Improve Your Coarse Fishing (UK)
The ups and down of bream fishing - Ian Smith
Furzton Lake was once a fine bream water before suffering a catastrophic decline, but Dynamite Baits’ Ian Smith reckons the old place is well on the way back to regaining its status
DICKENS’ famous words “it was the best of times, it was the worst of times” from A Tale of Two Cities, perfectly describes Furzton Lake. The 70-acre Milton Keynes water was once the toast of the ‘bream set’ who regarded it as one of the finest bream feeder waters in the country. It is a place that Dynamite Baits’ Ian Smith has fished for the last 30 years so he has seen the venue at her best, and worst. And boy, has it changed a lot during that time. “For years, it was a bream mecca,” recalled Ian. “Then the carp boys arrived and started feeding lots of pellets and boilies, which saw the bream really pile on the weight. They were really great times. “Sadly though, around six years ago, I turned up one day for a match and to my horror the surface was littered with the bodies of dead bream. The Environment Agency concluded that they had died of stress after spawning.” This saw the lake go into a steep decline, but it is said that when God closes a door, he opens a window. For the next few years, the pole boys filled their boots on 25lb-30lb bags of roach.
Two years ago, Ian noticed a lot more 1lb skimmers and the odd 3lb bream appearing in keepnets at the end of matches. This was the start of Furzton’s bream renaissance to the point where, today, he is back to fishing the Method feeder in pursuit of his beloved bream. “On average you are back to catching 30lb bags, with the occasional 60lb net. The lake also has a great head of carp – up to 30lb – and a stack of roach. Furzton is definitely back on the angling map!”
Locating fish on a big water
With winter well on its way and the water starting to clear rapidly, long-range casting is the key to success. Regarding location, if there’s a noticeable wind, it is always worth following it because the bream certainly will. However, more specifically at Furzton, the best pegs are on The Point. This is the area fished heavily by many carp anglers so it sees plenty of bait. With a bivvy slap bang in the middle of these six swims, Ian headed for a peg a few yards to the right of the lake’s large sluice. “This morning it was minus two, so I came here as this is a noted area of deeper water,” explained the 51-year-old Bedford rod. “I’m looking to fish an area around 70 reel turns, well out into the main bowl of the lake. But, it is better to fish to ‘your’ abilities, so if you have to fish closer to remain accurate, so be it.” The water Ian was fishing was around 10ft deep, hopefully an ideal location for a few fish on such a cold, clear, crisp day. He also looks for an area with a flat bottom, preferably over hard gravel, silt or clay. Bream dislike feeding in and around weed so that should be avoided.
Ian’s bream approach
Unlike classic bream tactics, as it is very cold, Ian started the session in meagre fashion. Using a flatbed Method feeder, he looks to build the swim slowly, hopefully encouraging the fish come to him.
“I’m a big fan of the Method,” said Ian. “I have used it for bream fishing for many years and I have always been impressed with how well it enables me to catch decent bream. Plus, like many waters these days, the bream here have changed their diet to fishmeal baits. You can use sweet crumbs, casters and chopped worm, but I have found that brings in the smaller ones. On Furzton you need to be using pellets, fishmeal groundbaits and boilies if you want the best results!” Regarding bait, Ian’s choice is largely dependent on the time of year. In the summer, he will use a 50:50 mix of Dynamite Baits’ Green Swim Stim groundbait and Green Swim Stim pellets. This is because the fish seem to want more groundbait in the warmer weather, while the addition of pellets brings a food value to hold a hungry shoal. If you used only groundbait, there wouldn’t be enough food value to hold the fish. At this time of year, he swaps over to a mix of 90:10 pellets to groundbait. It sounds mad using lots of pellets as you’d think they’d fill the fish up quicker, but the tactic simply seems to work. “I tend to mix the pellets 70:30 - 1mm Green Swim Stim to 3mm Green Swim Stim,” Ian added. “This seems to be the best ratio to enable the payload to breakdown effectively in the cold water. Too many 1mm pellets and the feed stays in a lump. Too many of 3mm and the payload won’t hold to the feeder as well. “The final 10 per cent is Green Swim Stim groundbait, which is added as a binder,” explained Ian.
“The 70-acre Milton Keynes lake was one of the finest bream feeder waters in the country”