5 top bream baits tips

As the temperature rises and slabs start to feed, make sure you have the right food to trigger their tastebuds...

SPRING marks the time when a number of species come out of their hibernation and bream are certainly one of them. Freezing cold temperatures have left the fish pretty much dormant at many venues in recent months but as the mercury rises, so does the appetites of the fish. Bait choice is key if you want to really trigger the tastebuds of the bream. This month we take a look at five offerings that are guaranteed to send them into a feeding frenzy.

1 GROUNDBAIT

Bream travel around in giant shoals and once they find a bed of bait, they can mop it up really quickly. Once it has been eaten, they will quickly move elsewhere in search of their next meal. With this in mind, you need to make sure that there is always something in your swim to keep them grubbing around. A bed of groundbait will be full of tiny particles that keep the fish interested for long periods. Use a groundbait that is high in fishmeal as bream absolutely love the stuff. Products such as Sonubaits Super Crush Bream Feeder and Dynamite Baits Silver X Bream are ideal.

2 CORN

The water will have started to colour up now that the fish are feeding and disturbing the matter on the bottom, so a bait that is bright and stands out is needed. If you are fishing the pole you have the choice of including several big handfuls in your groundbait or cupping it in on its own. A single grain directly hooked is best for skimmers, with a double offering better if you are after a bigger stamp of fish. Hair-rigging is better on the feeder as this often leads to you hitting every bite.

3 MAGGOTS

There is no question that bream love maggots but how you use them often divides opinion. Wriggling live maggots will help draw the attentions of nearby fish but they are best used on hard bottoms where they are unable to bury away out of sight. If you are fishing on a silty or gravel bottom then dead maggots are better so that they remain on top and in sight for whenever the fish turn up.

4 MEAT

This isn’t a bait that instantly springs to mind when you are thinking about launching a bream fishing campaign but it is deadly on the right waters. If you are targeting a commercial for the species then the fish are likely to have seen a lot of meat and made it a large part of their diet. Use 8mm cubes as hookbait and feed 6mm cubes. If the water is under 4ft then you can even push a couple of tins through a groundbait riddle to produce a loose feed mush that is high on attractants but low on feed content.

5 WORMS

One of the greatest assets of using worms is the versatility they offer. If you want to use them as a loose feed then chop finely, releasing all of the juices that will seep into the water and draw fish in from afar. When it comes to hookbait, you have the choice of using a full worm, half or just the head. Surprisingly, the smaller baits often pick off the bigger fish! Liquid additives such as Bait-Tech Predator Plus can make your worms even more irresistible.