Big bream

[Dick Dastardly]

Just because they're smaller and maybe less obvious to eels - OK, I admit it, I'm getting desperate! The more I think about it the more I want to use maggots or caster as bait (if caster would even survive a 40 yard cast with a 2oz lead - whole other can of worms) but I don't have Dr Capper's steel resolve to put up with the damn eels.

 

Bloomin eels! Lets just hope they just decide to get up and do the off this season! It does happen! (shows that Im even more desperate!)

 

I reckon the Cappermeister secretly likes em!

[lutra]

Perhaps (as in Derek Quirk's book) using squatts instead of maggots would help the eel problem?

Squatts burrow less than maggots, they look like they are hovering on the bottom like dead maggots and casters do.

[Anderoo]

Bloomin eels! Lets just hope they just decide to get up and do the off this season! It does happen! (shows that Im even more desperate!)

 

I reckon the Cappermeister secretly likes em!

 

I reckon he's got a little jellied eel bivvy near the footpath, flogging them to the locals! He's a braver man than me, just the thought of casting a maggot out at dusk gives me the shivers!

 

Lutra, thanks for that, sounds like that would make the problem even worse! I guess it's just a case of just a few live maggots and fingers crossed.

[Anderoo]

Another bit of reading here: http://www.fishingmagic.com/news/article/mps/uan/4518

 

It's on the Meres, but sums up the whole business quite well!

[Kappa]

I reckon the Cappermeister secretly likes em!

 

How dare you! You will be receiving a letter from my solicitor!

 

Rich

[Dick Dastardly]

Rich its the 2000's mate society has become a lot more tolerant.There are even clubs that specificaly cater for people of your persuasion.No need to be embarrased mate just come out of that bivvy and declare your love of eels to the world! we will still respect you.

[Kappa]

Rich its the 2000's mate society has become a lot more tolerant.There are even clubs that specificaly cater for people of your persuasion.No need to be embarrased mate just come out of that bivvy and declare your love of eels to the world! we will still respect you.

 

Oh its true its true, I've spent so long fighting it but I can't any longer! I have no interest in bream its all just a pretence to catch my beloved eels, I just love the way the slime never comes off anything it touches!

 

Rich

[tincatinca]

Another bit of reading here: http://www.fishingmagic.com/news/article/mps/uan/4518

 

It's on the Meres, but sums up the whole business quite well!

 

Reading that article took me back many years to when I lived in the midlands and frequently fished some of the Shropshire and Staffordshire meres. In fact one of the Staffordshire meres that I fished produced the record Bream on two occassions. My job in those days involved travelling a lot in Shropshire which enabled me to visit many waters for a look and on several occassions had the pleasure of being able to spend some time with the late Alan Wilson who fished the Shropshire meres a lot at that time. When I try to compare the two types of fishing i.e. mere vs gravel pit such as Wingham, (each having a low stock of big fish) one thing keeps standing out in my mind which is the effect and strength of undertow. Looking at the deeper channels in Wingham, they must be the areas that contain most of the energy formed in the lake and to a degree act like an hydraulic pump, so irrespective of how you introduce feed where there is a strong undertow,the probability is that it would soon be dispersed.

Likewise there are natural barriers in the lake which would result in slack areas sheltered from the main flow which would also be collecting areas for food and I think that developing a better understanding of how the water moves in the lake relative to wind direction would help in the selection of areas to concentrate on. Going back to the last fish in I think that Dens use of feeders and slow release feed is certainly worth considering.

[gozzer]

This article, http://www.fishingmagic.com/news/article/mps/uan/1896 (same source as Andrews).

 

Touches on what tinca (and an earlier post of mine) says.

If it were me, then time spent on location of fish/natural feeding grounds, would be be a priority, before even wetting a baited hook.

 

John.

[Anderoo]

This article, http://www.fishingmagic.com/news/article/mps/uan/1896 (same source as Andrews).

 

Touches on what tinca (and an earlier post of mine) says.

If it were me, then time spent on location of fish/natural feeding grounds, would be be a priority, before even wetting a baited hook.

 

John.

 

I agree John, trouble is the fish themselves are impossible to locate and we don't know if they even have 'feeding grounds'! I still think the undertow problem is well worth trying to solve, and aside from that I think Steve Burke's method of targetting areas where the fish are channelled through pinch points is still the best way of chosing where to fish in a given swim.

 

A quick look at a map shows that there are approx 60 channels between long (up to 400yds) shallow bars, plus a load of deeper bars you can't make out, plus deeper holes and large flat areas, plus one very large area of lumps and bumps. Location is definitely the main problem. I have my own theories as to which routes they're likely to use when moving about, but they really are just theories. I think temperature, wind direction and strength, and undertow are the best clues we have when deciding which swim to choose. Once in that swim, target the pinch points or other probable routes. But even then they could be almost a mile away...

 

I think there's tons of natural food in every swim unfortunately! Although perhaps the recent increase in small fish (even though they mean certain hookbaits are problematic) will mean less food to go around and perhaps make the bream easier to catch. The flip side will be slower growth.

 

I've been thinking so much about hookbaits recently I'd put the whole location problem to one side - thanks for bringing that back up

 

It's been a while since anyone's said it, but luck definitely needs to on your side, and the more luck the better.

Edited February 17, 2009 by Anderoo