River Bream - in a class by themselves

[dezza]

I've never caught a double figure bream, officially that is, yet I once landed an unbelievable monster and no amount of shouting for help in the dead of night would attract any fellow angler. The snores from their bivvies told me so.

I was stuck at the bottom of a rocky shore with the tide coming in, holding a bloody great bream in my landing net, a bream that would have certainly made my Avons whince!

I let the fish go, and even now I wonder what the darned thing weighed.

But everytime you see a big bream caught in the angling press, it's taken from a gravel pit! Obviously a boily gutted "mistake" by a carp angler. You don't often see a ten pound plus river bream do you?

But there are more big bream taken in rivers by barbel anglers than you would ever imagine. The Trent has plenty of them, up to 10 lbs too, yet when do you see these in the angling press?

As far as I am concerned, a 10 pound river bream is worth every bit as much as a 20 pound gravel pit monster in the specimen stakes.

And it's about time the angling press recognised it too.

What do you think?

 

[Nobby C (ACA)]

I know there's more than a few up to 7lbs at least in the semi-tidal Thames, and I shouldn't be surprised if they could go to double figures but I for one won't be searching them down.
Some say they can be worthy adversarys and fight hard on fine tackle but I've no interest in the slimy,stinking things whatsoever, surely only a match angler would welcome such a large ,wet sack in his keepnet.
But if 1 large bream saves a small barbel from the poachers cooking fires then their existence is most welcome.

 

[dezza]

I know there's more than a few up to 7lbs at least in the semi-tidal Thames, and I shouldn't be surprised if they could go to double figures but I for one won't be searching them down.
Some say they can be worthy adversarys and fight hard on fine tackle but I've no interest in the slimy,stinking things whatsoever, surely only a match angler would welcome such a large ,wet sack in his keepnet.
But if 1 large bream saves a small barbel from the poachers cooking fires then their existence is most welcome.

So you don't like them then?

 

[Nobby C (ACA)]

I think we can safely say that !

They're a different beast to be sure Ron, but no, they are not welcome to flap feebly for 2 seconds after taking my bait.

 

[The Scarlet Maggot]

Bream! The fork tailed plague, horrid things, but no doubt a sight to behold when in double figures… Talking of cooking fires, the Finish boil whole bream in vinegar and pepper, to make bream soup, I really couldn’t think of anything more revolting, especially seeing that miserable looking face bobbing about.

Nobby, sounds mildly apocalyptic!

 

[preston96]

What a sad way of seeing fish some have!!

The Severn holds bream well into double figures and to me they are just another fish....there for the challange when the mood takes me.

On old FM John Conway did a superb article on the big Bream of the River Lune, i'm sure he took their capture as a challenge.

A double figure bream from a river is a very worthy fish by my reckoning.

 

[Nobby C (ACA)]

I'm playing devils whatsit here Paul but you say:

What a sad way of seeing fish some have!!

And then:


to me they are just another fish

 

[dezza]

Is that the lower Severn Brummie?

I once took a nice catch of bream and barbel near Upton on Severn when I lived in Warwick. The bream went to 6 1/2 lbs and the barbel, 3 of them to 7 lbs.

And do you know the bream gave me far more of a pull around than the barbel.

I have had some real struggles with bream in my life. The bream of the Shannon in Ireland were real fighters, especially fish around the 6 pound mark. and no slime either.

Peter Stone used to tell me of the Thames bream around Oxford when the shoals were huge and 100lb + catches were often on the cards if you had enough groundbait to hold them. He often said that some of them could fight better than barbel.

But the best scrap I ever had with a bream was with a mere 6 pounder from the Old Course of the Nene in Cambridgeshire. I had to follow that fish for almost 100 yards!

 

[Nobby C (ACA)]

And do you know the bream gave me far more of a pull around than the
But the best scrap I ever had with a bream was with a mere 6 pounder from the Old Course of the Nene in Cambridgeshire. I had to follow that fish for almost 100 yards![/QUOTE]

Yeah, those floppy bamboo rods really are pants for fishing with aren't they?

 

[dezza]

And do you know the bream gave me far more of a pull around than the
But the best scrap I ever had with a bream was with a mere 6 pounder from the Old Course of the Nene in Cambridgeshire. I had to follow that fish for almost 100 yards![/QUOTE]

Yeah, those floppy bamboo rods really are pants for fishing with aren't they?

One thing I will say about any bream that reaches a decent size is that they are far more difficult to catch than any barbel.

Barbel are often as thick as planks. Big river bream can be very wary indeed.

I remember a small shoal of fair sized bream that used to inhabit a stretch of the Upper Great Ouse. **** Walker, Fred J Taylor and numerous other angling luminaries tried very hard to catch these bream, but they all failed.

**** Walker wrote an article for submission to Angling Times which he called the "Uncatchable Bream of the Ouse". Just as he was about to send the article off, he recieved a phone call from Tag Barnes from a pay phone in Stoney Stratford, who told him that he had just caught three of his "uncatchable" bream!

 

[Peter Jacobs]

Yeah, those floppy bamboo rods really are pants for fishing with aren't they?

If the above was in jest, then; insert smiley thing > > > HERE, if serious then please read below:

A retort that springs to mind that starts with the word "bol" and ends in the word "locks"

As to river bream in rivers they can be a worthy adversary. I know of a stretch on the Avon where there is a shoal of bream all around the 7lb to 9lb+ mark that are more than a match for the average angler's skills.
While some stillwater Bream can be a triffle sluggish in the fight, river Bream seem to know exactly how and where to take you to give you a few frights.

