Big bream

[Dick Dastardly]

I know we're discussing gravel pit bream fishing, but I've recently found a stretch of the River Bourne near me where I seem to catch as many Bream as Chub! They're a decent size too, had one the other day of 5-6.

 

What I want to ask is are the sort of techniques for targetting the larger bream (I know they won't go anywhere as large as pit bream) are the same on rivers as lakes and pits? Does the current of the river have the same effect as undertow on a lake?

 

Hi Dan.Im afraid all of my river fishing for bream has been match style.Enevitably all shoal bream so Ive fished for them accordingly.The only big bream (10lb 6ozs) I have ever caught from a river was taken whilst float fishing for roach and was the only bream among a large catch of roach.

 

Without a doubt though open end feeder tactics and lots of groundbait were my most sucsessfull river bream method.Not so sure you can specificly target big bream in any water that holds lots of smaller ones.

 

Location as always is a good way of improving your catch.River bream shoals can be quite nomadic.

[lutra]

On the subject of big bream Ive just been reading the cover story of this weeks A.T.

 

Headline- Record bream is found dead

 

Says that a 20lb 2oz bream 8oz over the UK record has been washed up at Farmoor II reservoir in Oxfordshire and that a 22lb 4oz bream was found dead in 2002. Now thats a big bream (slab lol).

 

What a shame its a day-ticket trout water.

 

It also says it has produced bream to 15lb on fly so far this season. Sod the rainbows, i could see me fishing a lead-core line and a flavored fly into the wind if i fished it.

[Anderoo]

On the subject of big bream Ive just been reading the cover story of this weeks A.T.

 

Headline- Record bream is found dead

 

Says that a 20lb 2oz bream 8oz over the UK record has been washed up at Farmoor II reservoir in Oxfordshire and that a 22lb 4oz bream was found dead in 2002. Now thats a big bream (slab lol).

 

What a shame its a day-ticket trout water.

 

It also says it has produced bream to 15lb on fly so far this season. Sod the rainbows, i could see me fishing a lead-core line and a flavored fly into the wind if i fished it.

 

Wow! That's very local to me. I fished there once for the trout and hated it (big horrible concrete bowl) but I'd love to be able to fish for the coarse fish in there. I bet there are a few decent pike too...

 

It makes you wonder how big bream can grow. I would expect a rich, lightly stocked gravel pit would have better potential to a man-made reservoir - perhaps there's the potential for a bream approaching 30lb?

 

Catching it is another thing of course!

[Kappa]

Wow! That's very local to me. I fished there once for the trout and hated it (big horrible concrete bowl) but I'd love to be able to fish for the coarse fish in there. I bet there are a few decent pike too...

 

It makes you wonder how big bream can grow. I would expect a rich, lightly stocked gravel pit would have better potential to a man-made reservoir - perhaps there's the potential for a bream approaching 30lb?

 

Catching it is another thing of course!

 

They used to do 'any method trout fishing' in there in the old close season, though it could have been Farmoor 1. The monster bream in there have been know about for a while, I believe there also huge roach and chub!

 

Rich

[Dick Dastardly]

But sadly the pike fishing has never lived up to the same high expectations. Thus why ion the piking world it became known as "Farless" after the fish ins there!

[lutra]

With it not being my neck of the woods and having never seen this Farmoor II other than a picture of a concrete bowl as has been discribed, i was woundering why they are getting so big in there. Does it have a lot of trout cages where a lot of feeding is going on? or is it a very fertile water for some reason that that pictures dont show? Anyone got any thoughts?

[Dick Dastardly]

A high level of water quality seems to be one of the factors in producing freak bream.Concrerte bowls normally have this.I dont know if Farmoor grow there own trout on but I dont think this is a contributing factor anyway.I fish a couple of waters that do this and the ones that do contain bream dont do anything special.Cages can (all though providing an additional food source) do more harm than good as they actually lower the water quality.On one res I know the cages are moved every few years due to the "pollution" they cause.

 

Most of the res's Im familiar with do big bream but Farmoor is the only one I know of that has produced freak bream.

 

Im no longer suprised by 20lb bream stories (much to my suprise!) as I know a couple of waters that are capable of such fish.The next record will certainly be a 20 and if caught at the right time of year it wont necesarily just be a scraper 20 either.

 

A couple of the waters I know that have record potential all trace there origonal stockings back to trout reservoirs.

[Dan Dan]

Finally sorted my phone out, and here's the picture of that bream from the tiny tributary of the Thames I caught:

 

 

5lb-6oz

[Anderoo]

With it not being my neck of the woods and having never seen this Farmoor II other than a picture of a concrete bowl as has been discribed, i was woundering why they are getting so big in there. Does it have a lot of trout cages where a lot of feeding is going on? or is it a very fertile water for some reason that that pictures dont show? Anyone got any thoughts?

 

Also, a major factor has to be lack of angling pressure. Fish grow bigger if they're left alone.

 

Maybe we should form the 'Breamfishers' and see if we could get a few fish-in days arranged

 

PS nice fish from a small stream Dan.

Edited July 18, 2008 by Anderoo

[Dick Dastardly]

Maybe we should form the 'Breamfishers' and see if we could get a few fish-in days arranged

 

Not such a daft idea mate.Ive got to fish quite a few "unfished" waters through specialist groups. Biggeste problem you have in general with trout waters is convincing them your not going to steal all their trout! Second is that they often have to coincide with the trout closed season.