After landing a bream weighing 17lb 1oz last week, Leicester angler Lee Snow has just surpassed himself, catching a fish weighing 17lb 2oz from a different water. Employing very similar tactics on both occasions, Lee managed to catch these two magnificent bream, with natural baits and fishing at range proving particularly successful.
Lee initially targeted a stillwater where he knew of two bream pushing 17lb. With a slight change of tactics, it wasn't long before he cradled one of these massive fish.
“I decided to spread my rods over different spots, introducing a small but compact amount of feed over each," Lee told us.
“Over the top, I spombed in five balls of groundbait laced with casters, corn, and hemp, which I hoped wouldn’t attract the carp while still being enough to catch the eye of a passing bream."
"Rig-wise, I kept things simple but strong, opting for 12lb Gardner mainline and size 8 hooks attached to coated braid hooklinks, fished on heli-rigs. Hookbaits were hair-rigged grains of artificial corn, with fake casters beneath."
"The approach paid off, as I landed a slab weighing 17lb 1oz, the one I was after," he said.
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For his next session, Lee headed to a Cambridgeshire stillwater where, initially planning to target tench for the season, he decided to leave them for a few weeks due to the cool weather and instead pursued the venue’s large bream population.
Fishing to a bar 120 yards out where there was 10ft of water, he deployed very similar tactics that led to the downfall of the bream in the previous session. A few balls of groundbait laced with casters, corn, and hemp with the same helicopter rig over the top as the session prior.
This was unbelievably the second 17lb bream Lee had caught in a matter of sessions; this fish weighed 17lb 2oz, rounding off an incredible early-season bream campaign.
“When it comes to catching big bream on stillwaters, accuracy is crucial. You want to be fishing over your bait, so using distance sticks properly and consistently hitting the clip is key," Lee concluded.
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