Bream on the Pole

I live close to Squabmoor Reservoir near Exmouth. The water contains specimen carp and shoals of bream which I have been trying to locate off the damn wall using long pole, my preferred method. The damn slopes down to 20+ feet and at 9-11 metres I fish top five sections (14-15 feet deep) with a 1.5 gram float set just a few inches over depth.
Last week I started off by cupping in 4-6 large solid balls of crumb + VDE gold bream ground bait + liquidized corn as a binder, full of squats and maggots. Managed to find some small skimmers to 1.5 lbs but the bit's were hard to feed off even when giving them a ball a chuck with 4/5 red maggots on a 14 hook. I noticed some groundbait fizzing further out so this week I used a crumb + finely ground Vitalin mixed with liquidized corn, casters and maggots. Didn't squeeze the balls so hard so they wouldn't roll down the slope, they sank ok and it seemed better. Hardly had any bit's this time and eventually caught two bream of 4 lbs and 8.5 pounds and bumped another good fish, but couldn't keep them coming. I get the feeling I am drawing them up the shelf but it takes ages to get the proper beam feeding.
Do you think I would be better off locating the bottom of the shelf at 12-14 metres? or trying a different mix?
The carp boys catch big bream on fishmeal boilies but I am trying not to attract carp.
Any ideas or views welcome.

i had a look at that res a few weeks ago while on holiday lovely res
have you tried a different spot where you can get on the bottom rather than trying to bring the fish up the slope
have you tried pellet as a hook bait
if there are carp anglers fishing the bream may be switching on to pellet

Thanks Rob,

During the summer the bream do patrol the narrow, shallower areas at the other end of the res but most of the reported catches of bream are in the deeps. The paths down both sides of the res from the damm are quite narrow and it's a struggle with the pole there, especially when fishing top five or six sections deep. I intend to give the pellet a go but as I said ,I don't want to risk the carp if I can help it. This week I am going to try and locate the bottom by setting up top 7 or 8 deep rigs and pushing out to a max 14 metres, I will add pellets to my mix and as alternative hookers to the red maggots.

have you tryed worms?
i use worms for most of my bream fishing and get good bags.
i use chopped worm fed through a dropper and fish lob tails on a size 14.
if i was fishing in water that deep i would try and tempt the fish in a little closer and would be tempted to fish to hand.
but this is down to the pole being used as it needs to be strong and needs to take a good strong elastic but at the same time needs to be supple enough to absorb your strike, as it can also bump fish as with bream it takes time to get them feeding and a couple of bumped fish can some times result in the shole spooking.
as for floats i would use floats from 2 grams upwards as you need a heavy float to get your bait out and down to the fish.
good luck.

Thank you Dan,

I have fished a lot with worms in the Midlands on canals, lakes and rivers and I think your idea is worth a go. I have a small bait dropper which I have tried using over a bed of ground bait at this venue with maggots, but it didn't give me much of a response. I will go collect a bucket of lobs (when the rain stops) and give it a go. The elastic is a problem at this depth and I find N0 6 the best with a doubling effect down near the bung. Since doing this I have had bumped less fish. With maggots a 1.5 gram was better than 2 gram, don't know why. But with lobs I agree that 2 gram maybe better with a slightly thicker bristle. There are perch there too and I have landed some to 1.5 lbs along with roach to the same size, both of these species will take the worm as you know. This Sunday I am trying further out on the same method as when landing the brace before. I will try the worms next time m8 and let you know.
Cheers.

If the Bream shoals are large, with good size fish it may be better to opt for heavier feeding to try and keep the fish there. A shoal of big bream will quickly empty your swim of feed and move on. I fish a similar type water, also for it's big bream.....it isnt unusual to feed thirty or forty jaffa sized balls at the off.

Thanks Tom,

I spent 7 hours on the res today fishing the same damm wall peg. It was quite windy (from directly behind me) and I couldn't manage 14 metres so I fished at 12 metres, using a top 6 rig of 1.5 grams (bulk 3 feet from the hook and just 3 x No tens droppers). I had to add 4 feet of line to the rig to make the depth and in ideal conditions I now realise I would need 16 metres to actually fish true bottom. I cupped in 8 big balls on the off and added 3 more every 15 mins for the first hour (VDE Gold Bream, crumb and ground Vitalin containing casters, liquidised corn and maggotts). Only the odd knock for 90 mins then a few perch and a brace of eels, averaging a pound each, took the bunch of 5 red maggotts on a 14 hook fished 4 inches over depth. I stepped up the feed adding another 3 big balls and had an immediate result with a 1.5lb skimmer and from that point on I gave them a ball a chuck. The smaller skimmers fed steadily until a proper bream of around 4lbs was landed, this killed it for 10 minutes then an eel of 2+ pounds interupted the fun. The eels do kill the swim for up to 30 mins, then I got the skimmers going again including a proper 6 pounder. Ran out of ground bait around 4 o'clock (used around 12 pounds dry) so I think your spot on with the need for extra mix. My final weight was close to 50lbs of skimmers from hand size to 1.5 pounds plus the two bigger samples, 3 eels, 6 perch to around a pound and around 20 roach to 12oz.
Now my next dilemma is, with the cold weather imminent,will I still need the volume of ground bait?

For cold weather you need a groundbait with a lower feed content, imagine yourself as being kinda peckish, but at the same time feeling picky...so not too many offerings, just attractants. With cold weather and cold water conditions, i change my groundbait mix, i use a ratio of 1 part brown crumb, 1 part "SIEVED" VDE bream pro gold, and 1 part Sensas black lake. Often i'll use ground and sieved Vitalin mixed equally in the crumb. i find this a good winter mix...low on particles, but a good carrier for caster, chopped worm and a few dead maggots. I'd half the volume, and only put in perhaps three balls initially, well laced with a mixture of offerings, particularly worm. Personally, in winter i think a good scent is much more inclined to get the Bream interested. On the hook it would be smaller baits possibly, say...a redworm with a red maggot or a caster. I'd be interested to know how you got on!

Thanks Tom,

It's been sometime since I did the "winter thing" but this is such good sport I am gonna persevere cos the weather here seldom gets as bleak as the Midlands. I have fished Patsull Park near Wolverhampton for years, it only opens for course from October onwards and is very deep in places. When it got really cold and bleak we used to mix in damp leam with crumb and lake and just a few red maggotts, switching to pinkies when it got really cold because they would still wriggle in freezing conditions. I have a day off tomorrow so I am giving it another go with a few changes having read your message. Collected some worms last night, bet the eels will love it!
I'll keep you posted m8, thankyou.