The Coach Matchman Warren Martin on how to take bigger hauls of bream
THIS WEEK: Keep things simple and catch more bream on the feeder
WHENEVER I set out to catch bream on the feeder, I try and make things as easy as possible.”
So says top Norfolk angler Warren Martin, who claims that for pleasure fishing, you don’t need to cast miles. Nor do you have to stray far from a tried-and-tested sweet groundbait approach with worms, maggots and casters, even though many anglers these days like to use a fishmeal-based groundbait. Here’s how Warren goes about bagging a netful...
1 SWIM SELECTION
I’ll want a swim with the maximum possible depth. Cast a bomb around and count how long it takes to sink.
If the wind is blowing from a warm direction, pick a swim that it is blowing towards – if it is a cold breeze, try and get it blowing over your shoulder out into the lake.
2 PICKING THE DISTANCE
Make an easy cast that you know you can reach each time and base your attack around this spot. With a 1oz feeder and a 12ft rod, casting 50 yards should not be a problem but if the water is deep enough and has colour, you may be able to catch 10 yards closer in.
There may come a point when I want to propel the feeder several yards past my main area, and making a relatively easy cast means that I know I can go that extra distance when required.
3 RUNNING RIG
Bites from proper bream are quite positive. A running rig amplifies these takes and is also great from a safety point of view. Should I suffer a crack-off, there’s no chance of a bream towing the feeder around.
My feeder runs on the mainline and is stopped by a Matrix Feeder Boom, to which the hooklength is attached. This boom kicks the hooklink away from the feeder, cuting down on tangles. Line for the link is 0.14mm Power Micron, finished with a size 14 Matrix SW Feeder hook.
I prefer mono to braid, due to the positive bites I get. On a river, though, getting shy taps on the tip, braid would be my choice.
4 CAGE OR PLASTIC?
Depth of water governs which type of feeder I use, and in 12ft of water that would be a classic plastic open-end. For shallow swims, a wire cage feeder will sinks and empty much faster.
The only other feeders in my box for this type of fishing are Matrix Rocket Feeders, with a bullet weight at the front.
5 FEED
At the start a large cage feeder deposits six loads of bait – Van Den Eynde Gross Bremes groundbait with chopped worm, casters and dead red maggots added. I am very conscious of not giving the bream too much feed. Only if I were being pestered by roach and perch would I step this up and cram each feeder with bait to make sure enough was there to keep the bream occupied.
After those six casts I revert to a smaller cage feeder, casting every five minutes to build up the swim and try to make things happen.
6 TOP HOOKBAITS
Bream are fussy fish and may suddenly turn their snouts up at a worm. Starting bait is two dead red maggots, and if I only get little fish on these it’s time to break out the worms – either a whole worm with the end nipped off and a single dead maggot or maybe a worm and a piece of corn.
Corn on its own can be very good when roach and little skimmers are shredding worms on every cast. In this instance, I would hairrig a couple of grains.