Giant bream and even better crucians.

The following couple of trips after the capture of the 13lb-8oz bream reported in the last blog I was just day fishing and I caught a few perch but no sign of the bream.  Then that good luck factor came in again and the next bite, mid-afternoon on a sunny day, I got a bite typical of bream, the bobbin dropped and then slowly rose again and the fight certainly suggested it would be a bream although with the power it would be big.  Sure enough it proved to be just that and the lad from the adjacent swim confirmed a weight of 15lb-4oz, yet again the target set and achieved.

                                                           15lb-4oz Giant bream.

It was now fast approaching the 1^st of May and the club water well known for its large crucians would become available for fishing again having been closed for six weeks.  Plans were made and I arrived on the evening before only to find the place already packed out.  I dropped into a small out of the way swim prepared to wait until a better choice became available and since anglers are always coming and going to their own personal timetable I got my chance midmorning next day.  The rules only allow the anglers to stay for two nights and then they must leave for a minimum of 24 hrs. Though this can be awkward for the travelling angler I’m in total agreement with the rule since it does allow swims to become available on a constant basis with no long term occupation of good areas.  I stayed in the swim for 36 hrs, but with no success so I moved to the opposite end of the dam to try a totally different area.  The results around the lake were generally very patchy with a blank or one or two fish the normal catch, one angler did very well with 15 crucian to a best of 3lb-13oz, but amongst the other anglers fish being caught were odd specimens of 4lb plus including samples to challenge the current record of 4lb-9oz held jointly be myself and two others.   My  move proved to be worthwhile when I caught a succession of tench to 6lb-11oz and two crucians of 3lb-6oz and 3lb-12oz a fish equal to my best for the venue, then I had to leave having reached the end of this session..

                                                  Equal pb for the venue at 3lb-12oz.

                                     The best of well over 50 taken over the 9 days at the venue 6lb-11oz.

My tackle and approach would be the same throughout my sessions here, two 12ft 1.25lb Drennan Avons were matched with Mitchell 300’s loaded with 6lb line going to flatbed method feeders.  Very short hooklink of 4lb Fireline with Kamazan size 14 hooks carried a single artificial caster on the hair rig.  I would use one pint of caster per day along with a similar amount of 4mm pellet put out with a Spomb at regular intervals, this to allow for the tench and rudd that invariably would be cleaning them up. 

My next three day session proved equally as difficult with the first day and a half almost totally blank so again a move to a different bank altogether.  Yet again the same potential record fish came out and again I was called on to witness it but I also saw a 4lb-2oz fish caught in the swim next to mine this giving me some hope and sure enough I again caught two crucian of 3lb-2oz and 3lb-5oz along with another load of tench to 6lb-9oz.  All the time I’m getting reports of lots of blanks but the average crucian being caught is up from last year by perhaps 4oz and that gives the chance for a good number of high 3lb’s plus fish into the 4lb range.

                                                              3lb-5oz best of the day's brace.

Again the 130 miles back home to recharge the bodywork and I’m back again hoping to beat the time when the crucians will spawn, last year I only got one trip and by the time I returned they had spawned.   Dawn saw me walking down the bank to find a vacant swim and I soon had my tackle in place and cast out.  There was quite a strong wind blowing into the bank and the wind chill factor made it quite cold until the afternoon when the sun got past the surrounding tree.  Fortunately the cool conditions did not stop the crucians and at about 11am I got one of 3lb-11oz to give a very pleasing start to the trip.

When fishing you never know what is waiting just around the corner and at just after 2pm I finally got my long await 4lb crucian, this one weighing a very pleasing 4lb-6oz to make the previous effort on the venue well worthwhile.  That said fate was not finished with me and just a couple of hours later I was calling Mark from the next swim again to confirm the weight on his scales and  photograph a magnificent sample of 4lb-8oz to give me the best confirmed brace of crucians in the country.

                                                       4lb-6oz smaller of the brace.

                                                          4lb-8oz larger of the brace.

The following day I topped the catch up with a 2lb-13oz and yet another big fish of 4lb-2oz though after that fish the next 30 hrs were dead but Of course I did not mind that, yet again target set and achieved.

                                                Third of the 4's at 4lb-2oz.

The large bream campaign begins.

The river close season used to mean the end of fishing for three months, now I can continue to enjoy my sport but only on allowable still waters.  I have been trying to catch a large perch of one such venue and although I caught to well over the 3lb mark as mentioned in the last blog I still await the 4lb fish I hope is swimming around there.

                                                           A 3lb perch that still holds spawn.

As we move into April my thoughts change to the tench and bream potential and with very little change in the rigs I cast further out and hope for a large bream to show.  The main problem with bream is their nomadic nature on most venues, you may see them rolling but that only tells you where there are at that moment not where they will be or where they will feed.

