353lb of bream from a free river stretch
A free stretch of river has produced one of the UK’s biggest running water catches of all time after one angler took a massive 353lb of bream.
Mike Farrar arrived at the stretch of the River Nene in middle of Peterborough Town Centre at 2.00am after seeing bream rolling when he visited the venue on his bike the evening before his session.
With several 100lb-plus nets from the area already under his belt, the local rod fancied his chances of a big catch so after transporting all of his tackle to the bank on his bike put out 70 large feeders filled with groundbait and pellets into his swim, but nothing could have prepared him for the session he was about to experience.
During an incredible eight-hour stint he banked no less than 90 bream averaging 5lb – and lost an estimated further 100lb of fish in the weed.
“It was the most incredible days fishing I’ve ever had – at one point I had a crowd of around 20 people behind me!” Mike told Angling Times.
“Once I’d fed the swim and used the feeder to clear out some of the weed over my spot, the first bite didn’t come until 8.00am. After that it just went mad and there were so many fish in the swim that I couldn’t get my rod in the rest before the tip was going around.”
All of Mike’s bream fell to either maggot or pellet hookbaits fished in conjunction with a 0.15mm hooklink and size 14 hook attached to a 6lb mainline.
“I reckon I could have had almost 500lb if I hadn’t have lost loads of fish in the weed, but there was no way I could get round it as this is where the fish were and you have to take the rough with the smooth,” Mike continued.
“The fish were still coming thick and fast when I decided to pack up at 4.00pm, but to be honest I think the river and the shoal had given me enough pleasure for one day.”
And just to prove how good the fishing is on the River Nene at the moment he returned three days later and used the same tactics to land over 286lb of fish.
Over the years there have been many huge river catches taken by solitary anglers including a 316lb net of chub from the River Wye by Welsh International Lee Edwards in 2007, and more recently 200-plus nets have been reported from rivers such as the Thames and the Trent.
Venues to try for big bags of bream
- River Nene, town embankment, Peterborough
Contact: F Wade & Son, 01733 565159
Prices: Free fishing
- River Thames, Kingston, London
Contact: Gerry’s of Wimbledon 02085 427792
Prices: Free fishing
- Bristol Avon, Barton Farm Country Park, Bradford on Avon, Wilts
Contact: West's Tackle, 01225 755472
Prices: £3 a day from Wests Tackle Trowbridge, Airsprung AA
- River Wensum, Norwich, Norfolk
Contact: Latham’s Tackle, 08432 891368
Prices: Free fishing
- River Severn, Upton Upon Severn, Worcs
Contact: G. Shin Tackle, 01684 592102
Prices: £3 a day in advance from G. Shin Tackle,
- River Trent, Holme Marsh, Newark, Notts
Contact: Worksop DAA, 01909 486350
Prices: £4 a day on the bank, Worksop DAA
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17lb 1oz bream ends three month campaign
This huge 17lb 1oz bream is perfect proof that perseverance is the key when targeting specimen fish after Mark Simmonds smashed his personal best from a venue that hadn’t produced a bite for three months.
He’d been focusing his attentions on a lake in Cambridgeshire and until his latest session he hadn’t even seen a sign of his intended quarry.
But that all changed when the St Neots, Cambs-based specialist decided to follow the wind and introduce a large bed of mixed particles, pellets and boilies over a spot between two gravel bars.
He fished three rods, that were all finished with different hookbaits, in conjunction with PVA bags. And it was two home-made 11mm fishmeal boilies tipped with a 10mm Top Baits Condensed Milk pop-up that produced his first bite.
“Up until this weekend I had nothing to show for almost three months - I hadn’t had so much as a bleep or seen a single fish show itself,” Mark told Angling Times.
“I had my own 40th birthday party to attend in the evening and I wasn’t expecting much action but I had a huge drop-back bite at 6.30am on the final morning of the trip.
“The fight was unspectacular and my friend was soon slipping the net under a proper dustbin lid of a fish it was almost as tall as it was long and around five inches across the back. When my friend read the weight off the scales I nearly fell over with shock and I had to check them myself just to be sure!
After losing another fish an hour later he rounded off the session with a second double figure bream weighing 11lb 12oz and his biggest fish smashes his previous personal best that stood at 14lb 2oz.
“I continued to get liners, but I had to sort my party out which was a bit gutting in a way as all that time trying to locate them was finally paying off,” added Mark, who used 25lb braided mainlines and coated braid hooklinks with size 10 hooks.
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Biggest bream of the year caught
The biggest bream of the year has been banked in the form of this whopping 18lb-plus specimen.
