Bream on the feeder: feeding, distance and reading the bite

What you need

• Rod: a 3.6-4.2 m feeder rod with a medium action, for distances of 30-70 m; finer tips on lakes, stiffer ones on rivers.
• Reel: size 4000-5000, with a long spool for casting a long way.
• Line: 0.10-0.12 mm braid with a shock leader at range; 0.20-0.22 mm monofilament close in and on rivers.
• Rig: a paternoster loop or a running rig, a 30-60 g feeder (heavier on rivers), a 60-120 cm hooklength of 0.12-0.16 mm and a size 12-16 hook.
• Accessories: a catapult for the initial feed, a rest with a front bar, a chemical light on the tip for night fishing, and a keepnet only where you're allowed to keep fish.

Baits

• Worms and maggots, on their own or together on the hook: the most reliable baits for bream.
• Sweetcorn, soft pellets and paste, especially on lakes where the fish are used to them.
• Dark groundbait with a sweet flavour (vanilla, caramel), mixed with maggots, chopped worms, corn and cooked hemp.

When to fish

• From spring until autumn; on natural waters, after the closed season.
• The best times are dusk, night and dawn; during the day, in overcast weather with a light wind.
• In winter, on ice-free water, bream hold deep in tight shoals: very little groundbait and small baits.

Where are you fishing

• Large lakes, reservoirs, arms of the Danube and slow rivers, over a firm silt bottom.
• In 2-6 m of water: channels on the lake bed, the edges of holes and the plateaus in front of them.
• Small bubbles rising to the surface and coloured water over the groundbait often show a feeding shoal.

Step by step

1. 1

   Find the depth. With an empty feeder, count the seconds to the bottom in several directions and pick the edge of a hole or a channel on the bottom.

2. 2

   Set the distance. Put the line in the reel's line clip and keep your direction using a marker on the far bank.

3. 3

   Put in the initial feed. Bream respond to more groundbait: 10-15 full feeders emptied quickly on the same spot or, at short range, 8-12 balls of groundbait thrown by hand or with a catapult.

4. 4

   Cast with a long hooklength. Hook 2-3 maggots or a piece of worm and cast to the clip; an 80-120 cm hooklength lets the bait fall slowly and naturally.

5. 5

   Read the bite. Bream usually give slow bites: the tip pulls round gently and steadily or, when the fish lifts the bait, it drops back. Strike with a long sweep, not a jerk.

6. 6

   Hold the shoal. Recast every 5-10 minutes with a full feeder; if the bites tail off, put in a few full feeders one after another so the shoal doesn't move off.

7. 7

   Play it slowly. Bream resist mainly with their deep, flat body: bring the fish in steadily, without rushing, and net it away from the groundbait so you don't spook the shoal.

Common mistakes

• Too little groundbait at the start: a shoal of bream will swim past an empty swim.
• A hooklength that's too short or too thick: the bream feel the resistance and drop the bait.
• Striking too fast, at the first trembles of the tip.
• Noise and playing fish over the groundbait: the shoal gets spooked and leaves.
• Packing up before dusk, just when the bream start to feed.

Frequently asked questions

Step-by-step guides

• Rig guide: Feeder with anti-tangle sleeve / loop (paternoster)
• Groundbait and recipes: All-round feeder groundbait (bream, Prussian carp)
• Groundbait and recipes: Particles: prepared maize and hemp
• Fishing knots: Figure 8 loop (double loop)

Fishing for bream by county

Other fishing techniques

• Feeder fishing
• Prussian carp on the float
• Ice fishing
• Homemade groundbait
• Carp on the method feeder
• Carp on boilies
• Spinning for pike
• Zander on the jig
• Perch on the micro-jig
• Trout on spinners
• Wels catfish with the clonk
• Spinning for chub
• Asp on crankbaits
• Barbel on the feeder
• Tench on the float
• Fishing from a boat
• Pike on fish baits
• Perch on the drop shot
• Fly fishing
• Catfish from the bank