Bream Fishing - Reveal the Bait and Rig Tricks Needed

Throughout the coarse fishing calendar there are optimum times to target each of the species that swim in waters.

Over the past few months, predatory species like perch and pike have been at the top of the agenda for many specimen anglers, but now that the days are getting longer, a new set of targets emerges on the horizon. Heading this list are big bream, which begin to feed hard in early spring as they pack on condition ahead of spawning.

This tunnel vision, coupled with the fact that bream are a sociable species that often live in big shoals, means that if you get it right, a big ‘hit’ of bream is possible.

CHOOSE THE RIGHT VENUE

There’s an old saying in angling that goes ‘you can only catch what’s in front of you’ - in other words, you can’t hope to catch big fish if you’re in the wrong swim or, worse still, on the wrong venue.

While bream can be found in all manner of stillwaters, canals and slow-moving rivers, the larger ones tend to thrive in big venues, meaning that lakes, gravel pits and reservoirs ofer a far better chance of angling success than small ponds or commercial carp venues, where the lack of room and extra competition for food tend to restrict their size potential.

Once a venue with promise or a track record for producing big bream has been selected, the next task is to use a marker rod to find an area within that venue which the bream like to visit. Locating such spots is fairly straightforward, especially if you keep your eyes peeled.

First of all, big bream very rarely come in close to the margins, so it’s worth concentrating your eforts in the main body of the lake. They seem to show a preference for deeper water areas, and hate weed, much preferring a clean lakebed to feed over. Features such as deep silty gullies or gravel plateaux can be really productive.

Even if the venue has a low stock of bream, they are creatures of habit and often give themselves away by rolling on the surface, especially at dawn and dusk.

KEEP YOUR RIGS SHORT

Simplicity is the name of the game when it comes to rigs for catching big bream, with basic feeder or leger rigs being the order of the day. They can, of course, also be caught on float fishing tactics, although on most venues this is impractical owing to the distance from the bank big bream shoals are often found.

Bream move slowly along the lakebed as they feed, filtering out food items from the silt, without ever moving far from the deck. This means that a short hooklink is needed for maximising pick-ups.

“Hooklinks need to be no more than about four to six inches long. I use Korum Xpert Power Braid, which is soft and flexible, in 10lb breaking strain, knotless knotted to a size 10 hook.”

“I use this with two basic rigs. The first incorporates a 60g Dura-Method feeder, which might sound a little heavy, but it’s needed to cast the range the bream are often found at. I set mine up with a short length if rig tubing above, mainly to reduce the chance of the mainly being damaged on any unseen snags.

My second big bream rig is a scaled down carp rig incorporating a basic safety lead clip. This is a good choice if there are any weedbeds or other snags if the vicinity.

Again , I use this with a short hooklink, and for extra loosefeed, I simply nick a golfball-sized PVA mesh bag of groundbait or pellets onto the hook before casting out.

 USE THE RIGHT TOOLS

Although bream are notorious for the lack of lighting ability, once they surpass 10lb they can start to ‘pull back a bit’, meaning you’ll need use something a little more robust than a standard feeder rod and reel.

What’s more, the repeated action of punching out a fully-loaded Method feeder will soon highlight any weaknesses in your set-up.

A rod in the 1.5lb to 2lb test curve range is recommended, coupled with a reel loaded with a strong mono mainline.

“My preferred kit is a pair of 1.75lb test curve Xpert rods, which have plenty of backbone but are forgiving enough in the tip to avoid hookpulls at the net if the fish lunges away from the mesh.”

“I like to couple these with a pair of medium-sized freespool reels loaded with a 10lb or 12lb mono, depending on the size of the fish I expect to catch”.

LAY THE TABLE

Bream have a highly varied diet, and can be caught using both natural and man-made hookbaits. Lobworms, maggots, casters and corn are all excellent choices, and rubber baits (particualrly corn and casters) certainly have their place, especially if small nuisance species are present. Bream are also fond of fishmeal-based oferings such as pellets, boilies and groundbait.

My three favourite hookbaits are corn, boilies or rubber casters. Sometimes I use diferent hookbaits on each of my rods in a bid to find which the fish prefer on the day.”

One really important aspect of successful big bream fishing is the amount of  loosefeed that needs to be used to keep the shoal occupied. If you fail to lay the table suiciently, the shoal will move on, just like a herd of cattle moving to richer pastures.

“Bream love bait, as simple as that, and lots of it. If the shoal you are targeting are within catapult range then you can use jafa-sized balls of groundbait laced with goodies like small pellets, casters and corn, or if the area you are targeting is over about 40 yards, it’s best to use a spod. My bream spod mix consists of small pellets, hemp, corn and casters. If I’m using boilies on the hook, I’ll add whole and crushed boilies to the mix. Sometimes I add a squirt of liquid flavor too.”

CAST ON THE MONEY!

Whether you use a catapult or spod to bait up, it’s important to make sure that you can cast your rigs accurately over the same area. There are several ways to do this. The first is to pop your marker float up over the area, then cast your rigs alongside the float before putting the mainline in the clip on your reel.

Then, use some fine pole elastic to tie a slip knot in your mainline where it exits the tip ring of your rod. Once you’ve cast out, and the line has hit the clip, you can be safe in the knowledge your rig is on the money. It’s then just a case of taking the line out of the clip while the rig is fishing. When it comes to recasting, you simply reel in the mainline until the marker knot is at the tip ring, slip the line into your line clip, and repeat the casting procedure.

Another method is to use specially-designed ‘marker sticks’. These are stuck vertically in the ground behind your swim at a distance of one rod length apart. You then take your spod and place it next to one of the sticks, open your spod reel’s bail arm and wrap the line backwards and forwards between and around the sticks until you reach where it is in the line clip (having ‘clipped up’ your spod while baiting up).

You then have a permanent record of how far out your baited area is, and can write it down. For example, if you find your spod rod is clipped up at, say, six and a half ‘wraps’, you can then clip your  fishing rods up at the same range, safe in the  knowledge you are fishing accurately.

BECOME A NIGHT OWL...

The final consideration to make when targeting big bream is the timing of your session. Although, strictly speaking, they can be caught at any hour, bream are mainly nocturnal fedeers, with activity normally beginning after dusk and curtailing soon after first light. You’ll know when they have begun feeding by the indications they give when bumping into your mainline.  This is normally the precursor to a night of bagging.

“Bream will give lots of line bites once  they are in your swim, making your bobbins dance about like crazy! It’s important not to strike at these ‘liners’. When you get a proper take, the bobbin will normally lift up and stay up.”

“If the line bites stop and you haven’t had a bite, it’s worth a couple of casts with the spod rod to top the swim up to encourage the fish back into the swim.