It was caught by specimen carp angler Dan Bruton from an unnamed midlands gravel pit which was not previously known for producing big bream. It tipped the scales at exactly 18lb 4oz, a new personal best for Dan who was targeting one of the venues known big carp when the fish took his hair-rigged Trent Baits freshwater shrimp boilie.
Fishing a deepish swim at range, Korda, Trent Baits and Cutting Edge sponsored Dan fed a sizeable helping of Cutting Edge caramel crunch mixed particles along with trout pellets before casting a multi rig incorporating a 20lb N-trap hooklink, a size 6 wide-gape hook and a lead clip with 12 inches of dark matter tubing into his swim. Dan told Angling Times: “It was an impressive old dark beast and a fish I am very pleased with considering I’m a carp angler as it has come from a venue where they arent known to run to this size.”
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100lb net of bream on 40 feederfuls of bait
It’s common knowledge that bream love windy conditions and this was proved by Dan Sales when he banked this fine brace of slabs which was part of a near 100lb haul.
The Fox-backed specialist from Hertfordshire, targeted a reservoir in Bedfordshire and built up his swim with 40 feederfuls of Dynamite Baits Marine Halibut Method Mix laced with pellets and maggots.
He punched out a simple rig baited with two dead and one live grub to land 16 fish between 4lb and 7lb 8oz.
“It was blowing a gale right into my face, but I knew this was the place to be and the swim was solid with fish,” said Dan.
“Seeing the indications on the tip in these conditions was the main problem as I must have missed as many bites as I caught fish. The secret was getting a bed of bait down with the feeder before I even thought about making the first proper cast of the day.
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Trio of double figure bream topped by 17lb 2oz specimen
A run of blanks on a tough Midlands pit came to a welcome end for James Champkin when he netted trio of double figure bream – this huge 17lb 2oz specimen the highlight.
The Norfolk-based all-rounder had been fishing the venue on and off since the end of May with only a 9lb 8oz slab to show for his efforts. But eager to set the record straight he returned for a 48 hour session.
James told Angling Times: “It can dent your confidence having such a long spell of blanks, but I knew there were big bream in there and I was determined to get back and catch one.”
Arriving for a 48 hour session he baited in clear area in among the weed at 80yds range with a large quantity of partiblend, pellets, fishmeal method mix, sweetcorn and 10mm boilies. Over the top of this he fished inline lead rigs with fake corn hookbaits on size 12 hooks alongside a small mesh PVA bag of pellets.
The first night of the trip passed without event but everything changed on the second night.
“You don’t know how happy I was to hear the sound of that alarm. The first take resulted in a bream of 10lb 7oz and this was followed by a new personal best of 13lb 13oz half an hour later.
The best was still to come, however.
“I was already overjoyed with breaking my old best by 6oz when I received a third take. This one really screamed off and I knew instantly I was attached to something bigger.
“Bream tend to look and feel smaller when you’re playing them and it was only when I netted it that I realised just how big it was. At 17lb 2oz I’d not only well and truly ended my run of blanks but also smashed my pb twice in the space of an hour. The fish is without a doubt the highlight of my angling career,” he added.
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15lb 7oz bream banked in short evening session
A dedicated prebaiting campaign paid off for Geoff Collins who caught this 15lb 7oz bream during a short session after work on a Northants stillwater.
The local specialist targeted a clear area at 40yds range which he baited with a light scattering of pellets, corn, hemp and boilies. The specimen slab then fell to a sweetcorn hookbait fished in conjunction with a groundbait feeder on a rig tied from supple braid and a size 10 Drennan Specimen hook.
“It was my usual quick session approach as I only fished between 7pm and 11pm, which goes to show that you don’t have to spend days on the bank to catch the really big fish,” Geoff told Angling Times.
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230lb of bream from Tidal Thames
“Old Father Thames is probably the best bream river in the country at the moment.” These were the words of Chris Gadsden who shared a 230lb-plus haul of slabs from the capital’s waterway.
Fishing aboard ‘Windy Day II’, a boat he co-owns with Angling Times columnist Keith Arthur, with his friend Nigel Newport, the duo landed no less than 42 fish averaging over 5lb to a best of 7lb 13oz.
Targeting the Richmond area just below the town centre they started fishing at midday as the tide was starting to run and started getting bites from the off.
“Casting to the deeper water mid-river, we both used feeder and worm tactics and only got through about 2kg of bait during the session. There was no need to ball in large amounts of groundbait as the bream were obviously already shoaled up in front of us,” Chris told Angling Times.
