Bream on the feed!
Discover the hot tactics behind the week’s biggest catches
PLEASURE anglers and specimen hunters alike have been enjoying superb early spring bream sport, with a colossal 350lb bag and an individual 15lb 9oz specimen proving the highlights of an amazing week.
Fishermen all over the country have been taking advantage of the mild temperatures and flocking to stillwaters to target the species, which are a traditional quarry for many at this time of year.
Among those getting in on the action in no uncertain terms were father and son Kevin and Gethin Clark, who together took over 350lb of slabs from an undisclosed Welsh reservoir.
After discovering a huge shoal of bream on a previous session, selfemployed window fitter Kevin fed 10kg of brown crumb with a groundbait catapult and later returned with his son.
“We shared one rod between us which we clipped up at 60 yards,” Kevin told Angling Times.
“The rig consisted of a standard cage feeder outfit with worm and maggot hookbaits, and from the first cast we never looked back.
“We managed to bank a total of 72 bream averaging 6lb... and we only fished for six-hours!”
Llandegfedd Reservoir further underlined Wales’ bream potential when Korum-backed angler Chris Ponsford along with pals Dave Healey and Andy Mason put together an impressive 200lb-plus bag. The trio took a steady stream of bream to 7lb using open-end feeders loaded with Sonubaits 50-50 paste mix and 4mm pellets, with corn and maggot cocktails on the hook.
Cambridgeshire’s Ferry Meadows and Rysons Lake in Northants have also been in incredible form. The Steel City open matches held on Gunwade and Overton Lakes at Ferry Meadows produced 100lb-plus bags of tench and bream, while Jake Elston and Carl Yeowell took a bumper 120lb haul of bream from Rysons Lake, Islip. The duo fished feeders up to the floating islands to take bream and tench to 7lb in an action-packed session.
Elsewhere, many of the UK’s top specimen hunters have already
Phil Smith: “The larger of the two bream was my ninth over 15lb”
begun their 2017 campaigns, among them Coventry’s Phil Smith who this week was celebrating the capture of a huge 15lb 9oz specimen. Phil spent three nights at an undisclosed stillwater, where he also managed another impressive bream of 13lb 15oz, as well as three tench to 6lb.
“I spodded out two cans of sweetcorn along with a handful on Dynamite Baits 10mm Source boilies and a handful of mixed pellets over three spots,” said Phil.
“The 13lb fish fell to sweetcorn, while the bigger one took the boilies – both baits were fished on a hair rig.
“I’m really pleased, as the larger of the two fish is my ninth over 15lb and stands fourth in my list of all-time big bream catches.”