Bream tally continues with more giants for Alan Stagg
Alan Stagg has continued his impressive run of form on a southern gravel pit with the capture of four double figure bream.
Last week the Gardner Tackle media managed amassed one of the biggest ever hauls of specimen bream, including fish of 17lb 3oz and 16lb 12oz, and on his following session he added slabs of 14lb 12oz, 13lb 14oz and two smaller doubles to his tally.
Targeting a bar at 80-yards the Hampshire-based all-rounder baited the feature with CC Moore 4mm trout pellets, crushed Odyssey XXX boilies, dead maggots and sweetcorn. Over the top of this he offered Enterprise imitation corn hookbaits on size 8 Gardner Covert Wide Gape Talon Tip hooks and 15lb Trickster braid hooklinks.
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Biggest ever canal silver bream caught at 2lb 4oz
A classic and underused bait led to the capture of what is believed to be the biggest ever silver bream caught from a UK canal.
The 2lb 4oz specimen was landed from the Taunton to Bridgwater Canal by Russell Hilton after he cast out a floatfished tare.
The Devon-based rod told Angling Times: “My understanding is that this may be one of the largest silver bream caught from somewhere other than the current record venue for the species, Mill Farm in Sussex, and certainly from a canal.”
The previous biggest reported capture of a canal silver bream was a fish of 2lb 1oz taken by Keith Jobling from the Grand Union in 2011.
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Brace of 12lb-plus bream from gravel pit
Taking a chance on an out-of-form venue can sometimes pay off as Simon Ashton found out when he banked a brace of 12lb-plus bream from a Nottinghamshire gravel pit.
The Sonubaits backed angler made the long journey from his County Durham base to a water that hadn’t produced many fish of late, but unfazed, he adopted a bold baiting approach, introducing 30 balls of Hemp & Hali Crush groundbait packed with particles over a spot 60 yards out.
A bream of exactly 12lb fell to his Method feeder and boilie attack during darkness, before an even bigger specimen weighing 12lb 2oz was banked the following morning.
His winning rig was made up of 12lb mainline, a Drennan Gravel Braid hooklink of the same strength and a size 10 Super Specimen Plus hook.
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Three-year campaign ends with 12lb 9oz bream
A three year quest to catch a double figure bream came to a triumphant conclusion for Daniel Woolcott when he slipped the net under this 12lb 9oz specimen.
The project surveyor from Bromley, Kent turned his attentions to Tonbridge and District Angling and Fish Preservation’s Barden Lake and baited a clear silty patch at 40yds with a few spodfuls of hemp, maggots, Vitalin, mollasess, sweetcorn and pellets.
He then offered popped-up fake corn hookbaits with a small PVA bag of maggots and micro pellets over the top on 4ins 12lb braided hooklinks and size 10 ESP Raptor hooks.
He said: “I have been fishing some extremely hard low-stock, 100-acre-plus waters for a double figure bream but had no luck. As they are currently shut for the closed I decided to go give Barden a try and had the bigg’un on my fist session.”
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Venue switch pays off with specimen bream
A change of venue mid-session resulted in this 14lb 6oz bream for Lee Snow.
Travelling 70 miles from Leicestershire to fish the ultra-hard, low-stock Ferry Lagoon in Cambridgeshire but after two nights without any action he decided to head back up the A1 to a water closer to home.
He said: “Conditions weren’t great with clear skies at night, easterly winds and a full moon. I didn’t fancy a third night so headed to a venue which had a better stock of fish and where I felt more confident of catching.”
It proved to be a wise move as he landed five double-figure bream using halibut boilies mounted on size 10 Korda Wide Gape hooks and ESP Two Tone hooklinks.
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17lb 3oz bream is best of nine-fish session
After seven years of trying, Alan Stagg broke his bream personal best twice in one session with fish of 17lb 3oz – the largest of the species reported this year - and 16lb 12oz from a southern gravel pit.
The pair of huge slabs were the highlight of one of the biggest hauls of specimen bream ever taken which featured no less than nine doubles for the Basingstoke-based Gardner Tackle media manager.
Arriving at dawn, Alan spent six hours walking round the lake looking for signs of fish before setting up. He then located a gravel bar at 80yds range which he baited with a large bed of 4mm trout pellets, 0.5kg of 15mm CC Moore Odyssey XXX boilies, dead maggots and three tins of sweetcorn.
All three rods were fished over the feed with a mixture of Enterprise Tackle imitation corn and 15mm boilies tipped with a piece of fake corn as hookbaits.