“Towards the end of the session the bream starting to shy of the worm hookbaits but a change to maggots soon sorted this and the bites kept on coming. We called it a day at 7pm as we were both exhausted but we could have easily carried on catching had we stayed on.
“I have caught many big bags bream from the Thames before but nothing like this. It was just a great day’s fishing. We didn’t have anything under 4lb and had four over 7lb as well as several six-pounders. It proves that you don’t have to be catching massive fish for a successful trip. We both retired to the pub dirty, smelly and happy for a much needed pint!”
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11lb 12oz bream is best of five doubles
This 11lb 12oz bream was the highlight of five double figure specimens caught by Adrian Eves during a session at the Walthamstow complex.
Taking advantage of one of the few weekends when the venue is open for night fishing, the Fox and Dynamite Baits backed all-rounder located a clear spot amidst the silkweed at 40yds range and spodded out a sloppy mix of groundbait, sweetcorn and mixed particles soaked in CSL liquid.
“It was a flying start and I had the first take within five minutes. As well as the bream I also had carp, roach, perch and some hybrids,” said Farnham-based Adrian, who fished dendrobaena worms on size 10 Kuro S2 hooks and 5ins Camotex Stiff hooklinks.
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Four bream to over 10lb from Midlands stillwater
David Phillips smashed his bream personal best with this 13lb 2oz specimen - one of four double figure fish landed during a session on a Midlands stillwater.
Method feeder tactics with popped up sweetcorn scored for the 30-year-old, who also caught bream weighing 11lb 12oz, 10lb 8oz and 10lb 4oz. Fishing at 50yds, the Leicester man baited up with a Spomb before casting two rods with ESP Method feeders, 4ins braided hooklinks and size 10 hooks.
“My two targets for the year were a 20lb carp and a 10lb bream and I've achieved both in the last few months,” David said.
“It was a real red letter day and I used my favourite mix of Vitalin and porridge with a few bits of sweetcorn and dead maggots. I had 14 bream in total for 130lb and most came to fake corn,” he added.
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New personal best 16lb bream from Nene Valley
Carp anglers often regard bream as a ‘nuisance species’ – but not Martyn Fisher as he altered his approach after spotting some slabs in his swim and struck gold with this new pb of 16lb.
He was targeting the carp in a Nene Valley syndicate water when he spotted a few big bream in the margins, so he decided to introduce 10kg of hemp, corn, pellets and a kilo of boilies over an area at 40yds range and fished a boilie tipped with a piece of corn over the top.
Early the next morning a drop-back bite resulted in the capture of the specimen that more than doubled his previous best for the species.
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Five bream to 14lb 11oz in afternoon session
You don’t need to spend days at a time camped out on the bank to catch big fish – as proved by James Magnus who landed five double figure bream to a new personal best of 14lb 11oz in the space of a few hours.
The London-based angler visited a local stillwater for an afternoon session and introduced a large bed of pellets, hemp and mashed bread over a spot 40yds out.
It didn’t take long for the shoal to find his Method feeder approach and a 13lb 14oz specimen was soon in the net.
Other large slabs of 11lb 12oz, 11lb 8oz and 10lb 2oz were taken and in the dying stages of the session he won the battle with his new pb.
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16lb bream, 37lb carp and 10lb tench in one session!
An unfancied swim at Stanwick Lakes saw Trevor Gurney land a trio of fish which many specimen anglers could only dream of.
A 16lb 15oz bream, a 10lb 8oz tench and a 37lb common carp all graced the net of the Northants-based 43-year-old who just a month earlier broke the complex record with a 45lb 7oz carp.
The sensational haul, which also included a bream of 11lb 4oz and two upper-double figure carp, was taken from an area of the complex’s 8-acre Roman Lake which most anglers ignore.
All of the fish were tempted with a single Premier Matrix Plus boilie which he fished in a swim that he had pre-baited with a mixture of particles two days prior to his session.
“I haven’t been fishing since I broke the record with ‘The Colonel’ but when I returned I decided to target a swim on the lake where I knew nobody had been feeding the fish to see what would happen - it worked a treat!” Trevor said. “I am so chuffed with all the fish. A lot of carp anglers complain when they catch bream but I certainly wasn’t. They were both cracking looking fish and a slab of just one ounce under 17lb is a very special fish.”
Due to the amount of weed in the lake, Trevor used a drop-off inline lead system to prevent the fish snagging him up in the weed. This was fished in conjunction with a KD rig constructed with a 15lb Fox Coretex hooklink and a size 8 ESP Raptor hook.
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Best start to river season for years
Predictions that the nation’s rivers would be in red hot form for the start of the season were proved correct as match, pleasure and specimen anglers alike enjoyed one of the finest opening weeks in history.
