Bream fishing

Hi guys, what is the best method for catching some big bream?
I have found a local lake that stocks them and i am going to fish for them this weekend,i have caught bream before but never intenionally.

Hi Wendy,

I'm no expert on this, but I would go for a cage feeder containing a pellet based groundbait mixed with micropellets, or a mixture of brown crumb with some corn.

I would also start off with a long hooklink and shorten it to suit as bites dictate. On the hook, either corn, banded pellet, red maggots or a couple of Dendrabena worms.

If the fish are within "pole or Waggler Range" Ive found they love the green swim stim groundbait mixed into a paste.

Like I said Im no expert, maybe someone like Warren Gaunt may be able to advise in much more detail.

Or our Graham, bream basher extraordinaire!

I'm hoping to get a few big bream this summer, including a big Trent bream.

You have mail Wendy, would put it on here but its an unedited article i did for Coarse Fisherman.

not the best time of year for it to be honest.

better in summer.

but a groundbait of 1/3 ground pellet, 1/3 ground hemp and 1/3 brown crumb, with micro pellets, and corn mixed in.

fishing corn and small redworm cocktail on the hook works for me.

the art in it is finding their patrol routes. which usually involves lots of observation from a high vantage point.

then prebait their patrol route.

other wise a couple of weeks of daily prebaiting in a likely looking spot and fish it when the light is low.

wol edit it so you can put it on here. pleeeeeeeeese!

....or mail me a copy too,please,I'm going for some Trenties.
Just to see if i can shake my distaste for them.;o)

so you think it's too cold for them yet?

Have any of you tried to catch them at this time of year?

Cheers Wol loved reading that, and they are superb fish!

Hi Wendy,

It is'nt the right time of year really Wendy.

I usually fish mini Scopex boilies,tutti frutti sweetcorn soaked in maple syrup (bottom baits & pop-ups) or any maize hookbaits.Baiting and rig choice I centre around fishing carp-style baits, i.e. beds of sweetened pellets and boilies or beds of particles using plenty of mollasses,sweater the better.Large beds of groundbait as they do patrol so you need enough to keep them in your swim.

To compliment beds of groundbait, method feeders offer the casting weight, hooking resistance, and bait application that is second-to-none, and in some situations are great for fooling wary fish. It?s a case of changing your approach bit at a time until you start catching.

Simple helicopter or bolt rigs on scaled-down carp tackle, with smaller hooks and lesser diameter lines.Other than this no other specialist tackle is required. At the end of the day, the Bream will generally be feeding similarly to carp, so match the carp lad?s tackle and bait on your water, to find yourself hooked to into a specimen bream.

Hope this helps!!

Wendy you will have a decent chance of a double figure Bream at Snetterton in June.
I had a thread on catching a double figure Bream from one of the lakes there. Graham and Wol were among the many who gave advice. If you can find it it may be worth a skim through. If I could find it I would not be able to link.

What's a big bream, Wendy? Are we talking 10-pounder or 5-pounder here?

I only ask because dustbin lids are notoriously time-consuming to locate and catch - not quite the mugs that fish up to 5lb are.

Over in this part of the world, the River Welland is absolutely loused out with bream at the Deeping end right at the start - and sometime at the end - of the season.

There are some really big ones - 8lb is not unusual, and an average of 4lb with nets over 150lb is possible. Catching them is just the tried and trusted feeder, worm and maggot, or worm and caster, or waggler fishing. Hooklength about 3lb BS and hook a forged 14 - 18, spade-end.

The advice Danny offered about long hooklengths is very sensible. No doubt Warren's expert advice was also helpful.

Like house buying, though, it's location, location, location!

As Mark the Spark says, it depends where you are fishing as to how you rate a big bream. Gravel pit bream can grow to enormous sizes - approaching 20 lbs in some cases. River bream are a different matter.

Any river bream over 5lbs is a clonker.

Probably the best river for big bream at the moment is the Trent. Dump in plenty of bait and fish for barbel and the chances are you will catch some nice bream. Ask Matt Brown - he is a Trent bream expert and has had them to over 9lbs.

Personally I like bream, although I have never caught a big one by modern standards. The biggest bream I ever caught came from the Trent. It was caught at night and I struggled to get it up the bank amongst rocks which were all over the place.

Double figures? Possibly!

I eventually let it go without weighing or photographing it. I wasn't going to risk breaking my leg for a photo.

The fens can give you some nice bream, many of which can fight quite well. I landed a 6 pounder some years ago that fought better than a lot of tench I have caught of the same weight.

I've found pre-baiting helps if it's not to far Wendy.That way they have confidence and clear the area you have baited as with carp

Will

for my Korum challenge specimen badge, it has to be 6lb+ Maybe i'll go for something else then this weekend.

Wendy I can think of about 7 water in the Manchester Oldham area where a 6+lb is achievable. I can only think of 2 that possibly would throw up a double. Some of the 7 waters I wouldn?t recommend, as either the person is not safe or you car isn?t.

Be careful of tackle shop talk about big bream in the above areas most of it is bull manure from anglers who either don?t weigh their fish and have no experience of big fish and catch a fish of 5-6 lb, and its, ?Its huge it must be 10 Pounds at least!?
Or they just lie to make themselves look good.
Strangely, photographic evidence is in very short supply from said people.

On one of the water I heard a tail that a guy had a 14, 15lb fish in the same session. He even reported it to the weeklies. Now I fish that water at the same time as him I never saw him on the water, and the best fish I put on the bank out of well over a 100 fish was 6 ? I regularly saw them spawning and never saw a fish that I thought was over 8lbs.

The then bailiff for the club that controlled it is a mate of mine, and did see him on in the week he claimed he?d had it, but he said he?d not had anything on the day he spoke to him. The bailiff did challenge him about his claim and asked had he take any pictures of the fish? Which he said he had, but the pictures never materialised and he always made some excuse for not having them with him.

Now you would have thought that a guy who had a catch like that, which is worth a 20 on Wols water. Would have been only to ready to show off his extraordinary catch, given that it had been reported in the press, even naming the water in the press story, wouldn?t you?
My mate the bailiff?s conclusion was. the man was a Tractor Driver with a muck spreader on the back, spraying manure all around him!

phil, mail me details of the places round by me will ya.

wendy im gonna try and organise a bream fish in around the sheffield area when the weather begins to warm.im sure it will help with tips.for theres no better way as seeing tactics first hand being used.

Wendy did you get my email?

Wendy,

If the Wigan area is accessible for you, there are a couple of waters where 6lb+ is very achievable with pre-baiting not necessary.

mail me if you want some details etc..

Danny

Sean no i think my email is playing up! try it again.

Cheers Danny i will do wigan is only 'up road'

Dan let me know when you do the fish in mate i'd love to go to a bream one!