Brutal conditions on 100-acre pit perfect for big bream - Daniel Woolcott
“With a weather forecast of high winds, driving rain and plummeting air pressure, conditions looked perfect for the weekend, and absolutely screamed fish. I knew I had to get on the bank, so I set off for a 48-hour session on a 100-acre southern gravel pit to try to catch a bream personal best.
“Settling into a swim, I found a hard gravel area at 120yds range which I baited with a healthy amount of Grubby groundbait and halibut pellets, before punching out lead rigs with 14mm Source dumbell hookbaits over the top.
“The first evening was biteless, but at 1am one of my bobbins twitched up and down and I lifted my rod into the heavy plodding sensation of a big bream.
“After taking my time playing it to the bank I eventually guided this dark, rounded slab over my net cord.
“As I peeled back the mesh and laid her into the sling ready for weighing I just knew she’d be a new personal best.
“At 14lb 2oz it’s not the biggest bream in the world, but I’m absolutely made up with it.
“I also managed another of 11lb and a bonus 8lb 6oz tench, so it turned out to be a great autumn session.”
Daniel Woolcott and his new PB 14lb 2oz bream from a 100-acre pit
Heavy baiting key to near 30lb bream brace
A HEAVY baiting campaign on a southern gravel pit has led to the capture of a big bream brace weighing just 8oz shy of 30lb.
The catch was recorded by landscape gardener Craig Hall, who used a Spomb to introduce 3.5kg of crumbed Krill boilies, hemp, corn, pellet, chopped worm and worm extract to a silty spot around 50 yards from the bank.
As darkness fell, Craig’s swim came alive and he had two bites within a 10-minute window.
The 30-year-old said:
“Just moments after I slipped the net under the smaller one my other rod rattled off. This one felt a little heavier, so I erred on the side of caution and played it slowly to the net, where I scooped it up first time to join the other.
“The first one went a healthy 13lb 8oz, but I was made up with the second – a new PB at 16lb.”
Both bream fell to trimmed-down bloodworm wafters fished on helicopter rigs.
Craig Hall’s brace of 16lb and 13lb 8oz bream
Homemade baits the key to huge bream captures - Tim Jackson
“Last year I lost confidence in shop-bought boilies but using my homemade baits I’ve enjoyed my most productive season to date – landing 45 carp and 12 bream to 18lb 2oz. It all started at the end of 2019 when I told a friend about my poor season on my syndicate lake.
“My issue was with the commercially-made boilies I was using, as I couldn’t buy a bite on them. He gave me some advice on rolling my own baits as well as a few ingredients to try, and that winter I got to work making a mix.
“With a bit of experimenting I developed some hand-rolled fishmeal boilies that I was happy with. They smelt great and I couldn’t wait to start my carp campaign after lockdown was lifted.
“My first few sessions on the lake were as though a switch had been flicked, as I caught carp from the off. On one occasion I received a twitchy bite on a 12mm homemade boilie which definitely wasn’t a carp, and after some plodding around I landed a stunning bream of 15lb 4oz.
A cracking 15lb 4oz bream for Tim Jackson
“From then on I just became infatuated with the bream and switched my attentions away from the carp completely.
“I’d already caught one bream on my homemade bait, so I made some special 6mm, 8mm and 10mm-sized boilies to see if they’d single them out and deter the carp.
“The ploy worked and through the summer I banked a string of double-figure bream while other anglers were struggling. There was something in my bait that the bream just wanted.
“By August I’d developed a successful approach which was fishing three rods over silty areas at distance with helicopter rigs and 8mm or 10mm boilie hookbaits.
“Over each rod I also fed half-a-kilo of flattened and crushed boilies with a Spomb.”
“The last five weeks have probably been my best on the water and I’ve landed the biggest bream in the lake twice at 18lb 2oz.
“Most of the time I’d only catch one in a trip but during my latest session I managed three of 12lb 14oz, 15lb 8oz and 15lb 10oz.”
Tim Jackson has managed to land the biggest bream in the lake twice at 18lb 2oz
Largest bream of the season banked on homemade bait
A HAND-rolled 10mm boilie wrapped in paste has accounted for the largest reported bream of the season in the shape of this 18lb 2oz specimen.
