Stewart Bloor

Field Tester

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Although I am an all-round angler, I do tend to get into fishing for a particular species over a period of time. During the month of June, it was pretty much bream that dominated my thoughts. Now, of course, I understand if you're a dedicated carp-only angler fisherman, that the thought of actually targeting them may not exactly fill you with the joys of spring! For me though, there's nothing better than being woken at 2.30am by the unmistakeable rise and fall of the hanger as a big bream picks up the bait!

An early morning bream, caught on corn poppers

It is the bigger bream though that I'm interested in, not the smaller ones, known as 'skimmers'. In fact they are almost two different species in the way they react. When young they certainly put up resistance when hooked, but once they get to a certain size they literally roll over and let you bring them in. The thrill in pursuing big bream is not the fight but the capture!

Although bream are found in a variety of places I do all my pursuing of the species on large, open, windswept gravel pits. In fact, if you looked at me fishing you would think I was after carp. Bivvy, pod, bedchair, sleeping bag - the whole lot. Even down to the rigs and bait, there's not much to convince someone I'm after a different species altogether. Of course though, on closer inspection, the finer points and tweaks indicate bream as my quarry.

A bream in bright sunshine!

The main bait I fished with during the month was my old faithful friend, the SBS corn-shaped popper boilie. I fish with these a lot for a number of species and I get lots of positive comments from other anglers how the bait has been good for them also. I want to eliminate small fish, so three popped-up about 4cm off the bottom is a suitable deterrent. They're an excellent bait and once cast you can confidently leave them out all night in the knowledge that they won't have deteriorated.

In clear water the corn poppers stand out

My rig is very simple - I work on the basis of keeping it that way at first. If it works, why mess around too much, although I am always thinking of ways to improve things as well. My hook-length was 15lb Drennan Double Strength and I alternated between a Korda Curve Shank size 6 and Big T Raptor size 7 hooks. Again, just seeing which one gave me the edge. Baits were fished over corn/particles, catapulted out using SBS Sweetfruit groundbait as a carrier - and attractant.

A simple bream rig that works!

As you can see from the photographs in this piece, I managed to bank a few bream. Not monsters on a national scale, but certainly big enough to please me. Remember, we can only catch what's in the venue - and that applies to whatever species we are fishing for. I didn't catch large numbers of fish per session - sometimes just one a night. As we know in angling, it's often a fine line between 'success' and 'failure' and just to be on the right side with one fish is sometimes an achievement.

This bream took 2x16mm lobworm boilies

I'm also a fan of dips, and the baits were given a good immersion in SBS All Season Corn, which is in the Premium Baits range. Used solely for dipping, a tub will last you ages. Even if it's only confidence alone - although I think it's much more than that - a tub of dip is a good investment. And with the SBS range being top quality you know that it will definitely give you the edge.

As well as the corn poppers though, I did have one session on a gravel pit using 16mm lobworm pop-ups. On this particular venue there are lots of small fish, that in time, will eventually whittle away the corn. So 2x 16mm did the trick, it eliminated the small ones, but still worked for the big bream. As any carp angler will tell you, even big baits catch bream!

I'm a big fan of dips, here's the All Season Corn in action

The one thing you do need with bream though, as indeed with all specimen fish of any species, is patience. If you're the sort of angler who gets bored if they haven't caught after ten minutes, targeting big bream on a gravel pit definitely isn't for you. That's the great thing about fishing though isn't it? It can be to each of us what we want it to be. As for me, I'm more than happy to sit it out. I would sooner catch one good fish than a hundred small ones. And if you're a specimen angler, you know exactly what I mean.

A nice barbel to kick my season off with

And finally, because the river year opens in mid-June, I also managed a few early season barbel sessions. It is often hard going in the first few weeks but I managed to tempt a nice fish from the lower reaches of the mighty River Severn. The reports coming from the river were that most anglers were struggling. However, I'm happy to say that a chunk of Undercover Barbel  Stix did the business. The fish was caught at 10.30pm on an all-night session and proved to be the only fish of the outing. It's that 'fine line' again!

What does July have in store for me? Well, although I fish a lot, the problem I have is what to go for and how to fit it all in! I do have some of the new SBS Flumino range though that I will definitely be trying, plus I've got bream, carp, barbel, tench and cruician carp all on my radar. Something will have to give. It's a nice problem to have though isn't it! See you in July and tight lines!

By: Stewart Bloor