncooked hemp in the oven for say 15 mins before grinding it up roughly. Roasting brings out a powerful, coffee like aroma, I think that the fish like it, I know I love it!

Activity sounds like a fine thing to have in your groundbait but it will not always be desirable. You may want to keep the fish hard on the deck and not chasing bits around, or you may want the bait to stay put better in a flow. In Denmark they deliberately make the groundbait static to avoid attracting Roach so that they can get through to the Bream. Unfortunately we don't have that problem!

TEXTURE / FOOD CONTENT

I've put these two factors together because they are closely linked. Texture alone can affect the bait's binding. Fine particles will tend to lock together better while coarse mixes may require more stickiness to be added to hold the big particles together.

Food content is partly dictated by the amount of coarse particles - they give the fish something to 'get their teeth into'. This can be a good thing or a bad thing depending on the situation. Sometimes, especially in summer, you need to give the fish a good mouthful and the more interesting tasty particles the better. Often though, certainly in winter, a lot of 'big stuff' will feed them off and distract from the hookbait.

A recent situation illustrates this perfectly. On the Clyde last autumn I had some good catches using a lot of groundbait. I ended up cramming it full of goodies like crushed hemp and ground maize to save breaking up the groundbait with too many maggots yet still keep big shoals of hungry Roach and Dace excited.

As the winter took hold strange things happened. I could get a few bites with my lovely groundbait in a feeder then nothing. The fish actually seemed to come to the groundbait quickly then run away from it as if full up or more likely scared. Even though the river was still full of fish the only answer was to cut the amount and food value of the groundbait. In the end we were all using 50/50 mixes of Match Blend (a fine mix) and Damp Leam with only a few pinkies in a smaller feeder. A nice puff of cloud around the feeder but little food content.

TASTE AND SMELL

I don't have too many stong opinions on what are the best smells and flavours for mixes. I think that it is more important to get the stickyness, weight, activty and food content right. I don't like too many different smells and and tastes in the one mix, I reckon the fish will be just as confused as I am!

For Roach I always like to smell hemp in the mix. I don't mind adding some sweet stuff in the summer, I feel that is right. In winter I'm not so sure about sweet groundbait. Maybe that's because the French groundbaits I use tend to work that way anyway - sweet and coarse for summer (eg. Sensas Roach), fine and saltier for winter (eg. Sensas Match Blend), who am I to argue with Jean Desque. Until he stops beating me off the next peg I'll heed his advice!

Sometimes a very strong smell, any smell, is important to help fish find your bait in very coloured water.

I'm sure there is a lot to be said for special smells and flavours but I usually like to keep it simple. I might be missing out but I don't like to take risks when all the other details of groundbait and tactics are, in my opinion, much more important.

COLOUR

Like smell I don't get too hung up on colour if the other key factors of a mix are right. I naturally tend towards darker colours, maybe that's because of the waters I fish.

The French reckon that colour is is important relative to the size of fish you are aiming to catch. I believe this mainly applies to bottom groundbaits and the way they feed heavily to the bottom. They say that small fish are afraid to swim over a light bottom, or groundbait, as they feel vulnerable to attack. This makes sense to me and since I am often fishing for whatever comes along, and do not want to discourage small fish, I most often use dark brown to black colours.

By the same logic, use light coloured groundbait if you want to exclude small fish and only catch big fish. I don't do this often at present but it also makes sense.

I don't think these ideas apply so much up in the water and I don't mind if a surface mix is light in colour. I use Sensas Cloud a lot, a light coloured bait.

PRACTICAL USE

Whew, that lot's a weight of my mind! I know that may all seem very theoretical but I think the above covers the kind of things that make groundbait mixes behave the way the do. Maybe now you can see that, compared to brown crumb, continental style mixes and ingredients have endless possibilities and advantages, as long as you don't over complicate it and get confused.

I know there is a lot of detail in what I have said but there is also much that I haven't said. It's the basic principle factors that you must try and remember, Stickyness, Weight, Activity, Texture/Food Content, Smell/Taste and Colour.

Common sense is the next vital ingredient in chosing a mix for a certain situation. This article can't teach you how to fish and how to feed, but if you can imagine how you want your groundbait to behave all the clues are above. A little bit of trial and error is probably needed but you will soon get a feel for how various groundbaits mix up and what you catch when you throw them in!

MIXING IT

I know this is very basic but it is worth stating some guidelines.

1. Mix your dry ingredients thouroughly in a big enough round bowl before you add any water.

2. Add water slowly and mix it in thoroughly with both hands - try to imagine you are whisking it with the aim of keeping air in the mix

3. When it feels nearly wet enough, stop and let the mix sit for at least 5 minutes to absorb water

4. Check if the mix needs more water and add it carefully, testing as you go. A ball should hold together well but should break up back to fine particles when rubbed in your hands

5. Add riddled damp leam only after the groundbait is ready

6. Push the mix through a maggot sized riddle to make it smoother and add air to the mix. I often don't do this if I am happy with the way it is. It's up to you.

You can mix up the night before a session. This can be more convenient and light, fine mixes come out smoother and easier to use. This is not advised if you want a very active mix. The active particles will absorb too much water which kills the movement.

Only add small amounts of feed bait (maggotts / bloodworm) as you need to make a ball during the session.

EXAMPLE MIXES

I found this bit quite difficult to write as I pretty much make it up as I go along, changing my mixes from match to match as the year goes on. However when I think back I can see some basic mixes that I can recommend to you as a starting point for certain situations.

Proportions may look exact but they are actually ISH !

Canal - Clear and hard - target perch with some roach near the bottom -
bloodworm/joker held together quite hard with 50/50 Damp and Grey Leam

Canal - Small Roach 2-3 ft deep -
85% Cloud, 10% Black, 5% Damp Leam

Canal - versatile summer mix for Roach, Skimmers, Tench - Squeeze hard to get to bottom
75% Formula Supreme or Lake, 25% Canal Extra

Strathclyde Park - Roach, Summer
40% Brown Crumb, 40% Roach, 10% Crushed Roast Hemp, 10% PV1

Strathclyde Park - Winter, Roach
45% Lake, 45% Match Blend, 10% PV1

Strathclyde Park - Perch
65% Damp Leam, 35% Match Blend

Strathclyde Park - Gudgeon
70% Damp Leam, 30% Superblack

River Clyde - Summer/Autumn
50% Brown Crumb, 10% Crushed Roast Hemp, 20% Roach, 20% PV1

River Clyde - Winter
40% Brown Crumb, 40% Match Blend, 20% PV1

River Clyde - Winter Feeder -
50% Damp Leam, 50% Match Blend