River Bream fishing

[TrentFisher]

Hello Everyone I hope you are all well.

Bream....they seem to get a mixed reation for various reason.
In recent seasons the population on my local stretch of the Trent has increased greaty.The average size is fish of 4-5lb .
The barbel fishers constanly moan they get pestered by them during night sessions and guess this is mainly due to the quatities of pellets these guys use?

For me it rings opportunity.I have taken many bream in the warm and colder months during recent seasons and the best one approaching 7lbs.
Most have been taken on float tatics when fishing for roach.

This season following a couple of float sessions which included some bream I have decided to dedicate a little more time in pursuing these bronze beauties.

My approach has to been cost affective.
Sweetcorn is the main bait (Lidl tin for hook bait frozen for feed)
Groundbait for the cage feeder is cheap bread -mashed with added porridge flakes to stiffen and some lightly liquidised sweetcorn.These last two ingedients also help as an attracatent when the feeder contents disburse on the river bed.

Tackle is an old Diawa Barnsley black quivertip rod and Mitchell RD1160 Reel.
Main line is 8lb clear diawa senor with a a 6lb hook link.The bream do run into double figures and there also the chance of a barbel interupting proceedings...a nice interuption!

The feeder rig a simple loop method ,10-20g feeders

One thing I find that does help...on the Trent is to continue loose feeding.When float fishing you do this and the same applies even when feeder fishing as this extra consant supply of free offerings seems to work well.I normally catapult a few grains in front and slightly upstream on a regular basis more so June-October depending on conditions.

My last session was yesterday where I managed 9 bream in around 31/2 hours,each one gave a account of itself right up to the net.The larger ones if I am lucky to hook one certainly go some!

The other bonus is you quite often get some very good roach .

River bream...get my vote.

Enjoy your outings

-Nige.

[EricW]

And they seem to fight a lot harder in the current than their still water cousins. Nice to hear of somebody else who appreciates them.

[Wallys-Cast]

I couldn't agree more about river bream. They are a very different animal to their stillwater cousins.
Legered spam is a great bait for them too. Mashed spam and bread in an open end feeder, 1/2" cube on the hook. No silly twitchy bites either, a nice slow easy to hit bite.

Wal.

[Dave Burr]

Despite my comments about some of our TFF bream magnets (well, one in particular ) I used to love a spot of summer breaming. The Wye does throw them up from time to time but not regularly enough to target them. However, I lived near the river Tone and the drains of Sedgemoor and a day like today, cloudy, warm, on the sultry side, would see me rushing to the water laden with groundbait, tackle and towels to clean the bream snot off everything. Ahh yes, the next day bream landing net. Don't forget to take it out of the car at night

I do sometimes miss my bream fishing.

[Wallys-Cast]

Despite my comments about some of our TFF bream magnets (well, one in particular ) I used to love a spot of summer breaming. The Wye does throw them up from time to time but not regularly enough to target them. However, I lived near the river Tone and the drains of Sedgemoor and a day like today, cloudy, warm, on the sultry side, would see me rushing to the water laden with groundbait, tackle and towels to clean the bream snot off everything. Ahh yes, the next day bream landing net. Don't forget to take it out of the car at night

I do sometimes miss my bream fishing.

Yes Dave, its one of those delightful smells that never really goes away. Putrid ragworm is another.

[Olly]

That is a different league! Putrid sea bait! Real stinky stuff - - boffing material!

Recently returned from France - had loads of bream! Up to about 4/5 lb. Little ones for silure bait.

[Martin James]

I have always rated river bream highly since I was around 15 years old, when I caught my first 5lb fish from a bank high river Beult, a river that has given up fish over 10lbs, my best river bream weighed in at 10lb 2 ounces from the River Aire, bream can be caught from many river venues, Thames, Aire, Medway, Beult, Thames, the Ouse in Sussex, Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Teme Severn etc etc. River bream can give very good sport. . Another good point for the river bream is they don't leave very much mucous like the still water bream.

[MGs]

I agree. My PB 6lb 12oz came from a small fast flowing stream. I thought I'd hooked a barbel. Far better than their lethargic still water cousins.

[Mike Crompton]

Fishing the tail of a Thames weir the Bream fought very well. They knew how to use the current and the deep shape of their bodies helped to give a good account of themselves. Certainly their still water cousins are lethargic and just dullards.

[Santiago]

The last Thames bream I caught from a Thames weir pool certainly fought like a barbel, well for the first ten seconds!

Before the great Thames summer flood in 2007 there was a certain pool I night fished for bream on a regular basis. One particular night stands out from all others. I was asked by another boater friend to move from the mooring where I fished the swim from an island, as he had a friend visiting who he wanted to impress with the fishing. I obliged as he said it would only be for one night. The following morning I enquired as to how they got on and they'd caught a couple of rare Thames tench, but nothing else. But he did say he'd put in 20kg of hemp. Wow, I thought that's a lot of hemp! Anyways, I fished there that night and had the most memorable night's fishing ever. Using a John Wilson quiver tip rod, the tip barely ever stopped quivering all night, just from the movement of fish around my cage feeder. Bites were mostly detectable and different from the general quivering by quick jerks at the tip. Needless to say I caught fish all through the night, including lots of bream, big chub, and barbel (my first) and was broken off by several bigger barbel as I was inexperienced with their power and was only fishing the main feeder rod using 4lb maxima. To boot, I had several huge eels up to 41/2lb on lob worms on a second ledger rod rigged for them. Also managed a tench as well.

So in short, and a lessen I've learnt from the Thames on numerous trips, if you want to attract the big shoals of bream, don't forget the hemp. And better still, prebait with it where possible along with hemp juice soaked corn.

One simply can't beat nigh fishing for bream, especially on warm muggy nights when heavy rain is forecast.

Sadly , that 2007 summer flood really changed the fishing in that stretch and it still hasn't really recovered. But only a couple of days ago I did here about a tench being caught. Next muggy night I think I may well give the bream another go.