It was a PB for its captor Tim Jackson, who baited a silty spot on a southern gravel pit with 0.5kg of crushed boilies before casting his homemade hookbait over the top.
The 47-year-old says:
“At 6.30am I had a light tap on the rod and knew straight away it was a bream.
“A few minutes later I was blessed with this fish, which smashes my previous best.”
Tim Jackson and his 18lb 2oz bream
Double-figure bream target achieved in Ouse haul - Steve Cowley
“This season I set myself the goal of catching a double-figure bream from the Great Ouse Relief Channel in Norfolk. As the hot summer days arrived, though, my mate Keith and I discovered the bream’s feeding windows had shrunk, but by changing our time of attack I managed to catch 100lb of slabs and smash my goal!
“Between opening day and our latest session we’ve enjoyed several trips, including two special occasions where I caught more than 200lb. On June 16 I had my best result and caught 21 bream, including a PB 9lb 2oz fish, for 240lb.
“As the trips rolled on I upped my bream best further and took fish of 9lb 6oz and 9lb 10oz in quick succession, but that double eluded me.
“Keith managed one, and I’d witnessed a carp angler catch one too, so the desire to achieve my goal grew stronger.
“At the start of the season we were catching throughout the day but that stopped when the hot weather arrived at the beginning of August.
“The heat had an effect, so we decided our next trip would be an overnighter. The Relief Channel is vast, and it was a good 450m slog to our pegs, but we were set up by 7pm.
“We both fished the same line at 45m to which 30 balls of Bait Tech Omen and Kult Carp groundbait and corn were fed.
“As darkness set in, the isotopes on our quivertips remained still and did so all night. We decided then to get some kip on our bedchairs and be up at 3am with hopes of catching.
“The move paid off, as between 5.30am and 8am the bream moved in and I recorded 11 big slabs on worm and corn cocktails.
“Each bite felt like striking into a brick wall as the fish were solid and fought hard in the flow.
“When bites dried up we checked our keepnets and weighed the heaviest bream. It turned out I’d caught two doubles at 10lb 2oz and 10lb 9oz, along with another belter at 9lb 14oz…mission accomplished.”
Steve Cowley – 10lb 9oz river Ouse bream
Lure fishing is great for...BREAM! - Chris Howell
“I was fishing my local stretch of the Basingstoke Canal and it was getting pretty late, but I decided I’d just make a few last casts into a bay that the boats use for turning round.
“There were some lily pads close to the far bank so I flicked my 0.5g red and white jig fly to the edge of them.
“I’d only twitched it twice when all of a sudden my rod bent double and my heart started racing!
“The fish headed straight for the lilies but with some light pressure I managed to pull it out.
“Sliding the net in as the head came to the surface, I was stunned to see a bream come towards me!
“I was still happy to catch it, though, because it was my first-ever bream on a lure.”
Chris Howell and his lure caught bream
14 double-figure bream in one session
JOE Royffe’s decision to prebait heavily before his latest trip paid off with the capture of 18 slabs to a best of 15lb 14oz.
Prior to his two-night stay on a 90-acre Lea Valley pit, the Hertfordshire rod primed his swim with 8kg of pellets and groundbait, and then fished maggot feeder heli-rigs over the top during his session.
“In just under 48 hours I caught 18 bream, of which 14 were into double-figures,” he tells Angling Times.
“It was an absolutely amazing session that has left me truly overwhelmed.”
Joe Royffe with the biggest of 14 double-figure bream landed from a Lea valley pit
First session success on unknown bream water - Jason Smith
“I decided to try an unknown Northamptonshire pit in search of bream. I didn’t know how many fish were in there or how big they got, but I had a great result on my first session, landing this 14lb 7oz bream, which is a new PB!
“Catching such an impressive fish certainly exceeded expectations, but a week later I followed it up with another bream of 13lb 4oz.
“Overall, it’s a very weedy lake, but I managed to find a clear area around 30 yards out and this is where I caught it from.”
“Try a groundbait feeder and worm hookbait combination. It scored for me.”
