Barbel and Bream page 2

Of Bream, there are two sorts, the Silver Bream and the Gold or Carp-Bream; the first of these gradually loses its brilliancy after it exceeds the weight of a pound and becomes of a dark smoky hue; this being the common one most found in ponds and deep rivers. The Bream is a very broad, flat fish, the head and month small, the eyes large, and the tail exceedingly forked, It spawns towards the latter end of May; the best months for angling for them being from July to October, in deeps where there is a clayey or sandy bottom. I have known the Bream to attain a weight of eight pounds, Blakey says that in the North of Europe, they reach twenty pounds, but I fancy these giants are somewhat apocryphal. The best baits are lob, marsh, and red worms, gentles, paste and greaves. The rods and tackle have been described in the remarks on Barbel. The place you intend fishing should be well ground-baited the day previous; if you intend using the "travelling" float, it- would be better at the same time, to ascertain the proper depth of the swim; it will save time and trouble and prevent you disturbing the fish the following day. when you commence angling. Allow the bait to swim close to the bottom, strike directly you perceive a bite, (the float often rising up, instead of going down), and proceed as directed when Barbel-fishing. Bream- fishing in still water is pursued in a similar manner. Early in the morning and late in the evening are usually the best times. Indeed, one enthusiastic sportsman of my acquaintance camped out, in a tent, on the banks of the Ouse, for several nights in succession, so as to be at work with the rod sufficiently early each morning; this, of course, was going rather to the extreme. I have had extremely good sport in the middle of the day. Walton-on- Thames is a noted station for Bream, large quantities being taken every season. I have also landed some very fine ones at Weybridge; at Halidays Hole I caught sixteen weighing from two to six pounds each, in a couple of hours, with the Leger and lobworm.

The Bream is also taken with Roach-tackle, but requires some care in playing. He will try a variety of schemes to get away; he will often turn sulky and hang to the bottom for some time; then make a bolt under a bank, or into the weeds, if any should be near. If that does not succeed, he will come up sideways; requiring some strain on the tackle to lift him, the great resistance to the water offered by his broad side causing the novice to believe that he has hooked a monster of the deep. When he rises near the surface, he turns over edgeways, the resistance is over, and, behold, it, is but a Bream!