Feeding time for big bream

October isn’t usually a month associated with the capture of big bream but they are certainly feeding up ready for the winter with a string of specimens hitting the bank topped by this 17lb fish.

Targeting this species is all about location and this was emphasised by Tring-based all-rounder Ken Brown, who located a clear spot between two weed beds and primed the spot with two kilos of pellets, a kilo of boilies, two tins of corn and two pints of dead maggots.

The first night of his 48-hour session failed to produce a bite, but his method feeders with two hair-rigged 10 mm boilies proved too hard to resist for the resident bream that reside in the tough southern stillwater.

Ken used 10lb line, 12lb coated braid hooklinks and size 8 hooks to get the better of bream weighing 13lb 6oz, 12lb 5oz and 11lb 8oz, but he had to wait until the final few hours of his stint until this huge bream graced the net.

“Big bream are creatures of habit so when you are targeting a hard water it’s important to make a note of all of the swims, areas and spots where you know fish have visited in the past as I had this catch from a location that had produced fish for me before,” said Ken.

“When I’m fishing over a bed of bait I’ll position one rod right over the top of it and then the other two on the edges and the biggest fish almost always fall to the baits that are presented on the perimeter of the feed.”

Another angler who had success at a difficult venue was Leicester’s Trevor Pole, who in the space of just five hours landed a 15lb 11oz personal best backed up with fish weighing 12lb 14oz, 12lb 2oz and 11lb 9oz.

He was fishing his local stillwater, that only contains a very small head of big bream, at 130 yards with helicopter rigs baited with three imitation casters  when he made his memorable haul that was topped with the fish that beats his previous best for the species by 3 oz.

“To catch a ‘pb’ along with a bag of other double figure fish is a real achievement for me because months can pass on this place without a bream even being seen let alone caught,” said Trevor.