bream (!)

[Gilbert]

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

[Pallenpool]

An interesting read - nothing better than finding your fish and especially in front of the ‘specialist’ Carpers. I have fished Hoe Mill once or twice and from memory had a very good day with both Roach & Chub. One of my best Roach & Chub came from a relief channel near Badow/Danbury it traversed several fields before rejoining the river - I would imagine that in this age of Farmers monetary incentives the channel will be long gone - filled in to increase yield and subsidy.

[Gilbert]

i think you mean the stream at Stonehams lock , Boreham . that is still there complete with good perch. there is a stream that runs from Terling that empties into Rushes lock near Ulting which holds some socking chub. take a small rod , a landing net and some bread and walk and fish up as far as the A12 , then back. yummy. i used to use a glass fly rod with a short handle extension and a spliced in quiver . that rod bent much more than the maker ever intended

[Dave Burr]

Very interesting.

[Pallenpool]

The cut I used to fish wended it’s way past and away from a campsite or caravans which were very near the main river I recall, the channel meandered its way through farmers fields in the direction of Baddow, in the days i’m talking of here traffic was a lot less, and Chelmsford was still very much a contained centre. I had an old University chum who lived at Ulting, he knew some very splendid spots to have an angle and eagerly took me around to have a go.

[Gilbert]

yep , thats the one . the caravan site is now a campsite of sorts so much the same really .it is opposite the mill . CAA had the fishing on the island that forms the west bank of the pool . you had to walk across the lock gates to gain access .not sure i could do that now . another good spot for bream - fish the far bank right under the tree . you had to cast flat and hard to hit the spot ,
i once counted a shoal of biggies in the Papermills weir cut 36 of the beggars . i was a novice then and didn't catch . one bloke had one @ 9lb 3 oz

back in the day , there was no Chelmer Village , the A12 barely qualified as an "A" rd and Danbury was Heaven on earth , Papermills pool was simply wonderful. small Xmas trees growing on the side of the lock cut and a lock keeper was a really nice bloke that let you fish the cill run off from the island.
all changed now . no fishing at Papermills from the glorious 16th until September and more Noddies in boats than you can shake a stick at.
the first time i saw Papermills must have been 1966, my mate and i went with my BSA combination . we arrived am hour before sunup . i stood on the bridge and looked upstream. a full low moon hung just above the weir turning everything silver . just the most beautiful thing i have ever seen....and my love affair with the Chelmer began.