Top tips to catch bream on the feeder
Bream fishing on the feeder is an approach that poses lots of questions. What should you feed? How often should you cast, and where? Which hookbaits will work best?
At this time of year, bream across the country are starting to feed after spending the winter months in a state of torpor, and that’s great new for anglers looking for bites on the feeder.
To help you on your way, we asked four of the UK’s finest feeder anglers to answer six common questions relating to catching bream on the feeder… follow their advice and you’re nailed on for a netful!
Q. What would be your groundbait mix for natural water bream at this time of year?
Dean Barlow: In spring a sweet fishmeal mix is my choice – Mainline Match Pole Mix, with a sweet coconut taste and a good hit of fishmeal.
Darren Cox: I use a mixture of 60 per cent Tom Thick Intelligent Black and 40 per cent Mainline Method. The Mainline is very strong in fishmeal and gives it an extra boost.
If the water is very clear I will blacken the mix more as I prefer the groundbait to be darker in these conditions.
Michael Buchwalder: At this time of year, I would use a fishmeal-based mix and my favourite is Sonubaits F1 Green and Match Method Mix used at a ratio of 50/50.
Jamie Harrison: On natural venues we seem to get better results by using a fishmeal element in our mixes. Two great mixes when the water is clear are Bait-Tech’s F1 and the new Special G Dark.
Q. Do you add many freebies to it and, if so, what and how much?
Dean Barlow: Very little goes in the groundbait. I tend not to use casters until the weather has warmed up so I rely on a few dead maggots and around an egg cup full of minced worms. On a commercial fishery such as Barston Lakes, I will also add a few micro pellets to the mix.
Darren Cox: I add freebies as I go along – dead red maggots, casters and dead pinkies in spring. As the water warms up, I’ll add more chopped worm and maybe a bit of corn. If fish are already in the swim I just add more particles as I go along.
Michael Buchwalder: I do add a few freebies to the groundbait but only casters and small 2mm pellets. Chopped worm comes into play now and then, and once I add this, the fish will tell me whether I can continue with worm or cut it out totally.
Jamie Harrison: If I expect it to be hard I’ll adopt a one-line approach and only feed 50ml of loose offerings. These can be casters and dead maggots or micro pellets. On venues such as Larford Lakes, if I expect fish to come in close I will feed that line positively for later on.
Q. How do you decide on the distance to fish at?
Dean Barlow: This depends on the venue. I’d begin by casting a bomb around to search for features such as a deeper hole or a drop-off in depth. If there were anglers fishing around me I’d want to fish my own water and look to cast further than may neighbours.
Darren Cox: This all depends on the contours of the lake. If I can find a ledge then I will want to fish either on it if it is warm, or just over it if is colder. Also, I will look for gravel bars or weedbeds to fish to as they always hold fish. It also depends on how far other anglers around me cast.
Michael Buchwalder: The water is still cold so I’d try to find the deepest part of the peg to decide the distance to fish at. Do this by counting how long it takes the feeder to land – the longer this is, the deeper it is!
Jamie Harrison: Fish move around less in cooler weather so if you get it wrong, there’s less chance the fish will find the bait. On venues like Southfield Reservoirs, the bream stay further out so at this time of year I’d rarely put a line in shorter than 40m.
Q. What length of tail do you kick off with, and when would this change?
Dean Barlow: All my hooklengths are tied to 1m of line to give me options. Around 50cm is a good start but I will go up to 30cm if I am missing bites. If the fishing is harder, a 1m hooklink combined with several quick casts using a sloppier groundbait to create a cloud can winkle out fish.
Darren Cox: 50cm is a good starting point for a hooklength and I will shorten it if the fishing is very good. In this situation, need a very short 30cm or 40cm hooklength to speed the process up. If I am searching for a bite then the opposite applies and I may go up to a 1m hooklength.
Michael Buchwalder: I’d start with a 75 cm hooklength and only change if I was bagging up or couldn’t get a bite. When catching well, shortening the hooklength will produce quicker and better bites.
Jamie Harrison: On almost every match I fish, I start with a 50cm hooklength. A 30cm hooklength can be better when fish are still sluggish. If I was fishing in the 12ft-deep Larford’s Specimen Lake I’d sometimes switch to a 1m hooklength to target fish sat at half-depth.
Q. Do you make several casts to get some bait in at the start or just rely on the feeder to do the job?
Dean Barlow: If there’s been a frost or a cold spell I would rely on the just the feeder to put bait in on each cast. On a mild day with a warm wind, I would give them some bait, but this would involve three casts at 10-minute intervals to let me gauge the response.
Darren Cox: The warmer the water, the more I will feed at the start – typically six to eight feederfuls.
Michael Buchwalder: I make four or five quick casts to get a bit of bait down and then be patient, relying on the feeder to add more bait on each cast. It’s not yet time to pile in lots of feed.
Jamie Harrison: Bream and skimmers respond to the sound of a feeder going in, so to attract cold, inquisitive fish I keep the feeder going in and falling through the water. This is why I often prefer to fish just one line and make it work.
Q. How long would you wait between casts?
Dean Barlow: There are no hard or fast rules to this. After those opening 10 minute casts I normally then revert to 15 minutes between chucks, but I’d always keep an eye on anglers around me to see if they were doing anything different and catching.
Darren Cox: If I have bait there and no signs I’ll sit for 10 minutes maximum. A few quick casts often gets a reaction. When I am getting signs I will be patient and wait for a proper pull round.
Michael Buchwalder: Patience is key, and this includes how long you wait between casts. It is possible on some waters to only have three bites an hour but I believe that your timing is all down to instinct. If you think it’s time to cast again, then do it.
Jamie Harrison: Timing my casts is an experiment. I start on five-minute casts and take it from there. I’ll often do this for 30 minutes to gauge the response. If there’s still no reaction, I’ll increase the time to 10 minutes per cast. Often, I can catch extra fish by suddenly increasing the frequency of casting.