Jason Smith with his 14lb 7oz bream
"Going afloat got me among the big bream" - Trevor Pole
“The Cambridgeshire gravel pit I’d pinned my hopes on can be daunting owing to its sheer size. But it has an incredible potential for producing specimen bream over 20lb, so I planned a few sessions in spring 2019 to try and catch them.
“I had my work cut out, as the lake is choked with weed, and clear patches seemed to be
non-existent. Despite numerous casts with the marker rod I couldn’t find an area within range I was happy about, and suffered several blanks.“Over winter I thought hard about what I could do and remembered I had an old 10ft Sniper boat in my garage with a mini electric outboard. Small vessels are allowed on this water for baiting up so I didn’t think twice about bringing it down for a 48-hour session around a fortnight ago.
The boat was a game changer
“After arriving at lunchtime, I settled in a swim that looked promising, with plenty of open water to go at. I set out in my boat with a prodding stick to search the lakebed for gravel spots. After five minutes and travelling probably 120 yards, I discovered a big clearing and a 7ft-deep gravel plateau. I marked the spot with H blocks and baited it generously with casters, maggots, chopped worm, corn and groundbait.
“I then motored back to the bank to collect my rigs – which were heli-rigged fake casters popped up with rig foam – and ferried them back to the spot.
“As night fell I was confident of getting a bite, knowing my rigs were on clear ground, and this was confirmed at 2am when I had a screaming run resulting in a 10lb tench. At least now I knew my rigs were working.
“After slipping it back I motored back out to the spot at 4am to rebait and reposition the rods. I got back to the swim and sat watching the water for signs of fish through the mist.
“My dreams of big bream eventually came true between 10am and 1pm, when I received three bites – each from specimen bream that weighed in at 15b 2oz, 14lb 11oz and 16lb 13oz.
The biggest of Trevor’s haul at 16lb 13oz
“All that hard work paid off, but I couldn’t have done it without the use of that boat. I know boating out your baits isn’t everybody’s cup of tea, but for me it was the difference between catching and blanking.”
"My greatest bream session ever" - Ian Hannaby
“After settling into a swim on a Midlands gravel pit I spent an hour Spombing in a gallon of pellets, cracked maize and dead maggots before casting helicopter rigs with Ringers white and chocolate orange wafters over the top.
“I spread the rods out over a fairly large baited area, because bream are a shoaling species.
“It turned out to be my greatest bream session ever.
I landed 29 fish, of which 14 were doubles with seven of them going over 11lb!
The two biggest went 12lb 2oz and 13lb 7oz – the latter being the second-largest bream I’ve ever had.”
Ian Hannaby with his second biggest bream at 13lb 7oz
Artificial hookbait fools huge bream
After a chance recent encounter with a 15lb 3oz bream while carp angling, all-rounder David Jones went one better and landed this immense 17lb 6oz bream by design.
Initially arriving at the lake to target the resident carp, David noticed lots of bream rolling just as darkness descended, among which he could see some very big fish.
“I swapped a few of my rods over for bream after seeing the size of the fish that were rolling and I’m certainly pleased about making the switch,” David tells Angling Times.
“There were so many fish rolling through the night that I was amazed not to catch one during darkness, but come daybreak I finally had a bite. When I saw this fish in the net I was totally gobsmacked. They’re such impressive creatures, and it baffles me when I hear that some people don’t like them.”
David baited an area with halibut pellets and corn and used an artificial grain of the latter as his hookbait.
David Jones with his 17lb 6oz bream
Showing fish gives the game away for big bream
A glimpse of big bream rolling at dusk lead to the opportunistic capture of this impressive 17lb 4oz best for Ben Emptage on a trip to the Girton Fishing Complex, Lincs.
The fish beat his PB by 4lb, but Ben didn’t realise quite how big it was until he went to lift it out of the margins for weighing.
“When it went into the net I thought, ‘that’s a proper one’, and when I lifted it out, I realised I’d caught something special” he says.
“I’ve seen and caught a number of large bream but this one eclipsed anything I’d ever seen on the bank.”
Ben fished 30 yards out, baiting with pellets, corn and boilies.
