20lb bream

[kirisute]

Lovely fish but to me the sheer scale of the feeding and suchlike tinges it all negatively. Dunno why but I just find the idea of piling kilos of bait into a lake not to my taste...let alone fishing at 300 yards.

Great catch and all power to him...but not my style at all!

[gozzer]

Magnificent fish, but how big was the pit, 300yds seems a hell of a distance.

 

Oh, and Kiri, from the videos I've seen of the of size waters you fish, placing your bait 300yds away would mean it would be in another pond.

 

John.

[Puzzled]

Biggie and a spectacular weight for a bream.

 

I just wonder how much of a scrap he got out of it. Most of the bream I hook up come in like a wet carrier bag (never had any near double figures) so I'm wondering if this sort of size tests the tackle a bit?

[kirisute]

Magnificent fish, but how big was the pit, 300yds seems a hell of a distance.

 

Oh, and Kiri, from the videos I've seen of the of size waters you fish, placing your bait 300yds away would mean it would be in another pond.

 

John.

Your not wrong mate!! Simply don't have the huge windswept open waters in my area to fish. Can't think of one that would be 300 yards without simply walking round to the other bank and casting from there! Lol!

Even if there was I'd find a nice reed bed to tuck into and fish there! Lol!

I fish to features...it's what I like.

[Dave H]

I would be over the moon and jumping for joy on catching a Bream like that and well done to the young gentleman but there is something when i see a bream like that just does not sit right.

It comes across as almost like Turkeys fattened up for Xmas by being stuffed with high protein foods.

Like i said though congrats to the gentleman

[Dales]

A real exceptional catch and well done to the chap who caught it. Anyone know specific details about where it was caught? St Ives Lakes complex maybe?

 

Dave, I am not sure about this big bream being fattened up on high protein baits. I think pellet and boilies have increased the average size of Bream on a lot of waters but these huge fish often come from waters that relatively speaking do not see that much anglers bait introduced. So with out knowing which water it is from its hard to make a judgement, I could well be wrong and it might be from a water that gets spodded to death on a hourly basis but I suspect that it has come from a water that does not see a lot of bait.

 

If it was high protein bait that produced this huge slabs then almost ever water would have them. I can't imagine what a 20lb Bream would look like, a low end double is rather impressive and for most of us a dream fish. It's also rather refreshing to see some one who appears to have a healthy respect for fish in general. There is far to much sniping between Carp anglers and coarse anglers, I think a genuine specimen angler can see the merit in both forms of angling.

[Anderoo]

I'm with Dales, I think it's very unlikely pellets and boilies had anything to do with a bream in an enormous body of water getting to that size. Lots of natural food, no real fishing pressure, and an easy, stress-free life. Just look at Farmoor reservoir, Wingham, Broadwater, Englefield, TC Pit, Queenford, St Ives, etc.

[goosequill]

I'm with Dales, I think it's very unlikely pellets and boilies had anything to do with a bream in an enormous body of water getting to that size. Lots of natural food, no real fishing pressure, and an easy, stress-free life. Just look at Farmoor reservoir, Wingham, Broadwater, Englefield, TC Pit, Queenford, St Ives, etc.

 

 

An amazing creature! Simply massive and must have looked incredible in reality.

 

Re: Farmoor Andrew - I was up there a couple of months ago one evening time taking some photographs. I had a long and pleasant chat with one of the rangers up there who told me about the Bream, interesting to say the least. On a another evening I bumped into an elderly gent fishing up there and after a while he told me about his encounters with Peter Stone on the Thames in the 60's and 70's - beautiful stuff!!!

 

I also notice that TC Pit seems to be getting a lot of interest in the last couple of years...................

[Anderoo]

An amazing creature! Simply massive and must have looked incredible in reality.

 

Re: Farmoor Andrew - I was up there a couple of months ago one evening time taking some photographs. I had a long and pleasant chat with one of the rangers up there who told me about the Bream, interesting to say the least. On a another evening I bumped into an elderly gent fishing up there and after a while he told me about his encounters with Peter Stone on the Thames in the 60's and 70's - beautiful stuff!!!

 

I also notice that TC Pit seems to be getting a lot of interest in the last couple of years...................

 

I've also had some very interesting chats with the Farmoor rangers about the bream there. Simply staggering stories, more than one 20lb+ bream found dead over the years (the biggest so big I daren't even write it out, but WELL over 20lb), quite a few 15lb+ bream caught by fly anglers fishing little buzzers deep. Places like that totally throw the 'high protein diet/boilie belly' theories, it's never had a single pellet or boilie thrown in ever! The bream have got to that size because of very good water quality, stress-free lives, and hoovering up the vast and incredibly prolific bloodworm beds.

 

A nice connection between Peter Stone and Farmoor is chapter by him in the recent chub studies group book, where he describes some of the enormous chub he used to see in the reservoir when fly fishing. Amazing stories! If only he was still around, I bet we'd have bumped into him by now.

 

PS yes, always cars around TC whenever I go past...

Edited September 11, 2013 by Anderoo

[goosequill]

I've also had some very interesting chats with the Farmoor rangers about the bream there. Simply staggering stories, more than one 20lb+ bream found dead over the years (the biggest so big I daren't even write it out, but WELL over 20lb), quite a few 15lb+ bream caught by fly anglers fishing little buzzers deep. Places like that totally throw the 'high protein diet/boilie belly' theories, it's never had a single pellet or boilie thrown in ever! The bream have got to that size because of very good water quality, stress-free lives, and hoovering up the vast and incredibly prolific bloodworm beds.

 

A nice connection between Peter Stone and Farmoor is chapter by him in the recent chub studies group book, where he describes some of the enormous chub he used to see in the reservoir when fly fishing. Amazing stories! If only he was still around, I bet we'd have bumped into him by now.

 

PS yes, always cars around TC whenever I go past...

 

Like you say, Farmoor is just good quality water and full, completely full, of insect life etc etc so the Bream reach potential. (A similar thing to the original stocking of carp into Redmire?? [rich, rich water, unpressured for a long time, carp grew enormous.....])

 

I always like to think that although we can't bump into him {Peter Stone} anymore, that perhaps he is there in spirit from time to time........

 

Yes, always cars near TC pit and I have also noticed lots of cars further up the A40 - is that to do with TC Pit or the River that runs close to the road there????