Big bream

[Anderoo]

I probably give a skewed impression about the bream fishing, just because I talk about what I do more than anyone else.

 

The last thing I want is hungry tench in the swim! Too much disruption with recasting.

 

If you have a group of bream feeding confidently on your bait, it's not luck. However, which one of those bream picks up your hookbait is luck. But you're quite right of course, anyone with a bait in the water has a chance of catching one.

 

What I want is to have a group of bream feeding 'competitively' on a bed of bait rather than one of them picking up a single bait on their way somewhere. With the single bait, you might get one. With the bed of bait, all being well, you will get one. Maybe two.

 

I have twice had bream feeding on a bed of bait after catching one, and I think I was unlucky to not get a second both times. But even so, when they're feeding like that, you're very likely to get at least one...

 

(PS 100 pages - who'd have thought!)

Edited December 29, 2010 by Anderoo

[Tigger]

What I want is to have a group of bream feeding 'competitively' on a bed of bait rather than one of them picking up a single bait on their way somewhere.

 

Andrew I personally don't think your gonna get bream of that size and age feeding competitively on a bed of bait as their shoals arn't big enough to make them competitive when feeding and they simply don't need the intake of food like a young fast growing fish so will be more layed back and picky when feeding most probably with an attitude of "I can take it or leave it". I think that's another reason why they're not the easiest of fish to catch as well as the obvious one...lack of numbers in large waters. I have a feeling that those large bream would feed round the edges of a baited area just picking up bits what catch their eye now and again but gain confidence from there being other fish there in numbers. JMO of course, I may be a million miles away !

[Anderoo]

Andrew I personally don't think your gonna get bream of that size and age feeding competitively on a bed of bait as their shoals arn't big enough to make them competitive when feeding and they simply don't need the intake of food like a young fast growing fish so will be more layed back and picky when feeding most probably with an attitude of "I can take it or leave it". I think that's another reason why they're not the easiest of fish to catch as well as the obvious one...lack of numbers in large waters. I have a feeling that those large bream would feed round the edges of a baited area just picking up bits what catch their eye now and again but gain confidence from there being other fish there in numbers. JMO of course, I may be a million miles away !

 

I know that's logical, but I've seen it with my own eyes twice. Get the baiting spot on, and even these little groups of large, spooky fish will compete. That's when you'll definitely get one! If they've fed for long enough before you get one, that's when you might get a second. Alex has done this more than once, but then he is a master baiter

[Tigger]

but then he is a master baiter

 

 

That's nothing to be ashamed of

[lutra]

Being an aspiring big breamer I have noticed a similar thing.

The usual method of baiting with a spod or several big feeders full of bait can be counter productive if you have been lucky enough to 'drop on' fish.

I usually spend the first hour or so casting a feeder around to different spots leaving it for 10 to 15 minutes at a time.

If I get a few fish great, if not then I spend time baiting.

I know it is a different situation on sparsly populated waters but where the fish are even in small shoals could be worth a try for an early fish instead of spooking them from the off.

Yep, tried and tested tactic by many a good big bream angler. I wouldn't dream of spending 2 hours spodding out **** before starting fishing, even when after big shoal fish.

[Anderoo]

This baiting choice is also determined by the distance you're fishing. If you're fiahing a little pinch point fairly close in, there's no reason to use much bait at all, as you'll only ever get one bite anyway as the fish go through and one of them drops down to pick up the hookbait. Further out and in a wider swim, you can afford to have more bait as you then have the potential to get more than one. But you still wouldn't need it for a single fish.

 

Casting around for bites just wouldn't tell you anything at places like Wingham, because you wouldn't get any. Casting around is also a good way to scare them. You just have to pick your spots and fish them.

 

Lutra, have you tried that type of baiting before? Didn't it work?

[Tigger]

I wouldn't dream of spending 2 hours spodding out **** before starting fishing, even when after big shoal fish.

 

 

Neither would I, 2hrs worth of spodding bait is an awfull lot of bait and a waste of effort, bait and of money.

[Anderoo]

Neither would I, 2hrs worth of spodding bait is an awfull lot of bait and a waste of effort, bait and of money.

 

I couldn't disagree more! It's the key to the whole thing.

 

If you went out in a boat and looked at what the result of 2 hours' spodding looks like, you'd be amazed at how little bait was there. A drop in the ocean.

[Barry C]

If you want to see what a bucketfull of spodmix looks like fill the bucket up with sand then throw it around by hand on some grass. Does'nt go very far.

[Dick Dastardly]

I agree with Anderoo and Barry on this one. I always try and match the amount of food I put in to the amount of bream I expect to come across it at any one time.Also I don't bait to attract bream but to try and hold them (preferably feeding) over the area my hook baits are in. This means that that the amount of ground bait,food content of the ground bait and its positioning are vital.

 

(At this point please note that I'm basing this on a wide variety of bream waters both SB/LSD and shoal and in fact very little if any is based on Wingham as although my PB comes from there Ive virtually no bream fishing on it especially in the last few seasons)

 

I think with ALL bream fishing that baiting is the single most important factor combined with obviously location (all though on some waters even location can effectively come second)

 

I don't think my ideas on big bream can be that far out as Ive held my own with the top rods on most of the waters Ive fished and on the only one I haven't (Queenford) I was one of the highest numbers catchers but just couldn't get the better fish. I am very frustrated that I haven't been able to target the Wingham bream properly but I must be honest and say that I don't think I would have fared any better than those who have been putting the time in. And just as importantly I don't believe any one else would! Simply the numbers game of very few fish in a reasonably large area of water........................as indeed it often boils down to on most waters that have fish of such a high average size.