If you have never caught a sea bream from the shore then this month is the time to start trying because the species arrives in the English Channel this month before moving further north through the summer.
They are, pound for pound, one of the UK’s most powerful tropical visitors. Bream are not common everywhere, but like a few other summer visitors, their numbers and range have increased in recent years and in some regions they have also made something of a comeback.
There are several species of bream found in UK waters, but only the black and the red sea bream are in any way common. The others include: couch’s bream, rays bream and white bream. The bogue, pandora, dentex and pagre have all been recorded in UK waters too, but are very uncommon.
Perhaps the demise of several of the prime UK species reduced by commercial exploitation has given the bream more room and fewer predators? The south west of the UK and western end of the English Channel have always been the black bream’s stronghold but, like many of the sub-tropical species that enter UK waters, numbers have increased and moved further north. Global warming may have helped extend the bream’s range and nwadays red bream are found as far north as Norway, although the black bream is rarely caught from the UK North Sea shoreline, despite being found at the northern end of the English Channel and the northern end of the Irish Sea.
From the shore the species rarely beats 3lb, although around some of the English Channel’s deepest wrecks they do reach 5lb plus. The shore average size is 1lb with a maximum of 3lb.
The power of the black bream is unlikely to test standard beachcasting tackle, but the species is in a class of its own on lighter gear and offers an angling challenge to target deliberately. They are very special in terms of their appearance and angling kudos too – and have you tasted them? (One of the finest of all fish to eat in my book! Ed). On top of all that their ability to remove a hook bait in seconds, their difficult to hook ‘rat-tat-tat’ bites and their powerful jagging runs puts them in a different league to the usual summer pouting and dogfish.
Bream are most common around the large, weedy, rocky offshore reefs and often shoal around such marks, venturing close to shore to clean and to mixed ground towards darkness. Like the wrasse, bream tend to take up residence on rock and mixed ground marks and rarely move far during summer except for those night time trips inshore. This does mean that bream marks are all fairly well known and are not difficult to discover with some research.
The best tackle set up for bream is a light fixed spool beach caster of around 12/15ft long with the fixed spool reel loaded with line of 8lb to 12lb mono or similar diameter micro braid. The longer, lighter rod allows longer terminal rigs to be used and the baits can then be lifted and moved enticingly with lighter tackle allowing a more natural behaviour of baits which increases the likelihood of bites. Most anglers after bream prefer a simple light line paternoster style terminal rig with a long body and snoods.
Modern fluorocarbon lines are increasingly popular when a strong, light snood line is required. A light rig allows the baits to sink and flutter in the tide with movement of the rod tip and bait a way to tempt the bream to attack the bait. The addition of floating, pop up beads also enhance this movement, and is also a great tactic in summer in clear water to catch many of the other species around like mackerel, garfish, pollack, mullet, etc.
Also, using a plain or wired grip lead allows tackle and baits to react differently to tide movement. A grip will stay put moving the hook baits more, whilst a plain will hop off the sea bed producing plumes of sand.
Small, short shank hooks are essential with 2s the largest size required for shore bream and 4s and 6s are more effective. The strongest patterns, such as those intended for carp, are ideal should you accidentally hook a bass or smoothhound.
Rig dimensions can vary, but with a longer rod it is easier to use a rig up to ten feet long and the longer the rig body the longer snoods can be used and the higher the baits can be fished off the sea bed. Distance casting is rarely required so flapper style rigs are all that is needed.
Using an 8ft long rig body of 30lb line, two or three long snoods in 8lb line can be placed well apart so they do not tangle. Popular is to make the rig up two up / one down style, with the lower hook fished hard on the sea bed and the upper two off the bottom. The two up rig is perfect with swivels, crimps and clips kept to a minimum, or the smallest patterns, to enhance the lightness and movement of the hook baits.
One of the most important tactics for successfully catching bream is precise bait presentation. The species has a small mouth compared with most other UK fish, as well as a fine set of dentistry that can nibble, nip and remove bait from a hook with surgical precision. Rapid fire bites often result in a bare hook and a missed fish. The answer is a small or compact hook bait without worm tails and parts hanging off for the fish to nip and pull – tie your offerings on the hook with a light elastic cotton.
Bream are not fussy and will take lots of different baits with fish, peeler crab and worm amongst their favourites. Being a shoal fish they compete with each other and it’s often rapid fire action when they find your baits. On many venues after dark a shoal will move through and it pays to have another ready baited rig ready to increase your chances of catching.
A small cube of fresh mackerel sewn around the bend of the hook is a classic bream bait, whilst a half a peeler lashed close around the hook with bait elastic or a ragworm and a tiny sliver of squid catches in some regions. A few peeled crab legs/claws, or the soft abdomen of the hermit crab, are other favourites around the various black bream marks.
SOME BREAM FACTS
• Latin Name for black bream: Spondyliosoma cantharus
• The minimum legal (DEFRA) sizes vary throughout the sea regions with 23cm most quoted, although some regions do not have a minimum for black bream. In general the angling limit is accepted as 25cm.
• Specimen size depends on the region, but is usually around the 2lb to 3lb mark for the shore and 3lb plus in the boat.
• The British shore record for the black bream is: 6lb 8oz 6drm
• Black bream ID: Oval flattened body shape with a single dorsal fin with spines at the front end. Distinctly silver scaled. Small head, large eyes, small, sharp teeth. Dark black to bluish-grey colour on back with horizontal golden to brown stripes, which are only apparent when the fish is fresh from the sea.
Other bream British shore records are:
o Bogue (Boops boops): 1lb 15oz 4drms
o Couch’s sea bream (Pagrus pagrus) 2lb 15oz 1drm
o Gilt Head bream (Sparus aurata) 10lb 5oz 8drm
o Pandora bream (Pagellus erythrinus) 1lb 8oz 7drm
o Ray’s bream (Brama brama) 7lb 15oz 12drm
o Red bream (Pagellus bogaraveo) 4lb 7oz
o White sea bream (Diplous sargus) 1lb 7oz 4drm
Tight lines
Alan
