Unexpectedly Breaming

So a quick update, I managed to target the same venue/location as last time out. Same tackle, lift rig float fishing. With the SSG+AA just 2 inches from the size 12 hook holding the two maggot above red corn cocktail. I was also using the red corn juice as an attractant again. Conditions, slightly warmer, perhaps 10 Celcius but partially overcast and no significant tow. Time around 8:50 again.

This time, I kept getting slight dibs down on the float with knocks making it move side to side. Then a bite would ensure which would have the float move under at medium pace and very smoothly. Not very Tench like I thought and sure enough it was not. I was hooked into something heavy but strangely it was not fighting very hard. I managed to get it to the surface and wow, the largest lump of a Bream I have ever had on. It rolled and went for the center of the pit but on the straight through reel line to hook tackle, I had the confidence to adjust up the clutch and give some side strain to try and bring the fish back. Sure enough, it turned and I managed to reel it to the surface. A couple of gulps of air and the fish seemed to be docile and I managed to pull it gently over the net. It was when I lifted the net out of the water that I realised how heavy this fish was. I've had plenty of skimmer bream before but nothing this big with that lovely green-brown colour of a big bream. I unhooked the fish on my unhooking mat, still on top of the wet net and had a chance for a breather before photos and weighing. I could hardly believe my eyes when the scales tipped 7.25 lbs - a new personal best!

7.25lbs Bream

I had met another angler, Ollie, who was carping and decided to ask him to take a picture of me holding the fish. One for the scapbook definitely. After this bream, I had a number of other bites, including a similar large one that headed into the middle of the lake but the hook pulled on me. I kept missing quite a few bites when I struck, not quite sure why. I was running out of time so did not get a chance to experiment with rig but I did try a couple of different bate combos, including treble maggot and treble core neither of which got me as many bites as the double maggot/single red core combo. I think I was stunned by the bream I landed and was not being very methodical with trying different tactics.

I had heard the pit had a good head of largish bream but never seen one so this was a real bonus and eye-opener. Before I left, I put in the remaining red corn and maggots in and around the marginal weeds. Hopefully this will keep the fish interested in these baits for a future trip. If I had been thinking about it, I might have put some of my pellets in as that is a bait that I want to try at this pit. I hear that the carp and bream are partial to pellets.

Still, as I packed up, I felt a bit of a quandry, I've pulled out a few nice Tench and the bream from this venue/swim. It feels like I need to try something/somewhere different for a while. I guess it is easy to keep targeting the same 'favourite' spot but this will not up my game. I think a trip to Bordeaux pit to try some pole fishing on the small pond or back to proper feeder fishing on the ledger would be a good riposte.

One issue I had with the rig/tackle whilst using the lift method was the float slipping up or down the line. With the float 'locked' with a single float rubber, this was highly likely on a long cast or fast retrieval. One idea I had was to use a ledger stop above the float to 'set' the depth. This would probably still support lift bit indications and drop indications. Also, I consulted my John Wilson, Carp and Tench fishing book to refresh my memory on the nuances of the lift method. One thing that it made me think was, I could have scaled down the float so that I could have used less weight for the indicator shot - say even just a single AA. This might have given me more fine bite indication - worth a try in the future.