“I received the first bite on dusk and carefully played in what I knew from the outset was going to be a big bream,” he told Angling Times. “As I slipped the net under the first fish, one of my other rods was away and I recorded a brace weighing 11lb 4oz and 12lb 10oz. Three other fish fell that night –one of 12lb, a 13lb 12oz fish and a new pb weighing 16lb 12oz at around 1:30am.
“I was a little dubious what would happen on the second night and wasn’t sure whether the fish would return or if they would back off the area as I’d caught a few. But after putting a bit more bait out in the afternoon, I noticed several bream roll off the back of the feed on dusk which raised my confidence levels. A further four fish fell that night, all doubles again with the best one setting another new best of 17lb 3oz. I have put in countless hours in recent years trying to beat my old pb for the species of 16lb 7oz, so to do it twice in one session was a real result!” he added.
Alan’s successful rig comprised seven inches of 15lb Gardner Trickster braid attached to a size 8 Covert Wide Gape Talon Tip hook.
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Huge Rutland bream to fly fisherman
Jim Watts was given a shock when he slipped his net under this estimated double figure bream while fly fishing at Rutland Water.
Heading to the Manton Bay area of the huge reservoir, the local rod was used a rig incorporating three flies to target the venue’s rainbow trout stocks.
A quiet start was soon forgotten when the unexpected slab fell for a Curley’s Buzzer and put up a fight that lasted almost 15-minutes.
Although the fish wasn’t weighed, Jim was left in no doubt that it beat his previous best.
Coarse fishing is not permitted but you can find more details on the game fishing opportunities by visiting www.rutlandwater.org.uk
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16lb 10oz bream in four fish haul
This huge 16lb 10oz bream topped a four fish haul for Allan Taylor during a 24 hour session on a Lincolnshire gravel pit.
The 47-year-old targeted a spot at 100yds in between two gravel bars and also landed slabs of 12lb 4oz, 10lb 8oz and 10lb 4oz during the productive trip.
The Lincolnshire-based handyman had been prebaiting the area twice a week for the past six weeks with a mixture of high and low oil pellets and then fished Method feeders filled with Betaine pellets over the top.
“I’ve been fishing the pit for bream for the last 14-years and this is the biggest I’ve had from there,” he told Angling Times. “Not only did the fish beat my previous best of 14lb 12oz it also broke the old lake record of 15lb 2oz.
“The lake is far from easy and a couple of years ago I did 40 nights for just four fish. It’s often the case that when you start catching a few and think you have ‘sussed’ it, the fish disappear.”
The first 14 hours of Allan’s passed without event but he then received a drop-back bite out of the blue.
“At 100yds range it’s hard to tell what size fish you are attached to, but once I got it closer it felt really heavy. Once it was in the net I knew it was going to be a new pb, but I had still had to weigh it three times just to make sure,” he added.
Allan’s winning presentation consisted of a short 3ins braided hooklink attached to a size 4 wide gape hook baited with a 12mm Mainline Baits Maple-8 Dumbell boilie.
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Two double-figure bream in tench session
A session tench fishing produced a welcomed surprise for angler Mark Bull when he reeled in two double-figure bream.
The 29-year-old, Buckinghamshire-based rod was fishing a local gravel pit but despite not landing one of the lake’s resident big tench he wasn’t left disappointed when the first of two slabs, weighing 10lb 8oz took his 10mm boilie and fake corn hookbait, fished on a combi rig with a Drennan groundbait feeder. Mark then switched to a Drennan inline maggot feeder setup with fake maggot hookbait and landed another slab also weighing 10lb 8oz along with numerous other bream as well as perch to over 1lb to round off a successful session.
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New personal best silver bream for Angling Times' Paul Garner
A visit to a day-ticket commercial fishery resulted in a new personal best for Paul Garner when he banked this 2lb 3oz silver bream.
Angling Times columnist Paul, who finished third in this year’s Drennan Cup, was fishing at Mill Farm Fishery in West Sussex where he caught more than 50 silverfish including roach to 1lb 14oz as well two other silver bream over 2lb. His catch also included around 30 carp averaging around 15lb and all the fish were caught on short helicopter rigs using a cage feeder filled with NashBait Instant Action Crab & Krill BallMaker Pellets and a hair-rigged 6mm hooker pellet on a barbless size 16 hook.
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Bumper week for bream catches topped by 14lb fish
A heavy baiting approach paid dividends for Ryan Hayden who smashed his bream pb with the capture of this 13lb 3oz specimen.
