Dave Harrell heads to the Thames in search of bream on the feeder
Coloured water spells perfect conditions for big slabs…
WHAT a difference a year makes! If you cast your mind back 12 months, river anglers were faced with low, clear conditions and things got so bad that some stretches were closed until they’d got some extra water.
A year on, we’ve had a load of rain in the last week of the closed season and many rivers have risen to the top of their banks!
After the RiverFest match on the Calder that I told you about last week I’d got plenty of bait left to use up, but most of my favourite venues were really high.
However, I suspected one would be worth a visit for bream… the River Thames at Abingdon.
A phone call to my good friend Paul Glenfield, who lives just a few minutes from the river, revealed – as I suspected – that the river was at a good level.
“There’s a few inches on and a fair amount of colour,” Paul told me. “I’ve got a free day tomorrow, so do you fancy coming down?” I didn’t need asking twice!
The next morning, a quick walk along the river below the town confirmed exactly what Paul had said on the phone. There was a drop of extra water on and the colour looked perfect for bream.
SLOW START
Looking at the swims, none had been fished since the season started so our first job was to cut back a few rushes to gain access. The swims at Abingdon vary a lot. On some you can put a platform in, while on others you have to fish from the bank.
I set up with a 12ft Daiwa Tournament feeder rod and an 18TDR3012 reel loaded with 8lb (0.24mm) Pro Feeder mainline.
A 1.5oz Nisa open-end feeder and a size 14 hook to 3ft of 0.14mm hooklength completed the terminal end of the rig.
My groundbait was a 50/50 mix of brown crumb and Bait-Tech Halibut Marine Method Mix. It’s a mix I have a lot of confidence in, and that counts for so much when you’re trying to catch bream.
I fished mid-river from the off and it was noticeable just how much flow there was. Normally I use a 1.5oz tip at Abingdon, with my rod positioned downstream and just above the water. This time it needed a 2oz tip and the rod positioned high.
My first fish, an 8oz skimmer, came after 30 minutes and another one followed on the next cast, both to worm and maggot hookbaits. I put on a size 12 with two worms and over the next two hours I landed four decent bream up to 4lb before bites dried up completely.
I walked up to Paul’s swim, and he had experienced a similar situation to me. He’d also kicked off on a feeder in the middle and caught a couple of small skimmers early on before his swim died completely.
POLE FOR PAUL
At the start he’d balled his 13m pole line with a groundbait and mainly soil mix containing casters and chopped worm, and was now catching small perch most put-ins. By feeding top-up balls with a cup he eventually managed to tempt a couple of bream on this line, but no more were forthcoming.
Roach were conspicuous by their absence, but Paul wasn’t surprised. “This place hasn’t been fished for ages, including a whole three months with no bait at all,” he said. “Once a few anglers get down here and some bait goes in, the fish will switch on.”
Like me, Paul prefers pole floats with a body-up shape when rivers are moving. “It amazes me how many anglers try to make body-down shapes work in a flow and struggle to control the float,” he said. “If you’re getting bites quickly, the shape doesn’t matter
but I prefer a body-up shape if I’m working the swim for bites.”
Watching Paul fish, it’s easy to see why he’s won so many Thames matches. He fishes on ‘auto pilot’ and is always working hard on his presentation to winkle out a few more fish. Subtle depth changes are high on his agenda when he’s pole fishing.
“Too many anglers plumb the depth and then stay at that depth for way too long,” he said. “That approach can work on some days, but more often than not you will get more bites by tweaking the depth an inch or two either way. It’s amazing how many times this has worked for me over the years. “Big roach, in particular, can be difficult to catch on some days but as long as they are in your swim and are prepared to feed, it’s the anglers who work the hardest who will catch them.”
Over the next week or two, while the rivers are carrying colour, it will be worth visiting waters where you know bream normally live. Use a positive feeder approach with worms and casters and there’s a great chance you will end up with a big catch of slabs!