Silver bream are pretty rare, right? Not so. I've actually found them to be quite plentiful in a number of venues I've fished on the Somerset Levels, and so far, they've been more reliable than the roach for me on the Taunton - Bridgwater Canal. It amazes me how few people are able to differentiate between silver bream and juvenile common bream, and I never hear them talked about, by pleasure anglers or matchmen. In fact I'm often corrected when I bring them up in conversation! Yet it is important to be able to tell them apart, because they don't behave like skimmers at all, and generally require a different approach.
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My half price Bridgwater AA season ticket that I purchased last week was to be put into use again today, this time to permit me to fish one of the more grubbier stretches of this waterway. The first place I pulled up beside though was rougher than sandpaper and looked spot on for catching something, most probably hepatitis.
The next section I visited was scarcely less dreary, but at least there was what appeared to be more angler friendly banks, until I got closer and could see that it was absolutely ruined by dog-fouling. Swim selection then became less about fish-holding features and more about finding a clean area on the bank that was large enough to allow me to set down my kit. This was a big shame really as there were some very inviting and perchy looking trees lining the far bank that I simply could not fish to, thanks to ignorant dog-owners.
I had to settle then into a featureless, and what turned out to be very shallow, bay for the afternoon. Then along came some rather inexperienced rowers who clattered along the far bank for around half an hour, so I spent this time flicking a few maggots down the edge and catching whatever I could, which always seems like good fun when you turn up somewhere new for the first time. Predictably, this resulted in mainly rudd.
Once they'd gone I put some bread in at six metres and some chopped worm down the peg at 12m (it was too shallow to fish up against a featureless far bank).
The bread line brought me roach, rudd and an ever-increasing number of silver bream as I fished the initial feed out. As the swim got stronger I topped up by hand rather than pole cup, sometimes fishing over the odd stray ball of liquidised bread when it dropped short. Eventually I realised that coming closer in was not in any way detrimental, and managed to bring the line back to my top two. In around eighteen inches of water I caught roach and silver bream to 4oz literally every chuck, even when I was too lazy to change my bread when it had really dried out, and more than once catching up to three fish on the same piece of punch (which was a 5mm piece).
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I did spend a large amount of time fishing the worm after being given false hope by a decent perch (approx 1½lb) on the first put in, but wasn't unduly rewarded for my efforts, catching only four smaller perch and the odd rudd and palm-sized silver bream.
In total I ended up with 16lb 9oz of silvers, most of which I caught within three metres of the bank on a bulked down 0.5g rig. I also used a barbless hook for this rig aswell and bumped very few fish, which is maybe not too surprising when fishing to hand, but I forgot to mention that I also switched over to a barbless hook for those chub on the fast stretch the other day and lost no fish at all then, including roach and the bigger chub, so worth bearing in mind.
My half price Bridgwater AA season ticket that I purchased last week was to be put into use again today, this time to permit me to fish one of the more grubbier stretches of this waterway. The first place I pulled up beside though was rougher than sandpaper and looked spot on for catching something, most probably hepatitis.
The next section I visited was scarcely less dreary, but at least there was what appeared to be more angler friendly banks, until I got closer and could see that it was absolutely ruined by dog-fouling. Swim selection then became less about fish-holding features and more about finding a clean area on the bank that was large enough to allow me to set down my kit. This was a big shame really as there were some very inviting and perchy looking trees lining the far bank that I simply could not fish to, thanks to ignorant dog-owners.
I had to settle then into a featureless, and what turned out to be very shallow, bay for the afternoon. Then along came some rather inexperienced rowers who clattered along the far bank for around half an hour, so I spent this time flicking a few maggots down the edge and catching whatever I could, which always seems like good fun when you turn up somewhere new for the first time. Predictably, this resulted in mainly rudd.
Once they'd gone I put some bread in at six metres and some chopped worm down the peg at 12m (it was too shallow to fish up against a featureless far bank).
The bread line brought me roach, rudd and an ever-increasing number of silver bream as I fished the initial feed out. As the swim got stronger I topped up by hand rather than pole cup, sometimes fishing over the odd stray ball of liquidised bread when it dropped short. Eventually I realised that coming closer in was not in any way detrimental, and managed to bring the line back to my top two. In around eighteen inches of water I caught roach and silver bream to 4oz literally every chuck, even when I was too lazy to change my bread when it had really dried out, and more than once catching up to three fish on the same piece of punch (which was a 5mm piece).
I did spend a large amount of time fishing the worm after being given false hope by a decent perch (approx 1½lb) on the first put in, but wasn't unduly rewarded for my efforts, catching only four smaller perch and the odd rudd and palm-sized silver bream.
In total I ended up with 16lb 9oz of silvers, most of which I caught within three metres of the bank on a bulked down 0.5g rig. I also used a barbless hook for this rig aswell and bumped very few fish, which is maybe not too surprising when fishing to hand, but I forgot to mention that I also switched over to a barbless hook for those chub on the fast stretch the other day and lost no fish at all then, including roach and the bigger chub, so worth bearing in mind.