Confidence was high that the River Trent would kick-start with the same memorable sport that it produced last year and Richard Easom got off to a flying start when he netted this 14lb 1oz barbel.
The fish was the biggest of a trio of barbel landed by the Three Foot Twitch Baits boss which also included another double of 12lb 8oz. He said: “I fed a kilo of Dubby boilies and once the barbel turned up it was non-stop. After a long and tiring 20 minute fight from the biggest fish it finally came over the net – I couldn’t have asked for a better start the season.”
Further south, Ade West celebrated opening day in style with the capture of a huge 7lb 14oz personal best chub. Having struggled to get a bite on the Throop Fishery stretch, the Gillingham-based rod decided to visit a secret spot for a couple of hours.
Several handfuls of 4mm pellets were introduced before a link-leger rig consisting of an 8lb braided hooklink and a size 10 hook baited with a boilie was placed over the top.
“I received several small taps on my rod tip and struck in to a powerful fish,” Ade told Angling Times.
“When I saw the size of it on the surface I knew it was bigger than my previous best of 7lb 8oz which I caught from the same swim.”
Bream dominated proceedings on the Thames, where numerous triple figure catches were landed in the overcast yet mild conditions.
The biggest catch reported came to Michael Homer who banked an estimated 500lb of slabs from a stretch at Kingston. After balling in 2.5kg of Vitalin at the start of the day he started catching straight away and ended up with over 100 fish to just shy of double figures and averaging 8lb, all falling to worm and corn baits.
Former Fish O’Mania finalist Tony Curd embarked on a rare pleasure session on a stretch of the Thames above Teddington Weir and proved his bagging prowess isn’t solely reserved for the competitive stage when he took 40 bream to 7lb for a 150lb-plus netful.
A feeder attack with a 50/50 groundbait mix of Bait-Tech Kult Sweet Fishmeal and Omen held the shoal for several hours.
Bream were also top of the agenda for Burt Baits boss Tony Wynnick and Laurie Summers who both used an open end feeder approach for over 270lb from the capital’s most popular river.
Team England Lure squad member Sam Edmonds showed why summer predator fishing on the Thames is a worthwhile exercise as he took a 3lb 4oz perch and a 26lb 2oz pike.
The large stripey fell for a Berkley Havoc Rocket Craw Texas lure from a spot close to a weirpool and despite searching several other areas throughout the day, it was exactly the same swim where the rod was bent almost double by the specimen pike.
“It fought so hard in the fast current that it actually up-anchored the boat, which made for an incredible battle as we quickly drifted downstream! It was a bit hairy but thankfully we got it in the net,” said Sam.
The famous Royalty Fishery on the Hampshire Avon hasn’t disappointed either as the chub fishing has been second to none with specimens to 8lb reported by anglers fishing the area known as the ‘Telegraphs’.
Maggots have been scoring well for this species, but the big barbel are also showing a liking for this bait presented on the float or feeder as several ‘doubles’ have graced the bank topped by a fish of 14lb caught from ‘Watersmeet’.
Last but by no means least, silverfish enthusiast Mike Townsend stumbled across a shoal of large rudd while patrolling a Fenland river and used his vast experience to tempt a 2lb 10oz fish.
Floating crust presented alongside a well-balanced waggler rig enticed the specimen into feeding.
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Haul of big bream from Fendrod Lake
A session at Fendrod Lake in Swansea saw Dan Jones enjoy his ‘best ever’ haul of big bream.
Slabs of 10lb 7oz, 10lb 2oz (pictured) and 9lb 2oz graced the net of the local rod during what was only his second overnight trip of the year on the 13-acre venue along with two double figure carp.
All of his fish fell to a Method feeder approach with Mistral Ten Pellets moulded around the frame and a hair-rigged 15mm Coconut Krill boilie hookbait.
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Nine bream to 11lb 4oz from Yateley's South Lake
This 11lb 4oz came as welcome surprise for Paul Hindley while fishing for the carp in Farnham Angling Society’s Yateley South Lake.
The 49-year-old postman from Berkshire had been told the lake didn’t hold many bream, but after catching one of 9lb he decided to scale down his rigs to see if he could tempt any more.
This produced a further eight slabs between 9lb and 11lb 4oz including another double of 11lb 2oz.
Paul presented 10mm pop-ups soaked in Kiana Almond Goo over a bed of hemp, corn and pellets in a hole in the weed at 40yds.
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Silver bream at 2lb 8oz is a season's best catch
This 2lb 8oz silver bream was caught by Lee Amass during a session at Mill Farm in West Sussex.
