Pop-up boilie produces 17lb 2oz bream

Gary Knowles proved how important confidence is when targeting big bream by smashing his personal best for the second time in a fortnight with this huge 17lb 2oz specimen.

After being buoyed by the capture of a 15lb 12oz fish from a rock-hard Cheshire mere a little over a week ago, the specialist from Warrington returned to the venue more in hope than expectation.

In order to combat the dense weed blanketing the 80-acre stillwater, 48-year-old Gary used carefully positioned marker buoys as a target to deposit a bed of boilies, particles, pellets and corn over two clear areas.

He then presented a simple leger rig over the top, baited with a 10mm pineapple pop-up, and received the all-important take just a few hours after casting out.

“Quite frankly I could have hung up my rods a happy bream angler having landing the ‘fifteen’ the week before, so to then top it with a fish of this magnitude was frankly mind-blowing,” Gary told Angling Times.

“I really didn’t expect to get another fish this season, but I was so confident knowing my bait and rigs worked that I just had to give it another go. It just goes to show how important confidence is when targeting tough venues like this one.”

Gary used both a braided mainline and hooklength that were attached to rigs featuring 3.5oz inline leads and size 10 Korum X-Pert specimen hooks.