Big bream falls to new feeder trick

A revolutionary new maggot feeder has accounted for this new personal best 12lb bream from an untapped Shropshire stillwater for Adam Firth.

Glovers Lake on the Baden Hall Fisheries complex is due to open to anglers in the near future, and with the opportunity of an early session on the 7-acre lake, the Korum media manager thought that maggots would give him the best chance of catching one of the venue’s unknown specimens.

“All fish love maggots and they are the perfect bait to take to lakes that are rarely fished, or to those that haven’t seen a barrage of pellets and boilies,” he told Angling Times.

Armed with two pints of mixed red and white grubs Adam set up an inline maggot feeder rig incorporating the new Korum Grub Feeder.

“A common problem with most maggot feeders is that they are a pain to fill. The little flick cap on the top isn’t the easiest to get your maggots in and can easily snap off, rendering your feeder useless. They’re also not very aerodynamic, so casting accurately, especially at long range, can be a difficult task. Until the Korum Grub Feeder that is,” he explained. “They are extremely aerodynamic and fly like a bullet. They can also be filled in seconds by simply flipping open the clam shell style lid.”
After failing to spot any signs of fish during a quick lap of the lake, Adam followed his gut instincts and settled in to a corner on the end of a southerly wind.

“Short hooklinks were the order of the day so that I could use the full weight of the feeder to create the ‘bolt effect’. My rigs couldn’t have been any simpler - 4ins of 10lb braid to a size 10 or 12 Xpert Power hook. I like to fish it Mag-Aligner style by threading a white artificial maggot onto the hook and then nicking on three real maggots. On other occasions, popped-up baits can be more effective. Simply swapping the artificial maggot with a small maggot shaped piece of foam will make the bait buoyant. Clip your hooklink into the specially designed line clip on the top of the feeder, and your hookbait will be sitting prime and ready.

“I filled two grub feeders in less than 30 seconds, I was ready to cast. Both rods were fished between 80 and 85 yards, just short of the far bank, into the slightly deeper water where the weed had died back and I thought the bream might be residing.

“I didn’t have to wait long for a take, although taking off at 100mph up the lake, I wasn’t sure that I’d connected with the right species. After a long dogged fight, a muscle packed, lean common carp appeared in the clear water in front of me. After quickly popping the hook out, I put on a fresh hookbait, re-filled the feeder and got the rod back out onto the spot.

“After a couple more interruptions from the wrong species, my left- hand bobbin very slowly lifted up, before dropping back down. I could then feel the tell-tale heavy thump, thump of a big bream upon lifting the rod. My colleague Mat Woods did the honours with the net, exclaiming ‘That’s a blooming big bream. What’s your PB?’ Rushing over I looked down on what was without a doubt the biggest bream I’d ever caught. On the scales, the fish swung the needle round to 12lb exactly. A PB by 4lb. After the pictures we slipped it back and I was left to wonder how big they went in the lake…