The Bream Are Back In Town

All season I have been bemoaning the quality of the Bream fishgin this year. The Spring run didn't happen and even my late July excursion left me struggling to snag very low numbers.  But in early August, on a day when the sun shone through a hideous weather forecast, they came back!

I should qualify the hideous weather forecast by saying the wind conditions were scheduled to be benign all day however it was supposed to be wet - thunder storms as one crew member reminded us several times during the day.  In the end the sea was flat calm and despite a few early spots of rain the sun emerged and we fished in glorious summer weather all day long.

Calm waters surround the fuel barge in Weymouth Bay

Dave Pitman, skipper of the very successful Atlanta out of Weymouth, asked that I got to the boat early so we could be away to catch the end of the flood tide which had produced good numbers of Bream in Lyme Bay the previous week.  I made sure I set the alarm extra early and was at the boat by ten past seven in the morning.  Dave said we wouldn't stop for Mackerel as there were plenty left from the day before and we could pick some up on the Bream mark.  Dave also supplied washed and unwashed squid, party squid and fresh rag worm.  I brought some extra party squid with me as I like to use the heads and wanted to make sure I had a supply that didn't deny the rest of the crew.

The rest of the crew were made up of some Weymouth regulars as well as some of their friends who were newer to the sport.  We all rigged up ready from the Bream (we hoped) and steamed off to Lyme Bay.  Dave suggested that if the Bream dropped off as the tide switched to the ebb we might move on to the banks in the afternoon and try for a flat fish but we would play it by ear.  As it turned out we didn't need to move all day long as the fish never went away!

Having reached the mark, a piece of broken ground, Dave set the anchor and Dee prepared the baits.  I opted for rag and squid on size 4 hooks with snoods that had yellow attractor beads, mini yellow muppets and a couple of sequins.  When the fishing had been tough earlier in the year this rig had found me Bream when others struggled so I was confident it would again be a top performer.

First drop and I was in to a fish.  Not a Bream but an obligatory Lesser Spotted Dogfish.  I rebaited and dropped away again.  This time a much more interesting bite and I was in to one.  The fish gave me a fair tussle on my 8lb rod and when it surfaced it was a nice Black Sea Bream of about a pound and a half.  The anglers adjacent to me at the stern (Sean and Josh) also managed to catch Bream early in the session.  I followed this up with a Mackerel and a small Scad in successive drops.  Four fish and four species in four drops - it was all looking good.

The Dogfish and the Scad then became a real problem for me.  Every time I hit the bottom the Scad 'pecks' would commence immediately.  They only seemed to stop when I caught a Dogfish (had loads of these) or a Scad hooked itself (had loads of these as well).  It carried on like this for the first hour and I was geting frustrated as the anticipated best of the tide was going away with the ebb now in full tilt.  It is worth mentioning at this point that the attitude of the boat in the tide at this mark is remarkable.  The ebb tide circles back on itself as it passes Portland Bill and as such the flood and the ebb travel the same way.  The advantage of this is that we didn't have to move all day to stay on our mark!

It was Josh who managed to find the Bream again first.  He started to catch a few  by dropping back some 60 to 70 yards behind the boat which was a real challenge to feel the bottom.  Sean followed him and had the first of a series of better fish which fell to his rod.

Sean with a nice Bream

I was still struggling to get through the other species.  Dave suggested I switch my rig and adopt one with undecorated snoods.  A typical bream bite deterred me from doing this but I failed to hook the fish.  Eventually I swallowed my pride and switched.  I also switched bait to a plain Mackerel chunk on each of the two hooks on my Wessex rig.

I lowered to the bottom, only to feel the Scad again.

I decided it would call for drastic measures and started to pull the baits away from the Scad as soon as I felt a pluck and then let out more line to drop further back. 

The tactic worked.

As soon as I got clear of the Scad I had a Bream bite and the it was on.  I got a terrific scrap from my second Bream of the day and was much relieved.  This was just the start however.

Dee had managed a couple of Red Gurnard from her position by the cabin but one angler was delighted when he boated this cracking specimen.  One of the best Red Gurnard I have ever seen I think.

A cracking Red Gurnard

As morning waned and lunch time came a long I managed to get in to my stride and was catching a steady stream of Bream punctuated with pesky Dogfish, Scad and more than a few Mackerel that grabbed my baits on the drop.

Every time the fishing seemed to go quiet I would switch my bait combination and this would seem to bring the fish back on to the feed.

Josh managed a couple of very nice fish but it was Sean who showed the way with a number of fish threatening three pounds.

Whilst all of this was going on in the stern of the boat, other anglers were not faring so well.  One poor chap (Stuart) struggled to catch anything at all, finally breaking his duck with a few Doggies, Scad and Mackerel.

An Angler immediatley behind me never beat the Doggies, amassing some fourteen in the day with no Bream to compensate.  His identical bait must have been lying less than a couple of feet from mine on the sea bed - that's fishing I guess!

Unusually the skipper was struggling to catch a Bream today.  A sharp bite indication had him removing the rod from its rest and winding in to what was way to big to be a Bream.  The result was this smashing Thornback Ray which weighed just shy of 10 lbs.

Skipper snags something different

As the day wore on the Bream fishing got better and better and we all agreed not to move to the banks.  Dave managed another Thornback of the same size but again no Bream.  With a new found confidence we even risked pulling Dave's leg.  We should have known better!

As the fishing improved so the Bream came in closer and closer to the back of the boat.  And Dave finally grabbed a couple.  Nothing compared to the haul I had so I was still feeling smug until..........

Dave had a clonking bite and then got stuck in to a heavy and very lively fish.  He called for net (showmanship I thought) and dropped on to the deck this superb 4lb fish.  The best of the day by some margin and I think the largest I have ever seen in the flesh.

Dave wins again!

As we came to the end of the day we all felt that the sport was probably about to get even more frenetic with Bream bites coming thick and fast and Dave confirmed that he thought the turn of the tide would bring them on further.  Still, I was happy to go home as I had caught in the region of 20 of my target species plus heaven knows how many other less sought after fish.  Josh and Sean could boast similar hauls.

This was my best day's fishing this year by a mile in terms of nonstop action.  I caught fish from first drop to the last, enjoying every single head shake and darting run that these fantastic sporting lightweights could offer. Weymouth and Atlanta at their best!

Contact - steve@madpolka.co.uk