Big bream can be very rare and frustrating creatures to catch, which is certainly what Matthew Clayton found when he began fishing a Nottinghamshire stillwater for the species.
That was until recently when he banked this impressive 17lb specimen, one of two very large bream in the lake.
"I’d worked my way through the venue’s stock without encountering either of them," he told us.
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"Rather than spend my sessions chasing the fish around the lake or hoping to get in a good area, I decided to target a swim that nobody else fished. This would give me my own bit of water that, although not in the most popular area, I could bait up and know I’d have all to myself."
This tactic worked a treat for Matthew, as the giant slab came as part of a double take in the early hours of the morning. It took a cut down bloodworm dumbell boilie tipped with corn.
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