Ben Emptage and his new pb 17lb 4oz bream
First trip of the season results in 200lb-plus bream catch
“I spent the morning of June 16 on the lower River Thames, but with it running low and clear with next to no flow I was expecting it to fish poorly. That said, if you’re going to catch a big weight in bad conditions, then the very first night of the season is probably your best bet!
“As the river was so lifeless, I decided to feed with a Spomb and introduced a few kilos of mixed pellets and groundbait just before dark.
“I started fishing at midnight, and although it took an hour to get my first bream, once I’d landed it I managed a bite most casts and finished the session at 5am with around 45 bream averaging 5lb apiece for a total weight of well over 200lb.
“It was a great first trip, but as soon as the sunshine began to peep through the trees, the bites slowed right down.”
Tony Curd with his 200lb-plus haul of bream
Monster bream shows with just minutes to go...
PAUL Scowen was just minutes from packing away his fishing gear when this pristine 16lb 4oz bream picked up his hair-rigged maggots.
The 48-year-old was fishing a southern gravel pit with his son Edgar in hope of catching a big tench or bream during a 24-hour stay. Paul tells us:
“The first evening was really productive for tench and we had more than 20 to a best of 10lb 1oz.
“The following morning was much slower but just before lunchtime, when we were due to leave, I had a drop-back on the middle rod which resulted in this massive bream.
“A mate had caught it at 16lb 8oz the previous year and it was a fish I was really keen on catching.”
All Paul’s fish were taken over gravel bars baited heavily with a mixture of pellets, hemp and maggots.
Had Paul packed up minutes earlier he would have missed out on this awesome bream
Spot change results in a dream bream brace - Lee Mcmanus
“Back in October 2019 I targeted big bream on a secluded 25-acre Midlands gravel pit that I’d never fished before. I planned a 48-hour session and, although I’d be fishing, it was more so that I could get a proper feel for the lake and check out its underwater features with my marker float.
A marker float is essential kit for large waters
“After settling into a big open swim with lots of room, I spent a couple of hours casting around, but only managed to find two spots, at the bottom of a gravel bar at 125 yards and 140 yards from my bank. There was some light silt at the base of the bar in both areas which I know bream love to feed over.
“It was extremely windy, and casting to that distance was a proper strain on my 1.75lb test curve bream rods. Despite it being a struggle, I managed to hit the marks after some practice and ended the session feeling ecstatic, with two bream to 15lb 2oz and a common carp banked.
“I’d already decided that I’d return and fish the same gravel bar at a later date but that 140-yard cast was a pain and I was sure there must be an easier way to reach that distance!
“I looked to the far bank and reckoned it was much closer to the gravel bar than the bank I was fishing on, so I decided to investigate.
“After casting my marker float out to the spot, I headed round to the opposite bank with my lead rod. It took me a good hour of trekking in my waders to get there, so I was knackered but, as they say, effort equals reward! I wasted no time in casting the lead to my marker float before clipping up the line to measure the distance. I then trekked back to my original swim and made a note of the new length by wrapping the clipped line around my distance sticks. The difference was incredible, as It was only 90 yards to the gravel bar from that side of the lake, compared to 140 yards from mine!
“Soon I was back on the pit for another 48-hour session, this time fishing from the other bank. I’m never fully confident I’ll catch when I go breaming as I’ve found fish in large, low-stock venues can be very fickle. The weather was far from ideal, with bright clear skies and no wind whatsoever, so I almost questioned what I was doing there! My rods were already clipped up to that mark so, after feeding it with five Spombs of hemp, casters, corn, pellets and groundbait, I cast my lead rig over the top – three hair-rigged rubber casters were the hookbait.
“I watched the water for bream over my spots, but the first day and night passed without a bite. I thought that would be it, but during the final morning It finally came good and I had two bites resulting in bream of 16lb 4oz and 16lb 12oz.
The smaller of Lee’s brace at 16lb 4oz
A giant 16lb 12oz bream
“I’ve caught a lot of bream over 16lb but never two in a session, so to say I was shocked would be an understatement.
“I’m glad I made the effort to mark up that spot from the other side of the lake. It definitely helped me present a bait precisely.”