The Northants-based graphic designer had visited his chosen gravel pit the day before his session and introduced over 10kg of 6mm and 4mm halibut pellets, hemp, Sonubaits Hemp and Hali Crush, chick peas and half a tin of corn all mixed together with molasses over a spot where he had seen bream topping at 60yds.
Returning the following afternoon he put out another 2kg of bait before casting out three method feeders.
“The evening began with quite a few knocks and I could see a few bream rolling at dusk so I knew they had found my bait,” said Ryan. “By 11pm it had gone quiet, though, so I Spombed out a bit more bait to try and draw them back. I was woken by a drop-back bite at 3am which resulted in a bream of 9lb 1oz. The next bite came two hours later and as soon as I lifted into the fish I knew it was a better one. Hopefully over the next few weeks I will be back for another shot with the hope of nudging my pb even higher,” added Ryan, who used 5ins Korum 10 Xpert Power Braid hooklinks and size 12 Xpert Specimen hooks baited with two hair-rigged 8mm Sonubait Halibut Pellet O’s.
Further north, Andy Griggs only had one bite during an overnight session on a West Yorkshire stillwater - but he wasn’t complaining as it resulted in a new lake record bream of 13lb 10oz.
The 27-year-old baited a shelf in 11ft of water with a mixture of crushed hemp, pellets and corn and presented a 12mm halibut pellet tipped with a piece of artificial corn over the top.
“I’d caught a new personal best of 10lb 12oz a couple of weeks earlier so I was delighted to up my pb for a second time and better the previous lake record of 12lb 1oz in the process,” the Yorkshire-based warehouse operative told Angling Times.
“I had a steady run at 12.30am and I could tell it was a decent fish when I lifted in to it. It came in like a dead weight all the way and it looked huge once we lifted it out and saw it in the net.”
Andy beat his prize with a bolt rig consisting of a 12ins braided hooklink knotless-knotted to a size 8 hook.
A recce session on a southern stillwater produced a four fish catch for Nathan Green which included a brace of doubles weighing 11lb 4oz and 12lb 5oz.
The Ashford, Kent-based sales consultant at Angling Direct Spombed out a large bed of groundbait onto a large clear area at 30yds and fished two rigs over the top baited with two grains of real corn and piece of plastic corn.
He said: “I honestly wasn’t expecting to catch and was only really fishing to try and get a feel for the venue.”
Nathan’s rigs incorporated 1.5oz textured inline leads which he moulded groundbait around before casting out, short braided hooklinks and Gardner Target hooks.
Finally, Dave Kennedy had a big surprise when he smashed his bream personal best with this mint-conditioned 14lb specimen.
The specialist, who works for Fosters of Birmingham, was after the carp in his local syndicate water when the huge slab took a Mainline Cell pop-up mounted on a chod rig.
The fish beat his previous best for the species of 10lb 8oz, and was taken over a clear spot that Dave found at 95yds range and baited with a bed of crushed boilies.
His winning rig featured braided mainline, a 4oz drop-off inline lead and a size 8 Korda hook.
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16lb 5oz bream tops big haul from Tring Reservoir
Gary Walsh landed three bream for a combined weight of 42lb 9oz during a 48 hour session on the ultra-tough Tring Reservoir complex in Hertfordshire.
The biggest of the local rod’s hat-trick tipped the scales at a massive 16lb 5oz and smashed his previous best for the species of 14lb in the process.
Arriving just as the light was fading he located a spot at 85yds which he proceeded to bait with Sticky Bloodworm pellets, a tin of garlic flavoured sweetcorn and four pints of hemp.
The first night of his trip passed without event but the following evening he received a drop back bite. A short fight followed and he had only just put the fish in the retaining sling when he had a bite on his second rod which resulted in fish on 13lb 3oz and 13lb 1oz on the bank.
“It was a cracking brace and as it was only 10pm I decided to top up the swim with another 10 Spombs of bait,” Gary told Angling Times. “For two hours nothing happened and then just before midnight I had another drop-back on my boilie rod. After a steady fight I had the fish in the net, but it wasn’t until I went to lift her out that I realised how heavy it was.
“To say I was overjoyed is an understatement. I’ve been fishing Tring for the last couple of years and last season I only had two bream in total.”
Gary fished 12mm pop-up boilie hookbaits on one rod and a combination of fake and real corn on the other. Both were mounted on size 8 Drennan International Starpoint hooks and 8lb hooklinks fished helicopter style on 10lb mainline.
