The Traditional Fisherman's Forum

I've enjoyed working my way through the bream posts...the last month or so I've gone back on the feeder and had lots of nice skimmers/slabs.

Tips that work for me:

Pre-mix your ground bait the night before to get aa nice in-active mix, corn, pinkies or casters are the only loose feed I add. Both sweet and fishmeal have worked for me and I bulk it out with layers mash/crumb (one third of each).

Once I know a peg is a banker for bream, I will ball in heavy at the start of a session then regular casting to get a nice bed of feed down. When the fish arrive I then get lots of bites/fish as the shoal is held by the carpet of feed.

I always play bream off of the reel, I bend into them then the rod doesn't move and just wind, no danger of spooking the shoal. Holding the rod and feeling through the blank or touch leger with a quiver/swing tip has helped detect shy bites.

One of the post mentions twitching the bait, this works for me, if I get finicky knocks then one turn of the reel usually is enough to get a take.

Last five sessions I've had 30 plus fish. What they lack in terms of a fight they make up for in the challenging finicky bites. At night I've had some much larger bream, they've really fought well and made for a cracking night. I think they are under rated and great sport.

Now the youtube 'angling for bream' post was great, I've liquidised a loaf of bread and got a nice sliderfloat ready for my next session.

Funny fish bream. You fish for them and you get difficult and frustrating bite indications but, when you are fishing for barbel or carp the stupid things hang themselves. I know a lot of people scale down their hook size and line weight to contact bream but often by going heavy, you will hit more bites.

They do seem to have problems spitting bigger hooks back out. I quite enjoy the odd day for them myself.

Some great tips and lovely fish Shaun.

I've always had a soft spot for Bream, my mate used to tell me I could catch Bream out of a puddle, no matter where we fished I always managed to catch a bream or two.

When I read people's comments I often feel sorry for the species and when you read people typing that it would be nice to find a pool with just crucian and tench in it I often wonder why not Bream roach and perch too?

Wow, beautiful bream, Shaun.

And great photos as well.
Russ

I find the same problem with roach.i start with a size 16 and get a few fish but then they become so hard to hook even when the float is slowly pulled under.my solution is to change to a 12 wide gape and because they have been eating the loose feed without any fear for a while I instantly bag up,I don’t see the point of tiny hooks unless ones a match angler and after tiny fish in the first place.
Nice bream by the way.

It's often said that one should sit on one's hands whilst feeder fishing for bream. Sometimes I find this actually helps because of the finicky bites. My own thoughts are start off with a long hooklink of about 2' or more, and as the bites become more positive shorten up to about 1'. Corn is a great bait, and in autumn you cannot beat a grain of corn next to a small fresh compost worm. It also pays to use a keepnet, and if you lose a fish you might as well go make a cuppa tea!

A capful of liquid brasem added to your maggots is often a good bet for Bream, I also use a capful in the water for mixing my groundbait... Bream love this sweet smelling additive... A quarter pint of wetted micro pellets in the groundbait is also a good idea, as it keeps them grubbing around... I too love catching Bream, the only downside is the slime, although I find the bigger the specimen the less slime... My good lady always knows when I've been catching Bream... she says I resemble a soiled handkerchief

The match fishermen up here will use two hooks,one on a hook length and one above the feeder.seemingly they strike into a fish and because the other bait moves upwards during the strike a bream will have a go at it.obviously pleasure anglers don’t need to and like Santiago says,if you lose one then target another species because it’s always curtains,they very rarely come back.i also tend to find the bigger bream will feed when the smaller ones don’t,in other words if your having a quiet day be ready,a biggy might latch on.

I used to have the odd session float-fishing a small Norfolk lake that held some fun-sized bream - two or three pounds - which I met a couple of times while float-fishing close in, with the 'pin. I found that if I could release them in the water, without lifting them out, they would saunter off without too much fuss and I'd carry on catching; if I had to net them out to unhook, they'd then clear off, taking their mates with them, and I was then officially just roach-and-tench-fishing.
Has anyone else found this?