More on Bream

My trip out last Sunday was rubbish, and the less said about it the better. (OK if you insist - stayed out too late the night before, off early to Sandown Bay, nice beamy lumpy sea and your author was feeling bad very quickly. So back to the marina for a kip!) On to better things, the bream are definitely around, and so are smoothound with Utopia producing some good ones. There are three things from last year's reports worth mentioning again for the 2008 bream season.

Firstly, bait: half a squid head (cut longways between the eyes) is a great bait. It stays on the hook better than the traditional strip, allowing the fish to have another go if you miss the first bite.

Secondly, groundbait. Some people swear by elaborate mixes and dump great quantities over the side, some use nothing. I'm convinced that something is better than nothing, and a steady stream will create a trail that will draw then into the fishing zone. At the very least, feed in some finely chopped squid scraps, offcuts and used bait on a little-and-often basis. If the tide is not roaring through, and you are in 50 feet of water or less, I don't think a bait dropper is necessary, it will sink fast enough and the idea is that it should spread out over a long distance downtide anyway. If you have to use a dropper to get the groundbait down, there is a cheap way. Tie a weight to a thin cord (handline cord and a pound lead is fine), then fasten the closed end of a large-sized strong freezer bag to the line by the weight. Full the bag with groundbait, then tie a clove-hitch in the cord at a distance from the lead greater than the length of the bag, and use this to tie the bag closed. Lower the bag over the side and when it reaches the bottom, give the cord a firm jerk. This will pull the knot off the end of the bag and the groundbait will wash out.

Finally, float fishing: this is an ideal way to coax fish into feeding at slack tide. The movement of the float will impart movement on the bait and you can cover more ground, without the risk of tangling as you will with static baits as the tide slackens and turns. Arron told me this tip right at the end of last year's season so I didn't try it, he did well though.

Good luck with the bream and let me know how you get on.