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From spurned park lake to bream mecca
A neglected park lake that was left to ruin is being labelled as the nation’s best bream and tench water after a series of 100lb plus catches of the species were taken during trials.
Derby’s Allestree Park Lake has been devoid of anglers for several years, with government funding cuts leaving the controlling council unable to employ patrol staff.
In a last gasp bid to regenerate the complex, officials from the Earl of Harrington’s AC struck a deal last month with the authorities to run the fishing, pledging to undertake a major clean-up operation as part of the contract.
Many viewed the move for unknown quantity as a gamble but the decision was soon vindicated when club member Shane Tooth used a simple Method feeder setup with pellet hookbait to bank 24 big slabs to over 7lb and the odd tench for a staggering 130lb plus haul.
Determined to prove the achievement wasn’t a fluke he returned days later and put in an even more assured performance as he slipped the net under 28 bream for another triple figure netful.
“It’s an attractive lake and I thought I’d give it a go but I certainly didn’t expect to land almost 250lb of bream in just two sessions,” explained Shane.
“It took an hour to get them going each time but once they turned up the action never stopped. It is stuffed with big bream and I’m confident even bigger bags are on the cards soon,”
Club treasurer Teresa Parr has been inundated with similar reports from other members and believes it helps highlight the true potential of park lakes. She said: “We’ve also gained four other similar waters as part of the deal and we have high hopes they can be just as prolific. Such lakes are underrated but they are capable of producing catches that can rival what commercial fisheries provide.”
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15lb bream is a four-year best for Ted Bryan
Ted Bryan has continued his impressive run of form, landing his biggest bream for four years in the form of this 15lb 12oz specimen from a tough southern stillwater.
Following hot on the heels of a nine-fish haul topped by a slab of 12lb 12oz just a couple of weeks earlier, the Nash-backed specialist located a deep area and put out a bed of groundbait laced with pellets, maggots, hemp and corn to kick off a 48-hour session at a southern stillwater.
The Sydenham, London-based angler’s first night produced six bream, three of which were doubles, and the remaining trio tipped the scales at over 9lb, before the huge 15lb 12oz specimen rounded off his opening 24 hours. His final day of the trip saw a further five fish to 10lb 12oz visit the bank.
“I concentrated all of my feed and dropped both rods onto a spot that was around 15 feet deep because it had been really cold overnight,” said Ted. “Bizarrely, over my last few sessions I’ve noticed that the colder it is at night the harder they seem to feed. The water in the bottom of my cradle had even turned to ice when I had the 15lb 12oz fish!
“I also found that putting a few balls of groundbait out during the night helps to keep the fish over your baited area.”
Ted fed over 60 balls of groundbait during his session and his winning rigs comprised 2oz inline leads, 10lb mainline, 10lb Hardcore mono hooklinks and size 10 Nash Fang X hooks baited with two hair-rigged 10mm Tandoori Spice pop-up boilies.
“I’ve had a great start to this campaign and I’m going to be having a good for the tench over the next few weeks as they’ve started showing on the water I’m targeting,” he added.
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Four doubles in best bream catch of 2014
The introduction of over 70 balls of groundbait has accounted for the biggest specimen bream haul of 2014 – the highlight of which was this 12lb 12oz fish.
Following the end of the UK river season, Ted Bryan turned his attentions to the resident slabs in a southern stillwater and put out a large bed of crumb laced with pellets, hemp, corn and maggots.
Presenting popped-up Nashbaits Tangerine Dream boilies over the top, the Sydenham, London-based all-rounder took a total of nine fish, including three other doubles weighing in at 11lb 4oz, 10lb 10oz and 10lb 6oz.
The Nash Peg One consultant kept the shoal interested by topping up his swim with a few balls of groundbait after every couple of fish and all of his bites came to scaled-down carp rigs constructed with 2oz inline leads and 10lb hooklinks tied to size 10 Nash Fang hooks.
“When many anglers start to target bream at this time of the year they get the carp gear out with thick, heavy mainlines covered in lots of tubing, which make their rigs very bulky and their catch rates really suffer,” Ted told Angling Times.
“I fine down everything - from rods to hooklinks - and I don’t use any tubing whatsoever. I want everything about my set-up to be perfect for bream, which can be cute, especially on waters that are heavily fished.
“You can’t beat groundbait for laying a bed for this species especially when it’s loaded with small particles that keep them occupied for a long time. It’s vital to keep your swim topped up as I started off with 30 balls and then introduced the rest in two intervals during the 48-hour session. This holds the shoal in the swim and prevents them from drifting off because they can get through so much feed.”