 

[preston96]

I'm playing devils whatsit here Paul but you say:

What a sad way of seeing fish some have!!

And then:


to me they are just another fish

Of course they are just another fish.......i like to catch em all, depending on what mood i'm in, i do not hold any fish as better as another, i have my favourites yes but i see big bream as a great angling challenge.

---------- Post added at 08:58 ---------- Previous post was at 08:56 ----------

Is that the lower Severn Brummie?

I once took a nice catch of bream and barbel near Upton on Severn when I lived in Warwick. The bream went to 6 1/2 lbs and the barbel, 3 of them to 7 lbs.

And do you know the bream gave me far more of a pull around than the barbel.

I have had some real struggles with bream in my life. The bream of the Shannon in Ireland were real fighters, especially fish around the 6 pound mark. and no slime either.

Peter Stone used to tell me of the Thames bream around Oxford when the shoals were huge and 100lb + catches were often on the cards if you had enough groundbait to hold them. He often said that some of them could fight better than barbel.

But the best scrap I ever had with a bream was with a mere 6 pounder from the Old Course of the Nene in Cambridgeshire. I had to follow that fish for almost 100 yards!

Yes Ron, the lower Severn at least below Stourport

 

[Scott Whatmore]

I just like catching fish.... period.

Yes I sometimes try (and I do mean try) to target a certain species. But I don't really care what dips the float or what pulls the tip round. And I certainly wouldn't moan if it was ever a big 10lb plus bream. Where I fish on the Thames at Windsor Race Coarse, They average around 6-7lb and I know for certain there are lots bigger.

 

[Paul Morley]

When tenching on a Cheshire mere they're a grey, ghostly, pain in the ass. On a Lincolnshire river, they're bronze, clean and fight like chub (then give up). The latter is a worthy target, tho I'd only do it once or twice a season. I have those old Peter Stone articles, they are a great read and much of what he learned and passed on with Bream made modern legering what it is today. So the humble Bream has a part to play in Angling history. I'll take a wild river fish over a fat ugly carp any day, thanks!!

 

[dezza]

I think it was Isaak Walton who described the bream as "Stately".

Also:

"He who hath breemf in hyf ponddef may maketh hyf freindef wellcomme."

:j

---------- Post added at 03:14 ---------- Previous post was at 03:12 ----------

When tenching on a Cheshire mere they're a grey, ghostly, pain in the ass. On a Lincolnshire river, they're bronze, clean and fight like chub (then give up). The latter is a worthy target, tho I'd only do it once or twice a season. I have those old Peter Stone articles, they are a great read and much of what he learned and passed on with Bream made modern legering what it is today. So the humble Bream has a part to play in Angling history. I'll take a wild river fish over a fat ugly carp any day, thanks!!

I wonder what Graham would say to that.

 

[Sean Meeghan]

I remember a small shoal of fair sized bream that used to inhabit a stretch of the Upper Great Ouse. **** Walker, Fred J Taylor and numerous other angling luminaries tried very hard to catch these bream, but they all failed.

**** Walker wrote an article for submission to Angling Times which he called the "Uncatchable Bream of the Ouse". Just as he was about to send the article off, he recieved a phone call from Tag Barnes from a pay phone in Stoney Stratford, who told him that he had just caught three of his "uncatchable" bream!

Hmm... Funny you should say that Ron. My PB bream is just under 9lb caught not far from Stoney Stratford on the Upper Gt Ouse. I was 'done' by one on my chub gear that day!

 

[Mark Wintle]

Match catches of bream in the last 4 years from Medley (very close to where Peter Stone lived) have far exceeded any of Stoney's achievements as far as size of bag is concerned. It now holds the Thames match record but for the life of me I can't remember the weights but 188lbs rings a bell, possibly over 200lb. Certainly beat Mike Stratton's old 175lb record.

On the lower Stour (Dorset) bream are less prevalent lately.

 

[S-Kippy]

The trouble I have with bream is that every one I catch was supposed to be something else.So no matter how big,how well conditioned or how good a fight [and some do] they are always an anti-climax.I've had some very big river bream that forgot they were supposed to be barbel,chub or roach and on stillwaters they are nearly always supposed to be tench...but never are.I'm afraid they are one of those fish that I'm largely indifferent to...like pike...not bothered if I never catch another one.

 

[Rickrod]

Ive had some good fights with bream on the right gear.River bream up to nearly 7lb And fishing for bream with waggler ive had them to 10lb8oz and they do pull back.Its not only the bigger ones that fight ive had some good tussles with fish around the 4lb mark.I once got a screaming run from a fish on the river severn i was sure i was about to strike into a barbel or a carp turn out to be a 4lb bream.yep ive had some good fun fishing for bream.My pb at the moment is 10lb10oz caught with 1 1/2lb test rods fishing for bream.And i hope to beat this this spring.Yes ive caught them with carp gear up to about 9lb and its not the same with such strong tackle.

 

[Day Breamer]

Bream can hang on a bit, some just give up but others can be right stubborn things, ive had them take 20 yards of line off.

Thats assuming you can hook one before one of those greedy little ratfish that will eat anything dont get to the bait first !!