A bream over 18lb is a remarkable fish to catch, but to bank one over the 20lb barrier is truly a fish of a lifetime. This month we have reported on two fish over that incredible barrier and a handful of fish just below, in what has been an unbelievable month for big slabs.
Sam and Mark Church did a quick overnighter on a low stock southern gravel pit, hoping for carp and bream – with such a small head of fish present they couldn’t be picky!
“The water is heavily weeded and, when we arrived, we discovered that a few fish had been caught at the far end of the lake.
“Seeing as the wind was still blowing down there, we headed over and set up.
“After about an hour we found a few clear spots amid the thick weed, and just before dark we saw a fish roll over one of Sam’s baited spots.
“But it wasn’t until first light that he had a few beeps on his alarm and hooked a fish that he steered through dense weed.
“It was this incredible bream, weighing 18lb exactly. It’s certainly the fish of a lifetime.
“A 12mm boilie tipped with a grain of plastic corn, fished alongside a small PVA stick of mixed pellets, did the trick.”
DON'T GO NIGHT FISHING WITHOUT ONE OF THE BEST FISHING BIVVIES!
Scott Crowhurst had an almighty shock when this colossal 21lb 15oz bream surfaced on the end of his line during a recent session. The Essex-based angler was fishing his local day- ticket lake at The Mill Carp Fishery when he hooked the specimen on a pop-up boilie intended for carp.
It’s just 12oz off Scot Crook’s 22lb 11oz current British Record bream, caught from Cambridgeshire’s Ferry Lagoon back in 2012.
“I’d been out on three occasions this year and blanked each time, but this session got off to a better start, as I’d landed carp of 19lb and 16lb that morning,” Scott told us.
“Things went quiet for a while after that, then, at 1pm I had another take.
“I lifted into a fish that didn’t fight much but felt heavy, and initially I thought it might be a grass carp, as I knew there were a few living in there.”
As the fish neared the net, Scott expected to see the long and slim shape of a ‘grassie’ surface – but he was flabbergasted when the deep-bodied bream appeared instead.
“I thought the record was around 24lb but, as it happens, I’m glad my fish wasn’t 13oz heavier. I was the only person on the lake so would’ve had nobody there to witness it!”, Scott joked.
It's been a superb start to the campaign for the nation’s bream anglers, but the biggest of the lot was landed by Finn McGrath (19), with this 20lb 12oz specimen.
The Fishery Mangement and aquaculture student at Sparsholt College, landed the fish from a southern stillwater on a pop-up rig.
“After 20 nights, I was beginning to wonder if I’d evercatch one of the water’s carp, tench or bream,” Finn told us.
“However, on this night, no sooner had I zipped up my sleeping bag my rod was away!"
"After a sluggish battle, the beam of my head torch was filled with the silhouette of the biggest bream I had ever laid eyes on. I was in awe!”
IF YOU DO A LOT OF NIGHT'S ON THE BANK, THE BEST BEDCHAIRS WILL HELP KEEP YOU COMFORTABLE!
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