Dear Bob, I am a young match angler at my local club, who is a very keen fan. My local water holds a good head of bream to 9lb along with carp, tench, roach, perch and gudgeon with a ton of skimmers. Every time I fish a match there I target the bream but can never hit them. What bait should I use, how should I feed and how should I set up a perfect pole rig for catching bream. Thanks a lot.
Tight Lines,
Andrew Kelly
Big bream tend to feed at night unless the water is very coloured and so you won’t catch them much under match conditions. Even medium-sized bream usually won’t come that close to the bank in daylight. So rather than using the pole you’ll probably do best with a running line and a groundbait feeder fished at 30 yards plus. On the hook I’d suggest redworm, which is my no. 1 bream bait although you should appreciate that they’re not so good for roach. For groundbait try 50% brown crumb and 50% Sillybait Original. The latter has a high fishmeal content that bream seem to like and your local tackle shop can order it for you if they don’t already stock it.
Finally, don’t forget to let me know via the magazine’s Forum how you get on.
Finally, don’t forget to let me know via the magazine’s Forum how you get on.
Big bream tend to feed at night unless the water is very coloured and so you won’t catch them much under match conditions. Even medium-sized bream usually won’t come that close to the bank in daylight. So rather than using the pole you’ll probably do best with a running line and a groundbait feeder fished at 30 yards plus. On the hook I’d suggest redworm, which is my no. 1 bream bait although you should appreciate that they’re not so good for roach. For groundbait try 50% brown crumb and 50% Sillybait Original. The latter has a high fishmeal content that bream seem to like and your local tackle shop can order it for you if they don’t already stock it.
Finally, don’t forget to let me know via the magazine’s Forum how you get on.
I’m trying to learn how to fish using a sliding float rig. When I reel in the knot seems to slip when it hits the end rod ring, the knot isn’t bigger than the end ring, so any ideas or helpful advice with regards to this technique would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Edward
Contrary to what some of the old books say, use the same diameter line to tie the knot as the reel line. Use 5-6 turns and pull very tight. If you still have problems use 2 knots and push them together.
There are 2 types of sliding waggler floats. When you want the float to be boss and fish at range use a loaded float and an overhead cast. Together with putting a small shot above the bulk this will largely eliminate tangles. At close range an unloaded float resting on the bulk shot casts nicely underarm and is also an advantage when you want to get the bait down quickly.
There are 2 types of sliding waggler floats. When you want the float to be boss and fish at range use a loaded float and an overhead cast. Together with putting a small shot above the bulk this will largely eliminate tangles. At close range an unloaded float resting on the bulk shot casts nicely underarm and is also an advantage when you want to get the bait down quickly.
Contrary to what some of the old books say, use the same diameter line to tie the knot as the reel line. Use 5-6 turns and pull very tight. If you still have problems use 2 knots and push them together.
There are 2 types of sliding waggler floats. When you want the float to be boss and fish at range use a loaded float and an overhead cast. Together with putting a small shot above the bulk this will largely eliminate tangles. At close range an unloaded float resting on the bulk shot casts nicely underarm and is also an advantage when you want to get the bait down quickly.
Dear Bob,
I watched you in the world championships in Spain this year and found it very interesting since I live in Madrid and the canal Castrejon is one of my local waters. The thing I am curious about is the terminal tackle you used. What hook size and pattern did you use? And what was the diameter of your hooklength? Usually, for this water, I use a hooklength of between .12 and .16 mm with a colmic 500 between size 8 and size 14.
By the way, congratulations on your fourth win of the world title.
Yours sincerely,
John Lund
On the day I used almost the same set-up as you but a little heavier. The hooklength was .18mm Browning Match Line (about 7lbs b.s if I remember correctly) whilst the hooklength was .20mm (about 9lbs b.s.). The hook was a size 12 Colmic N501 baited with 3 or 4 maggots and the elastic was a no. 14 through the top 2 sections of the pole and doubled up for almost ½ its length. Obviously each day is different but I hope this helps.
On the day I used almost the same set-up as you but a little heavier. The hooklength was .18mm Browning Match Line (about 7lbs b.s if I remember correctly) whilst the hooklength was .20mm (about 9lbs b.s.). The hook was a size 12 Colmic N501 baited with 3 or 4 maggots and the elastic was a no. 14 through the top 2 sections of the pole and doubled up for almost ½ its length. Obviously each day is different but I hope this helps.
Bob Nudd
