bream (!)
Posted: Wed Aug 05, 2020 4:56 pm
i like bream , well big ones anyway . thats 8lb + in my world .
the Chelmer had some big shoals of good slabs - probably still has . it also has some nice weirpools , Hoe Mill and Little Baddow being the best .
we usually had a couple while fishing for roach , then one day in 1981 i had a lightbulb moment .
the day was 29/7/81 Charles and Di's wedding day . it was a Bank Holiday so Tony and i headed for Hoe Mill . deep joy - nobody was there . there is only one decent swim at Hoe Mill pool and we had it .
we caught the usual roach and all the time the sun was getting higher and hotter . the brolly went up and started pinging as the sun took the moisture away . Hoe Mill is a proper sun trap in the summer and the temp was in the '80s.
the roach got bored and my swingtip was doing nowt . Tony's quiver also .
there were dace hitting the top in the foamy run off . i was getting bored so i decided to try to catch one , --- on a swingtip --- in 16 ft of water .
i decided to be silly so reeled in and changed the rig to a straight paternoster . with a 12 ft hook length and a 9 ft lead link,which i figured should leave my breadflake somewhere near the top and in any case that was the most i could chuck on my homebuilt Fibatube rod .
tied on a 1oz bomb and lobbed this nutty rig up into the flow .
i wasn't taking a lot of notice .well not until the tip went up and then dropped back . hmmm , i left it alone and it went again - long and slow and it clearly wasn't stopping . i hit it, as you do , and felt a decent bream booming on the rod tip . that went 8lb.
Tony said whats that funny rig you are using ? or words to that effect . he copied the rig and 10 mins later banked a 7 .
we both had a couple more . we didn't empty the pool - not that day anyway, but we did learn a lesson . none of my bream from the bottom ever approached the size of those caught in the top water . i have used the same rig many times and repeated the performance .
i have never been a groundbait enthusiast . i like to work out where the fish will be , and that's where i fish .
my favourite bait is bread and i like to fish deep water with a loooong paternoster and let the bread slowly sink from the top tp the bottom .
i used to go to Woodies Lake in Corringham on a hot sunny day knowing the carp would be out in the middle , with the sun on their back. the carp boys would be fishing bottom baits and catching nowt . swingtip out with a long paternoster fishing bread just under the surface would see me catch half a dozen in a couple of hours and then saunter off home whistling . those carp boys have no sense of humour at all
the Chelmer had some big shoals of good slabs - probably still has . it also has some nice weirpools , Hoe Mill and Little Baddow being the best .
we usually had a couple while fishing for roach , then one day in 1981 i had a lightbulb moment .
the day was 29/7/81 Charles and Di's wedding day . it was a Bank Holiday so Tony and i headed for Hoe Mill . deep joy - nobody was there . there is only one decent swim at Hoe Mill pool and we had it .
we caught the usual roach and all the time the sun was getting higher and hotter . the brolly went up and started pinging as the sun took the moisture away . Hoe Mill is a proper sun trap in the summer and the temp was in the '80s.
the roach got bored and my swingtip was doing nowt . Tony's quiver also .
there were dace hitting the top in the foamy run off . i was getting bored so i decided to try to catch one , --- on a swingtip --- in 16 ft of water .
i decided to be silly so reeled in and changed the rig to a straight paternoster . with a 12 ft hook length and a 9 ft lead link,which i figured should leave my breadflake somewhere near the top and in any case that was the most i could chuck on my homebuilt Fibatube rod .
tied on a 1oz bomb and lobbed this nutty rig up into the flow .
i wasn't taking a lot of notice .well not until the tip went up and then dropped back . hmmm , i left it alone and it went again - long and slow and it clearly wasn't stopping . i hit it, as you do , and felt a decent bream booming on the rod tip . that went 8lb.
Tony said whats that funny rig you are using ? or words to that effect . he copied the rig and 10 mins later banked a 7 .
we both had a couple more . we didn't empty the pool - not that day anyway, but we did learn a lesson . none of my bream from the bottom ever approached the size of those caught in the top water . i have used the same rig many times and repeated the performance .
i have never been a groundbait enthusiast . i like to work out where the fish will be , and that's where i fish .
my favourite bait is bread and i like to fish deep water with a loooong paternoster and let the bread slowly sink from the top tp the bottom .
i used to go to Woodies Lake in Corringham on a hot sunny day knowing the carp would be out in the middle , with the sun on their back. the carp boys would be fishing bottom baits and catching nowt . swingtip out with a long paternoster fishing bread just under the surface would see me catch half a dozen in a couple of hours and then saunter off home whistling . those carp boys have no sense of humour at all