Over the many years that I’ve fished for the bream I imagine I’ve tried every known method and bait in their pursuit, the only conclusion I’ve come to is when they are prepared to feed they can be easy and caught on almost any method.  The other side of that coin is that most of the time they are very difficult, if not next door to impossible.

This early in the season I had decided on a very frugal approach and just rely on maggot loaded swimfeeders and a double hook rig with the maggots on the hook nearest the feeder, then an artificial corn/maggot combination on the top hook.  This is not going to going to make a big catch of fish but so far this year just three bream have been caught, all singly with this suggesting they were not shoaled up.

                                              Pull the small hook into the corn and job done.

With the overnight rain I expected the water temperature to have dropped and with the east wind blowing it was not with the highest of expectations that I set out for an afternoon –evening session.  Rods are already set up and it was just a cast of casting for the horizon and sit back and wait.  I recast every hour but it was more a case of hoping a fish would come across the feeder offering and pick up the hookbait.  In the words of the famous saying ‘nothing kept happening all the time,’ but that had been the case on my previous visits for the bream so no surprise there.

It was well into the afternoon when one of the bobbins dropped slightly and then gave a little giggle.  It was not the usual bream bite that hits the deck in one movement and I was quite surprised to hit into heavy resistance on the strike.  Playing the fish to the bank I discussed the possible culprit with the lad who had come along from the next swim.  Not a perch, no bangs typical of their fight, possibly a tench or maybe a jack pike since they have been picking up maggot baits, not a bream though since it was too good a fight.  Fifteen yards out it flashed on the surface and to our surprise it was the bream I had hoped for, when the scales showed it weighed in at 13lb-8oz it was a very nice welcome to a new water venture for the bream.  The fish had taken the artificial bait proving yet again their worth in the angler's armory. 

                                                                   First of the year.

A double figure tench at last.

I almost did not go, the fishing has been poor and I needed a lift but then I saw that the lads on Linear were catching tench and I thought ’if they can do it there, then I can on the new water I had sorted out.’  Van packed and Thursday morning saw me set out on the 100 odd mile journey to the venue in the Colne Valley.

The lake is comparatively small at about 4acres, but there are reports of double figure tench and a very large bream or two, well worth an effort.  The venue is a gravel pit and as with most pits there would be bars and clear areas where the weed would not be quite as bad, fortunately a regular visitor to the venue indicated one of these areas off a swim on the opposite bank.  With a marker rod I soon had it located and had bait sailing out the 40 yards to its position in quick order.  The Canadian pond weed was just growing, and that at the edge of the lake it was about a foot tall.  Out where I was putting bait it was clear, and the gravel could be felt through the braid as I dragged the lead over the bottom.  A method mix base was used to carry pellets, sweetcorn, casters and 10mm Source boilies, the whole lot in a mix that was put out with the Spomb, perfect and no dropped particle.  One of the rods would be fished with a conventional running swim feeder and a short hooklink carrying an artificial maggot along with two or three natural maggots.  The other rig was one I had recently seen in a magazine, a small hook had been first tied on the end of the line then a grain of buoyant artificial corn was put on next to it. Then a hook was tied using a knotless knot as usual.  As shown in the photo I could then use natural maggots on the small hook and slide the corn down onto it.  Again this rig was used on a short hook length and with a running swim feeder system.

                                 The successful rig with artificial maggots to indicate the rig.

The Spomb had been clipped up at the right distance and I laid it out along the footpath behind my swim.  Then it was a simple matter to lay the feeder rods alongside it and once at the correct distance come back and put a bit of magic marker thread onto the main line just in front of the tip so I could get the correct spot every time.

Fish could be seen topping at regular intervals which made a nice change, most of the waters I had been on lately had little action overall.  They might have shown themselves here but no action had occurred before dark or even through the dark hours.  The alarm was set for 4:30am and once up I refreshed the baits and loaded the feeders with maggots, then I Spombed out more feed in the form of hemp and maggots with the thought that the falling bait might attract fish into the swim.  Hours passed and still nothing occurred, I kept recasting at regular intervals then at last the indicator rose and I was into a hard fishing fish.  A good scrap later I weight in my best tench of the season so far at 7lb-5oz, a very dark fish and quite thin suggesting she had not been feeding too much and could well put on weight over the coming weeks.

                                                                 7lb-5oz Great start.

I was now hopeful of another fish but it was not until just before dark the bobbin rose again and I hit into a slowly moving but heavy fish, I wondered what I had hooked and thought that maybe it was that big bream of about 17lb that had been mentioned so it was quite exciting as it slowly came to the bank.  When I saw it was a big tench that excitement rose even higher and as always I began to wonder about the hook hold, but I need not have worried as she slipped into the waiting landing net.  This fish was obviously fit, not fat just well proportioned and the scales showed up a magnificent 10lb-5oz a brilliant start to the tench fishing to come.  Just as a matter of interest both fish fell to the corn rig and I’ll be using this with more confidence in the near future.

                                      A magnificent 10lb-5oz well propotioned specimen tench