The fish is the largest of the species that the local rod has caught this season and it fell to an 8mm pellet hair-rigged to a size 16 Preston PR-C1 hook and a short 6lb Ultima Virage fluorocarbon hooklink.
He said: “It’s been hard going this year with a late start to the season and work commitments. The big girls don’t seem to want to play ball either this year, so I was very happy with this one.”
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Massive pair of bream for 34lb 11oz!
Alan Stagg’s run of form has showed no sign of slowing up as he has landed one of the biggest ever braces of specimen bream with two fish for a combined weight of 34lb 11oz.
The fish – which tipped the scales at 17lb 6oz and 17lb 5oz – were caught by the Gardner Tackle media manager from a southern gravel pit over the Bank Holiday weekend.
“As the temperatures had dropped slightly I knew the fish would still be holding their weight and had a feeling a big fish could be on the cards,” he told Angling Times. “The lake was really busy when I arrived and I spent the first couple of days in a swim that deep down I knew I had little chance of catching from.
“On the Sunday morning I spotted some big bream feeding on a hatch in the upper-layers at long range. Fortunately a swim had become available so I packed up my kit and moved halfway round the lake to get as close to the fish as possible.”
Alan was able to locate a gravel bar, just short of where the fish had been showing, at 85yds range, and using a spod he baited the feature with a mixture of 4mm trout pellets, crushed CC Moore Odyssey XXX boilies and 1kg of corn.
Over the top of this he cast rigs comprising 15lb Gardner Trickster Heavy and size 8 Covert Wide Gape Talon Tip hooks baited with a combination of two pieces of Enterprise imitation corn and a 15mm boilie tipped with a piece of buoyant corn.
“During the evening the fish started to show just off the feed. As darkness fell I had a bite on my middle rod and I instantly knew it was going to be a big fish. After gingerly leading it in I slipped the net under a huge male slab. The scales registered a weight of 17lb 6oz and I was understandably pretty damn pleased with the result. I had just slipped the fish into a retainer to recover for a couple of minutes when I received a take on my left-hand-rod. This resulted in a second specimen of 17lb 5oz.
“I’ve had an incredible few weeks. Up until the start of May I’d spent seven years trying to break my old bream personal best of 16lb 7oz – I’ve now caught four fish over that week in the last few weeks!”
Doubles caught this season
17lb 6oz
17lb 5oz
17lb 3oz
16lb 12oz
14lb 12oz
13lb 14oz
13lb 4oz
13lb 2oz
12lb 12oz
12lb 10oz
12lb 4oz
12lb 2oz
11lb 12oz
11lb 10oz
11lb 6oz
11lb 2oz
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11lb 4oz bream ends three biteless seasons
Three seasons without a bite on a tough Midlands water would have broken most anglers – but not Steve Pearson, whose determination was finally rewarded with this 11lb 4oz bream.
The County Durham-based angler had failed to register so much as a bleep on his alarms during a number of sessions at the venue in recent years.
But he finally received the take he’d been hoping for on his latest trip when the large slab picked up his 10mm critically-balanced boilie which he had tipped with a piece of flavoured rubber maize and fished in conjunction with a Method feeder.
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13 double-figure bream from North West stillwater
Simon Ashton enjoyed a session to remember when he banked 13 double figure bream to a best of 12lb 13oz from a North West stillwater.
The Sonubaits consultant had struggled on a previous trip to the water so decided to adopt a bold baiting approach on his latest outing to try and attract the resident bream and tench.
Two rods were rigged up with maggot feeders and third with a simple Method feeder presentation.
After feeding large quantities of groundbait, casters, pellets and hemp it wasn’t long before he started receiving a series of savage line bites.
He had to sit on his hands for several hours, though, until the first proper bite developed which resulted in a slab just shy of 10lb.
This marked the start of a hectic spell, with all three rods producing double figure bream. Simon told Angling Times: “Once the fish got their heads down on the bait the action was manic. On more than one occasion I had two rods go off at the same time and I even had to reel in just before 2am just to get a few hours sleep!”
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Feeder tactics lure personal best silver bream
Finding a new species to target can be difficult for a seasoned specimen angler but Adrian Eves did just that when he went on the quest of silver bream and ended the day with a series of fish to 2lb 5oz.
The Fox and Dynamite Baits rod had centred his attentions on tench in recent weeks but opted for a change during a trip to a southern stillwater.
A single grain of corn was presented alongside a Method feeder approach and a 1lb 2oz fish soon found the bait. Specimens of 1lb 14oz and 2lb 2oz 8dr were also fooled before the best of the day was on display for the cameras.
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