timh

You're welcome Jenny. Where do you live Timbo?

Maurice-a very viable theory, and does happen regularly on my local waters (trent) but I'm sure this wasn't what was happening, I think what Timbo says is closer to the truth. Although there was obviously a big shoal of bream there, I think they were very 'cautious'. I'd catch a few and then they'd stop like they had become wary of what I was doing. So I made a change and catch a couple more then they backed off again, leading to me making another change and catching a couple more.....and so on! This can happen on heavily fished waters, but in Brundall, at this time of year, angling pressure is minimal (I've only ever seen pike anglers since being in Brundall in november 16) so cant imagine they have been caught too many times? Maybe its in their breeding?! I think they were backing off after a couple were caught, but not moving too far away as it didnt take too long for them to come back. Maybe if I'd cast around the edges with a single bait and a bomb, I may have picked a few more up? Might try it next time, although if I'm doing that then I'm not building up a bed of feed in my proper swim, so could be a gamble. Or maybe that is the problem...... although I was using a decent sized feeder, maybe it just wasnt big enough to put enough feed in to hold the shoal? Oh I do love fishing and the puzzles it brings for me to solve. Just a shame the seasons nearly over, not sure when I'll get another go at the Brundall bream, cos we're moving to Wayford in april!!! Thanks for your replies and provoking some thoughts in my lil brain!!

I love otters........until I've got my fishing head on, then they are vile creatures, and sometimes indescriminate killers!!! Still looking forward to seeing and sharing the river with them though, will just have to travel a bit to drown a few maggots.

Jenny - I fished from 6pm until 2pm (minus an hour or so for nipping back to boat for a cuppa and food) and had one of the best, but also frustrating river sessions ever! Started off putting 10 big feeder fulls in, packed with corn, maggots and casters, then put a 2 1/2 ft hooklength on with a 14 hook and 0.16 line , and had a 2lb bream first chuck, then another 3 in the first hour. Was getting loads of indications and decent pulls but missing bites with maggot or corn on so tried worm and had 4 in as many casts. , but then they dissapeared for half hour, then had another about 4lb, then back to 'big plucks on the tip, it wouldn't stay still from liners but couldnt get a proper bite! Time for a change, thinks I, so as I got the impression that the fish were actually attacking the feeder (not much flow all night to wash the groundbait out) so shortened the hooklength to 16" to move it closer to the cage and had 2 straight away on triple red maggot (one of my favourite hookbaits for bream, along with worm tipped with a caster) then back to silly little taps. Time for yet another change, so after a re-think I decided that as there was little flow, I'd revert back to a stillwater style set up ie a paternoster (normally on rivers I will use the loop method) as this is a more sensitive set up as the fish pull directly on the mainline, rather than through the feeder and also lets the hooklength flutter and move around more. This worked for a bit and had a few more bream until they went again. After varying the hook baits without a sign, after 1/2 hour the tip slammed around and a 6lber was in the net, followed by 3 or 4 more slightly smaller fish. It went quiet again, so as I'd not lost a fish or had too much trouble getting them in, I changed down to a 0.12 hooklength and a 16 hook and then had a run of 4lbish fish that had taken the hook right inside the mouth, as opposed to ALL the other fish being lightly lip hooked. The lighter line (but still about 3lb breaking strain) obviously let them suck in the bait more confidently. I had a really enjoyable session and ended up with 21 bream between 2 and 6lb, for around 70lb. Worm was the essential hookbait, just a shame I only had a few hookers and not enough to chop up and put in the feeder as I'm positive I'd have caught double what I did!! Not bad for first time on the river, first fishing session for nearly 7 months, and my last river fishing was around a year ago. Happy days and hopefully many more to come? PS I tried to write this in such a way as to help you get an insight into things you can do to help you catch more. On a good day, you wont need to mess about like I did (its the matchman in me!!!) but if you're not catching there's usually something you can do or change to improve things. Sometimes your starting plan will be the one you finish with, alongside a netfull of fish, but these type of days are not as common as we'd all like!!!! Hope this helps?

