Big bream weights at ‘natural’ matches

The boom in natural-water match fishing shows no sign of stopping with big catches continuing to be landed up and down the country. 

Even though we’re now nearing the end of October, weights recorded in recent events on lakes and rivers have been highly impressive.

Up at Carr Mill Dam in Merseyside, anglers enjoyed a good day out at the St Helens Tackle & Bait Cancer Research Charity bash, with the kind-hearted rods raising over £1,000 for the cause. 

Wigan matchman Gary Ainscough won the enormous 126-peg event with 37-7-0 of bream and skimmers using Method feeder and pellet tactics from peg 101.

And in Scotland, Loch Ken hosted a two-day event where distance feeder tactics were the order of the day. 

Mac Stevens emerged triumphant with a combined 47-2-0 total, after winning the opening day of action with 27-2-0 of roach and skimmers. Phil Murphy topped day two with 34-4-0.

In the East Midlands, Ferry Meadows, near Peterborough, staged the Steel City Classic, where the strong field was topped by seasoned campiagner and patriarch of the Ringer dynasty Geoff Ringer with a superb 211-8-0 total, the bulk of which (148-6-0 of bream) was taken on day one on feeder and worm tactics from peg 114 on Overton Lake. On day two Dave Lawrence bagged 140-6-0 of bream on the feeder off Gunwade Lake to take second overall.

Meanwhile, the latest RiverFest qualifier visited a legendary, but now little-used match haunt, the Warwickshire Avon around Stratford, where Martin Ward booked his place in the final with 49-14-0 of chub on waggler and maggot tactics. 

Nearby Alcester tackle dealer Alan Stephens also qualifed, with 25-2-0 of chub on the float for second spot.

Roach tops mixed bag

There are few more enjoyable methods of catching fish than by trotting a stick float down a river, as Adam Fisher did to bank this fine roach last week.

A day trip to the River Itchen proved fruitful for the Angling Dreams boss, who caught bream, chub and sea trout as well as the immaculate 1lb 10oz roach. 

“I knew it was a good fish so until I got it to the surface, my heart was in my mouth. Once it was finally in the net I wasso relieved,” said Adam, from Herefordshire. 

He took the roach on a single red maggot, mounted on a size 18 Drennan Carp Maggot hook attached to 3lb line.

Not too late for bream!

The capture of one of the biggest bream of the year, along with many other huge fish, proves that it’s not too late to smash your personal best.

Temperatures might be dropping, but specialist Steve Stones banked a 17lb 6oz slab, his biggest-ever, on his only bite during a 48-hour session at a large Midlands stillwater.

The 45-year-old freelance journalist and Korum consultant from Stamford, Lincs, beat his previous personal best for the species by just over 2lb.

Fishing at 50yds, Steve did the damage using a double imitation corn hookbait, fished over particles, pellets, 10mm boilies, dead maggots and groundbait.

“Line bites started at 1.30am, with the bobbins on both rods rising right to the top before falling back down again, repeatedly, for 30 minutes,” said Steve. 

“It was driving me crazy, but after 30-odd nights on the water this year with just two bream and a carp to show for my efforts I didn’t want to risk striking a liner as there were clearly a few fish out there feeding on the spot.

“Finally, at 2am, one of the bobbins rose to the top and stayed there, and when the freespool on the reel clicked a couple of times,  I picked up the rod and lifted into a heavy, plodding weight which came to the net like a typical big bream. Looking into the mesh, I could see that it was in a different league to any bream I’d ever had before. It was ridiculously fat!

“I was beginning to think I’d missed my chance for the year, but this just shows there’s still time to catch a big one,” he added.

Mike Townsend proved that you don’t have be out all night to catch big bream when a couple of short day sessions produced 15 slabs topped by a 13lb 10oz fish from a Yorkshire water. A feeder containing chopped worm fished alongside a lobworm tail nicked on to a size 16 hook was the successful combination for Mike.

All his fish were beaten with a simple set-up made from 8lb line, a 5lb fluorocarbon hooklink and a size 16 hook.

Adopting the same tactics as Mike was Mark Doherty, who landed fish weighing 13lb 5oz,
12lb 10oz, 11lb 15oz and 10lb 12oz.

The Worcester Angling Centre-backed angler also added a 9lb fish to his tally during a session to remember on a Wiltshire stillwater.

The Swindon-based rod fished with his dad, Malcolm, who also netted a 10lb 12oz slab during the same session. 

All their fish were taken using a Method feeder topped with pellets and boilies. 

Laying down a big carpet of feed soon whipped the bream into a frenzy for Matthew Tann, who finished a recent session with a fine personal-best fish weighing 12lb 10oz.

Arriving at the venue close to his Hampshire home at first light, the Drennan-backed angler quickly put down a big bed of hemp, oats, casters and other particles to try to prompt a reaction from the lake’s resident bream.

A Method feeder baited with a double pop-up corn hookbait was dropped over the top of his loosefeed and the shoals responded almost instantly. As well as the big one, Matthew also banked specimens weighing 8lb 8oz, 9lb 3oz and 9lb 12oz.

Prebait helps tempt bream of 16lb 1oz

Prebaiting paid off handsomely for specimen hunter Paul Faint when he banked three double-figure bream topped by this 16lb 1oz fish.

His session at a Lea Valley gravel pit got off to a steady start after an initial introduction of pellets, corn and dead maggots the afternoon before.

First fish to fall for Paul’s traps were a small carp, a tench and a 7lb 12oz bream.

The big-fish hunter from Waltham Abbey, Essex, then topped up his swim and his imitation pop-up corn hookbait accounted for bream weighing 10lb 5oz and 10lb 1oz before his new personal best graced the landing net.

