Presses for cutting and compressing bread flake and crust for hookbait
£ 5.00 each or £ 15.99 for a set of four
The Press Release Says The Snappy Bread Crust Press (Snappy) has been designed to cut bread crusts for use as bait when Carp, Trout and match fishing. The Snappy compresses and forms sliced bread so it will stay on the hook for longer.
Once compressed, the bread can be put on the hook and will begin to oxygenate in the water. After five minutes it will start to bloom and after an hour will be in full bloom, giving greater attraction to the fish.
David Fisher, Piscator Enterprises MD explains, ‘The ‘Snappy’ was initially designed to help people with disabilities break bread slices into small pieces – but we quickly realised the ‘Snappy’ is also be great for children and when your hands are cold.’
Compressed flake and crust from the Snappy
The ‘Snappy’ has its official launch this week (mid November 2006) and is a brand new product designed in the UK specifically for angling enthusiasts.
Each pack contains four ‘Snappys’ with a range of square and round dies which leave an impression on the bread, but does not break through the bread crust. The brightly coloured press, which can be operated with one hand, makes it simple for the user to remove excess bread and insert the hook into the impression in the centre of the crust, then use as bait.
The press release announcing the product didn’t fill me with confidence. And the manufacturer’s description on the packaging didn’t make me feel any better. I’m sure they were not written by an experienced coarse angler.
They’re called Snappy Bread Crust Presses on the packaging, but the press release refers to them being ‘designed to cut bread crusts’ and then refers to the Snappy compressing and forming sliced bread. So they’re bread presses. Not just crust presses.
It gets worse. “The Snappy Bread Crust Press (Snappy) has been designed to cut bread crusts for use as bait when Carp, Trout and match fishing.”
Trout? When was the last time you bought a loaf to go trout fishing?
“Once compressed, the bread can be put on the hook and will begin to oxygenate in the water.”
Oxygenate? No, it doesn’t oxygenate, it loses any oxygen there was in the bread (which won’t be much considering it’s been compressed) and begins to absorb water.
“After five minutes it will start to bloom and after an hour will be in full bloom, giving greater attraction to the fish.”
No, after an hour it will be sloppy and easily sucked off the hook by a fish. The bait will be at its best for the first 10 minutes. After that it wants changing for a fresh piece.
But are these Snappy bread presses any good? Do they do the job? Well, it’s yes and no.
The bread sticks in the ‘Lego’ brick making it hard to use
None of them actually cut the bread. They compress it and then you have to tear the excess away from the edges. The small one that looks like a Lego brick is very hard to use. The bread sticks in the cavities and has to be picked out with a baiting needle or something similar.
It would have been much better if one side of all of the presses was left open, and the single side strengthened, so that bread slices could be inserted easily rather than having to cut them into strips.
The larger presses do compress the bread very well and the compressed piece is easily removed. I’ve long been a fan of the Drennan bread punches and one of the larger two of these Snappy’s will find a home in my tackle box.
As far as I’m concerned you can forget about the small ‘Lego’ one. The next size up with a square and a round press could be useful to someone who likes to trot bread flake. But the two large ones are best, either the square or the round, whichever takes your fancy. So the recommendation is, don’t buy the pack, just buy the one that will do the job for you. A more realistic price for a single press would be £ 3.00 rather than £ 5.00.
It’s a product that could have been very good had more thought, by an experienced coarse angler, gone into it. And the description written by an angler who knows that you don’t fish for trout with bread!
