Bream brace just shy of 30lb

Perseverance certainly paid off for Paul Douglas when he slipped his net under a brace of huge bream weighing just short of 30lb.

Following a succession of bite-less visits to a local stillwater, the tackle shop manager from Northampton didn’t let his spirits dropped, and on his next visit was rewarded with two fish weighing 14lb 10oz apiece, both of which smashed his personal best out of sight.

Paul, who is also a member of the Northampton Specimen Group, concentrated his efforts on an area of silt just beyond a weedbed at 60 yards range. He set up two rods with Method feeders and cast those two his chosen spot, but it was Paul’s third rig, baited with a single grain of hair rigged imitation maize on a simple lead clip system, that accounted for his huge brace.

“I arrived at the lake at about 7pm and I put out 10 spodfulls of mixed pellets, before threading a pva bag of small pellets onto my hooklink and casting out. My personal best was on its way to the net just a couple of hours later!” said Paul.

“It was bigger and blacker than any bream I’ve ever seen and it really was in a league of its own. The sight of it coming over the net cord is something I won’t forget in a hurry. Then, the next morning, it was like an action replay, as I banked another fish that was exactly the same weight and looked identical.”

Paul finished his session with a third fish that topped the scales at 10lb 7oz, and that was also brought to the net with the help of a rig made from 12lb Drennan mainline, a size 10 ESP hook and a braided 15lb hooklink.