Species 77 - White Bream

Now this is probably my rarest capture to date in British waters. It came as a bit of a surprise whilst myself and friend Dan Ferguson were fishing for mullet.

We'd been shirvying a spot for around an hour and had been getting good sport on the float from thick lip mullet to around the 4lb mark. Then out of nowhere, a shoal of tiny bream appeared in and around the boulders below where we stood. Dan jokingly said to me, 'oh they could be white bream.' On closer inspection though he was right, even at the minute size they were, the black spot on the tail was very distinctive. Obviously being the opportunist, I soon switched tactics to freelining. By casting a bit further than usual and just letting it swing back in towards the boulders as it sank, I managed to get the bait to settle out of view in amongst the boulders. Leaving a little slack, I watched my line in anticipation, waiting for that bow of line to start tightening up.

A few seconds after settling, a knock followed by a good pull gave me a good enough reason to strike and set the hook....... fish on. I was convinced it was another mullet as the fish ran up and down the boulders in front of me. As it tired though and started moving up in the water I realised it was no mullet, it was a bream, a bloody white bream and a good one at that. As Dan finally slid the net under it, the celebrations began. At 1lb 9oz it was a good specimen sized fish with the British record being a little over the 2lb mark. Well and truly stoked, I finished fishing for the day and sat watching Dan getting frustrated at the mullet that kept stealing his bait.