YouTube carper nets 'superb looking' bream
Keen carp angler Chris Fennell, known to many as the ‘Carpking’, thanks to his YouTube blogs, caught this chunky 12lb 2oz bream on his first session back on the bank.
He told Angling Times:
“Because I’m a carp angler I can confidently say that bream aren’t one of my favourite species, but when I netted this slab I just had to weigh it and take a picture. It was my first session back after restrictions on fishing were lifted and I was targeting a 6ft-deep margin at Aspen Lakes Fishery in Swindon.
“Carp were my primary target so I fed the spot with pellets and boilie crumb, then fished a single Hinders C-Food boilie over the top.
“After a few hours I’d caught three tench, but then I had another twitchy bite which I knew right away wasn’t what I was after either.
“When I struck I was surprised at the heavy weight on the end and my initial reaction was that it was another tench, but then this huge bream coasted across the surface into my net.
“I never normally target bream, but I have caught them to 10lb 4oz in the past while carping, so I was very happy with this personal best at 12lb 2oz. For a bream it looked superb!”
Chris Fennell and his 12lb 2oz bream
Check out Chris’s YouTube channel - Carpking71
"I finally beat my bream best" - Dave Jones
“My personal-best bream stood at 14lb 8oz for years, so I planned a 24-hour session on a Leicestershire stillwater to try and better it.
“After settling into a swim with a deep 12ft-14ft marginal shelf, I baited it with 4mm and 8mm halibut pellets alongside a handful of corn. A few minutes earlier I’d spotted a shoal of big bream nearby so I felt confident. Before dark I cast a blowback rig with a Cell wafter over the top and waited.
“At 3.30am I was woken by a screaming run and I thought I’d hooked a carp, but my strike was met with a wallowing resistance, so I knew it was a bream. At 15lb 3oz, I’d finally got what I was after.”
Dave Jones with his new personal best bream of 15lb 3oz
Giant bream nets angler a free membership
ALL-ROUNDER David Lloyd was left speechless when he banked one of only two bream in his local syndicate lake. The Burton-on-Trent angler’s 17lb 2oz slab also bagged him a year’s free membership on the water, all thanks to a bankside challenge.
“I asked the bailiff about the stock of bream in the lake and he told me there were only two, and said if I caught one he’d give me a free membership!” David explains.
“As night fell, I spotted a fish roll 25 yards out so I baited the area with 50 squid and octopus boilies and cast my trusty snowman rig over the top.
“An hour or so later the rod was away. It really was the fish of a lifetime.”
David Lloyd’s 17lb-plus bream netted him a free membership
200lb of river bream - and some bonus carp!
ACCESS to our natural waterways is one of the biggest barriers to angling these days – but two anglers tackling Yorkshire’s River Don are proof that if you walk that extra mile you can have a red-letter day.
Paul Hardy and John Hopes enjoyed a phenomenal session on a stretch near Rotherham to bank one of the greatest-ever river hauls of bream.
The remarkable 200lb catch of slabs was taken near Deanby, right by a large housing development which poses a few difficulties for local anglers.
“We’d heard about this stretch of the Don for the past year and were eager to get down there with the river dropping down after flooding,” Paul explained.
“There are miles and miles of river here, the problem being that it’s difficult to get to. In places the track isn’t suitable for driving and the banks are steep.
“If you can make it past the building site, which often blocks access for cars, it can still be very challenging to walk along the muddy banks, which are regularly covered by floodwater.
“The fishing was incredible though, we had two nets in, and we caught so many bream we broke one lifting it out!”
Fishing partner and photographer, John Hopes, enjoyed the fishing so much he went back to the river a week later and had yet more success.
“I walked a bit further this time to a snaggy swim and couldn’t believe it when first cast I hooked into an 8lb river carp, followed by three more. I lost a few other fish, and something that felt like a submarine!”
The prolific stretch of the Don is run by the Rotherham & District United Angling Federation, with fishing available to members as well as day-ticket anglers.
A spokesperson for the club told Angling Times:
“We are continually working to protect and improve the fishing on this stretch of river, which we believe to be one of the best in Britain.”