Oar-some bream best

Catching big bream in a weed-clad lake was no chore for Adam Riches, who rowed a boat out to drop his hookbaits into a clear patch and bag this 15lb 10oz personal best.

The 29-year-old carpenter out-foxed the super-slab on a tricky southern gravel pit.

“The water is full of snags, and using a boat was the only way to get my baits through to the fish,” Adam explained.

“I found a clear spot 130 yards out and baited it with a particle and pellet mix, before rowing out to drop my rigs baited with popped-up fake corn.

“After a slow spring and only one 14lb-plus bream so far this season, I was absolutely chuffed with the result.” 

Two other bream weighing 10lb 1oz and 10lb 14oz were landed to make this a session to remember for Adam.

21lb bream is ‘fish of a lifetime’

A 30-year quest to land a giant bream finally came to an end for Bob Pickering when he banked this 21lb monster from a North West stillwater.

The Stoke-on-Trent big-fish enthusiast had spent three decades in search of the elusive big bream from the 90-acre mere, and finally hit the jackpot when the 21-pounder fell for a legered 6mm pellet. Incredibly, it is the first bream to be caught from the venue this year, despite the fact that the fish are regularly targeted. 

Yet another blank night session looked to be on the cards for Bob until the bite he had waited so long for materialised at first light. He told Angling Times: “When I picked the rod up the fish powered off and I was convinced I had hooked a carp or a tench.

“Once it was within netting range I saw the back of the fish and I couldn’t believe it was one of the huge bream that I had waited so many years to catch.

“I have never had a bream over 7lb from this water and nobody else had caught one of the true beasts for months on end. This is the fish of a lifetime – all those blanks and years of frustration have been more than worthwhile.”

Bob caught the fish from a gravel bar 60 yards out, and his winning rig comprised a 15lb braided hooklength and a size 10 hook.

Northern specimen angler Gary Knowles was blown away by the catch. He said: “This is the catch of the season. It is a vast water that holds a handful of bream that barely ever get caught. 

“It’s such a well-deserved fish when you consider how long Bob has been targeting them.”

11 doubles in huge bag of bream!

One of the greatest-ever hauls of double-figure bream has been taken from a Nottingham gravel pit... and Angling Times was there to photograph it!

Mark Perkins used simple feeder tactics to land no fewer than 11 double-figure fish to a best of over 13lb when we joined him on the banks of Nottingham AA’s Attenborough Nature Reserve.

During the memorable session the Dynamite Baits and Shimano-backed rod feeder-fished worm and maggot hookbaits to take 15 fish in just a few hours’ fishing at a water he believes is one of the finest bream venues in the UK.

“This place is incredible, and everything just came together on the day, said Mark, from Bingham, Notts. “The fact that I made such a fantastic catch with Angling Times photographer Lloyd Rogers on the bank with me made it even better.”

“We only decided to go there the night before I fished, so if I’d had more time I would have put some bait in leading up to the session. Who knows what I’d have had if I’d got more fish in the area?”

With a strong wind blowing into his face on the bank of the windsurfing lake, which is part of the Notts complex, Mark fished a groundbait feeder at 25 yards.

It was packed with pellets and casters, then plugged at each end with groundbait. All of Mark’s fish were beaten with 6lb mainline and a 0.16 mm hooklink attached to a size 14 hook.

“The wind had been blowing into that bank for about a week so I knew the fish would be there and that there was no need to cast too far out,” Mark continued.

“One of the biggest tips for catching the really big bream is to introduce plenty of pellets through the feeder. Lots of carpers fish this water and the bream have become used to feeding on the pellets they introduce.”

Dave Turner, secretary of Nottingham AA, is excited about the reserve’s potential.

“This lake has always been known for huge catches of big bream and the average size of the fish just keeps improving every year,” he said.

“I wouldn’t be at all surprised if there’s a 20-pounder in there because it’s such a rich, healthy water and lots of high-protein bait is introduced by carp anglers. Anyone interested in fishing here should contact me,” he added.

15lb 4oz bream best

Bream aren’t always welcomed by carp anglers, but Dan Bailey certainly didn’t mind when this 15lb 4oz bream turned up.
The Fleet, Hants, angler was fishing on the South Lake, which is part of the famous Yateley complex, when he received the bite from the new personal best after it picked up a popped-up corn hookbait presented on a KD rig.
His session also produced an 18lb mirror carp that was also beaten with a size 10 hook.

Biggest ever river bream taken by master float maker

A floatfished piece of bread has accounted for the biggest bream ever caught from a river.
Tipping the scales at 13lb 3oz, it was banked by renowned float maker Andy Field when he targeted a stretch of southern river.
Using one of his own hand-made floats, his Drennan Acolyte float rod and 3lb line tied straight through to a size 14 hook it only took the March, Cambs, floatfishing fanatic an hour to induce the bite from the fish that more than doubles his personal best for the species.
“I’ve always known that this stretch holds big bream,” Andy told Angling Times.
“But with the river carrying extra colour I knew that my best chance would be in a large pool where there was a big back eddy of slacker water.
“I knew if there were any big bream around that a big chunk of breadflake would sort them out.”
Many anglers faced with a high river and a swim that was 12ft deep probably wouldn’t reach for their floatfishing tackle, but Andy believes that there are too many anglers who ignore this method on running water and are consequently denying themselves great catches.
“Too many anglers just stick on a big feeder, load it with pellets and chuck it out, especially when the river is carrying extra water and colour,” Andy said.
“Fishing the float allows you to get a delicacy and balance of presentation that is unrivalled by any other method.
“I was fishing 12ft of water, which might put many people off fishing in this way, but, trust me, if you master it, you’ll reap the rewards.”