I love feeder fishing and throughout the colder month’s bream, a reliable winter species, become my main target on stillwaters. Today I’ve come to Northlands Park, a shallow day ticket venue in Basildon, Essex, and will be fishing the Café Lake which is a mixed fishery but more importantly it contains a good head of silvers and regularly produces bumper bags of Stillwater bream on the feeder.
Stillwater bream love the deeps
When it’s really cold I instantly head for the deeper area of the lake, which is around 6ft deep, as this is where the bream will be held up and if there’s a brisk south west wind blowing even better. Ideally I would prefer to have this wind in my face, however today it’s just too cold and strong, so I have decided to fish of the back of it, with the aim of casting into the main body of the lake.
Little bream feeder fishing edges = big advantages
Tackle for today consists of my trusted 11’ Sphere Feeder Rod, a brilliant rod for this and coming in two sections means that I can have it made up and ready to go straight away. I’ve teamed this up with a Black Viper NK FD reel, a big reel some would say for this type of fishing but as I’m only using a small feeder the benefit of its large spool is it allows me to cast a long way effortlessly. This is loaded with Cenex 0.18 (6lb) Feeder Mono, a line that has a really smooth surface, which once again aids casting, is off medium-stretch; sink’s well, is supple and highly abrasion resistant, perfect for feeder fishing and the punishment it will go through from regular casting. The reason for using a small feeder is it make minimal disturbance when entering the water, something I think is really important on shallow lakes and one that gives me a big advantage over other anglers. On the business end I’m using what’s known as a Twizzle Boom set up, two loops one of which has been twisted along with a further smaller standard loop tied to the end of my mainline. Above these two loops is a short boom that comes to rest against an Oval Super Stopper. This short boom contains an Easy Snap Swivel onto which the feeder is attached. Twizzle Booms reduce tangles and can be bought already made, such as Browning Feeder-Rig II, as well as the Feeder Boom Link. Hook lengths, attached to the lower loop, are made from Cenex Fluoro Carbon Hook Line in either a 0.13mm or 0.15mm diameter, are on average eighteen inches in length and have either a size 16 or 18 barbless Sphere CPF hook attached. These hooks are extremely sharp and are perfect for baits such as maggots, casters, pinkies and worms.
Find the right spot and be accurate
Before fishing the first thing I do is to have a lead around to find out what lies in front of me. I use a Sphere Bomb Rod to do this and simply attach a small lead, cast out and feel what the rod transmits back through it. Feeling the lead down will give me an indication of the depth and this light, sensitive rod will tell me what the lake bed is made up off. Ideally I’m looking for an area of relatively firm silt as this will not only hold natural food like bloodworm in the winter but also give me good presentation of rig and hookbait. Once I have found the spot I will be targeting I simply use Marker Sticks to find the same distance on my feeder rod, before clipping the line in the reel seat so I can constantly hit the same area throughout the session.
Light, sharp hooks are essential as the bream are quite timid at this time of the year.
I use Cenex Fluorocarbon for my hooklength, which is normally around 18 inches (45cm) in length.
Easy Swap Swivel for quick feeder change.
A stillwater bream feeder fishing banquet
Bait today consists of a live and dead maggots (hook bait), pinkies (for when the going gets tough), casters (mainly for feed in the feeder), 2mm pellets (which are added to the groundbait) and corn (to pick out bigger fish). Groundbait is the ever reliable Champion’s Feeder Quick Bream with around 25% Black Roach added which darkens the mix down.
"Tackle for today consists of my trusty Sphere feeder rod."
Lay the table for stillwater bream on the feeder
Having found the area to target and clipped my feeder rod to the desired distance, today its around 30m, the next job is to ‘lay-the-table’ and get some feed into the swim in order for the bream to home in on. Using the feeder rod I simply add a larger capacity feeder, plug one end with groundbait before adding some dead/live maggots before plugging the other end. This is cast to the desired spot, left for a few seconds to empty before repeating a further five times. Once done it’s simply a case of attaching a smaller feeder and the hooklink, baiting with a couple of red maggots and casting out. Sometimes you will have to wait for the fish to arrive, on others bites will come straight away and on other occasions a switch of hookbait or altering the hook length will work, it’s simply a case of working out how and what they want as quickly as possible. One thing that is important is regular casting, even if bites aren’t forth coming, probably every three or four minutes, as this keeps the swim topped up. If the bream are really on the bait it’s a good idea, from time to time throughout the session, to switch to a Streamline Window Feeder as this introduces lots of particles and will keep the bream grubbing around, but don’t overdo it, a couple of casts then its back on the cage feeder. Another small tip is if the swim slows up its worth unclipping, pulling a couple of feet of line of the reel before clipping up again. This little trick has worked wonders for me and often keeps the bream coming.
If you have a shallow lake, like Northlands Park near you, why not get the feeder rod out and give my approach a go, I’m sure you will be rewarded.
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Always use the line clip on your reel to maintain the same distance every cast.
Streamlined Window Feeders are great for introducing only a small amount of bait very accurately.
Bream will feed right through the winter and are a great target on many still waters.
Filipe’s Stillwater bream feeder tackle
Sphere 11’ Feeder Rod
Black Viper MK FD Reel
0.18mm Cenex Feeder Mono Mainline
0.13mm or 0.15mm Cenex Fluoro Carbon Hook Length
Sphere CPF LS Barbless size 16 or 18 Hook
Big Pit Mini 15g Feeder
Streamline Window Feeder
Filipe’s Stillwater bream feeder bait
Champion’s Feeder Mix Quick Skimmer
Champion’s Feeder Mix Black Roach
2mm Coarse Pellets
Live/Dead Maggots
Pinkies
Casters
Corn