Dave Harrell How to catch bream on high rivers
ICAN’T remember another season where bream have played such a big part in river match weights. Rivers big and small have all seen big catches winning matches, including the recent RiverFest qualifier on the River Thames, where the top four anglers put more than 600lb of bream on the scales.
Conditions right now are perfect on many of our rivers, so this week we’re looking at tactics to get the best results from a river near you.
LOCATION
It’s important to do as much homework as you can. Talk to other anglers. Ask for advice Add-on feeder leads for more weight.
at the local tackle shop. They have a vested interest in helping you, as you’ll buy more bait and accessories if they can put you on good pegs.
Another way to get a big shoal together is to prebait an area the day or night before. Put plenty of groundbait in and if you can afford a few pints of casters, it’s well worth adding them before you form your groundbait balls.
You can do things more cheaply by adding baits like sweetcorn to the mix.
An early start next day will almost guarantee you some bream if there are any in the area.
LOOSE OFFERINGS
I never go on a match in which I think bream might play a part without casters. A shoal of bream can mop up a huge amount of feed, so I’ll always have three of four pints with me.
In addition to casters I will always have worms with me, and that will usually mean up to 1kg of dendrobaenas.
RIGS
I’ve tried all sorts of designs, but the best feeders as far as I’m concerned are the Nisa plastic feeders. I’ve used these for more than 20 years and have yet to suffer a breakage!
I set up my rig so that it’s running between two float stops, with the bottom one resting on a hooklength loop to which the hooklength is attached.
My hooklengths are all made with DH Pro Rig line between 0.12mm and 0.20mm.
Always take a few bombs with you, as a switch from a feeder to a bomb can often bring you additional fish when things have
Now’s the time to target big bream weights...