Target a gravel pit and land your biggest bream

With a personal-best bream of 17lb 10oz under his belt, you could say Mike Lyddon knows a thing or two about the species. 

So how does he go about catching them on large and featureless gravel pits?

Location

“Bream are lazy fish that spend most of their time away from bankside disturbance, in the deeper water where the light levels are much lower,” says Mike.

“The one angler-friendly thing they do is roll. Dawn or dusk, they give themselves away by topping, making shoal location easier.

“They also have regular patrol routes, and if you can locate one of these you’re halfway to filling your boots every time!

“To help you find these, use a marker float to pinpoint underwater features quickly and reliably. Ideally you’re looking for a large gravel patch completely free from weed.”

Feed and hookbait

“It is important to give them plenty of feed, and for me that means groundbait – a three-part mix of Sonubaits Bream Feeder, Hemp & Hali Crush and Super Crush Green – mixed with a tin of sweetcorn, including juice, lake water and a good splash of Sticky Baits Krill liquid.

“On deep pits, I’ll mix the groundbait slightly on the wet side and I’ll always riddle it after mixing so that it falls to the bottom quickly without producing a cloud on its descent.

“My favourite bream hookbaits are Sonubaits F1 S Pellets, fake corn soaked in Betalin and 8mm pineapple pop-up boilies – all sweet baits that bream love.

“Groundbait is introduced from a Spomb with around 4kg at the start of a session, spread over an area around 15ft across. After I’ve had a fish or two, I then like to rebait the area with four to six more Spombs.” 

Tackle for pits

“For long casts, I’ll use a rod of 1.5lb to 2.25lb test curve, with 10lb Gardner Pro mainline to a 3ft Lead-free leader and a flying back lead threaded on to the mainline above the leader. This keeps the terminal end flat on the lakebed. 

“My feeder is a flatbed Method with a 4ins hooklink of Speci Skin with the coating removed to a size 10 Barbless Target hook.”