Sounds good Wildfuzz, will have to try that in the new season. It looks a nice stretch from what I've seen of it. Any idea how big the Perch get to around Wayford? We had a walk around the marina at the weekend, and saw a dead 3lb bream floating under a boat, so there should be some more around, somewhere?

As a general rule for bream and roach, you want as little weight on your feeder as the flow will allow. Once you cast out, if the feeder bounces a couple of times then settles, then its about right. This gives a more balanced set up, so when a fish picks up your bait, the feeder will move and the tip will either drop back or jerk forward. The more flow there is, the stiffer tip you need and the higher in the air you need to set your rod rests to keep the line out of the water. Only experience will tell you about which tip to use, but the lighter the better for bite indication. Once the feeder has settled, then the tip should just have a slight bend (1-2" or so from straight) in it to show the drop backs, too much bend could result in you not seeing the smaller bites, or cause the fish to drop your bait because they feel the resistance. There really are no hard and fast rules but on the slower reaches of river or on a broad with little wind or even on the faster rivers at slack tide, then a 1oz tip may be plenty. But on the pacier rivers then 3oz may not seem enough. If even with a BIG weight on your feeder it still bounces because of the flow, then pay some line out to form a big bow in the line instead of tightening up to your feeder, this will cause less drag and help the feeder hold bottom. I've not actually fished the broads yet (hopefully first time at Brundall this weekend?) but having grown up fishing the Trent, these are some of the basic things I learned. Hopefully I'll find out on sat, but bites tend to be little rattles from roach, bigger knocks from skimmers and bream will give a knock followed by the tip pulling around. Having said that sometimes the biggest bream give a tiny little indication and a gudgeon may look like its trying to pull the rod in!!! The main thing to remember to get the most of of feeder fishing is to try to be as accurate as possible with your casting. Pick your spot and try to land the feeder within a few feet of it EVERY time. This will build up your swim and create a nice compact dinner table for the fish to feed on when the shoal turns up. Have one or two casts here and one or two there, and the bait will spread all over the river and whilst you may catch the odd fish, a shoal of bream, say, just wont stay in your swim. I hope this helps some? Good luck

Thanks guys I'm sure I'll enjoy a few days drowning maggots, shame that there doesnt sound like too many bream, I'd have thought it was an ideal river for them especially up the top there away from the boats. Is Barton broad any better for the bream? Is it possible to mudweight and have a dangle for them?

Hi, has anyone got any advice on fishing the River Ant, like where are the better areas for the bigger bream and Perch? I like to think I'm a fairly competant angler, its just I will be mooring up at Wayford this year but have never fished the river and am new broads in general . If anyone fancies joining me for a session or two in the summer, then your more than welcome.

Many thanks for all your comments, but thankfully we have found a mooring at the Vintage boat co at Wayford. It has everything we want, and Alice sounds really nice and more importantly, seems to care about the people and the boats on her site. Some may question us securing the mooring without a full visit, but I have been past and moored the other side of the bridge on our last visit albeit a long while ago, and after extensive tinternet research, it seems perfect for us. Full visit next weekend as we cant get before, so hopefully we won't be disappointed? At the end of the day, we haven't got much to compare against so will probably be happy anywhere (well almost!). Price was reasonable too. all

Hi, we're currently moored at Brundall but as much as we like it there, we are looking for new moorings elsewhere. Being relative newbies and only having owned our boat (23ft cabin cruiser) since november '16, we would like to explore some different parts and go up north for a season at least.I know it can get busy, but its gotta be done sometime, and the reduced tidal influence compared to the South, will also help us get more competant/confident! Can anyone recommend any marinas that definately have mooring availability? (had a few negative replies to e-mails even though we were told from other boat owners that there were spaces!!) Unfortunately we live 180 miles away and are mainly limited to weekends, so popping up for a quick drive round and look is a bit difficult. We thought we'd found somewhere and provisionally booked, but things don't seem to be going to plan there so now we're in a bit of a panic to find an alternative! Our main crieria are side on/or stern with finger, toilets, electric hook up, showers in that order. Oops, nearly forgot a pub nearby would be near the top of the list too, just for somewhere to go to warm up in the winter mind! Honest!!! And if I'm not already asking too much, then the cheaper the better!! Thanks