Catching bream on a donk from the shore: choosing a place, bait and bait, tackle and methods of feeding

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Gastronomic preferences of bream

It has long been known that large bream are caught mainly at night. To catch it, you need to put a bunch of worms and maggots on the hooks and wait patiently. Before this, you should feed the place well. The most suitable bait for bottom fishing of bream is ground boiled peas mixed with breadcrumbs or store-bought bait. Another 1-2 packets of vanillin and other liquid or bulk flavorings are added to this mixture. Bream loves chocolate and sweet smells. Therefore, it would be a good idea to treat the bait with chocolate sprays or dips. This is in the summer. In spring and autumn, spicy, bloodworm and fishy scents work better.

Features of the night life of bream

It has long been established that at night bream come closer to the shore in search of food. At this time, he is more courageous and not as careful as during the day. The best places to catch it will be areas located behind the plant carpet, exits from holes, upper areas of edges, as well as shell rock. In each reservoir, bream prefers different feeding places. On one, it visits riffles and shallows near the pits. On the second, the bream stays on the lower level, just like during the day. To understand exactly where to catch it in a given body of water, it is better to use bait.

Feeding methods

The bait will be the same peas. We deliver it to 3-4 promising, in our opinion, points, and throw our donks there. It is better to deliver the bait by boat. We poured 2 kg of boiled peas into one place, and poured the same amount into another, third, and fourth places. The next day we go fishing and throw donks at these points. As guidelines, we leave small bottles tied to stones, which we lower to the bottom. We cast the fishing rods as accurately as possible. After this, we clip it, which will allow us to make accurate throws in the future.

During the fishing process, we fill the feeders with porridge. Bream loves to eat well, and prefers high-calorie foods. Therefore, it is better to use volumetric feeders in the form of a mesh with a weight inside. It holds porridge the size of an average fist. It is useful to add chopped worms to the mixture. The result will be a kind of side dish with meat.

One of the possible options for arranging gear at the bottom looks like this. One lies in the coastal zone, just behind the underwater vegetation, on a shell. The second is located on a flat table or step, in front of the first edge. We will throw the third at the beginning of the slope of the riverbed edge, and the fourth at its end. Another good option is to cast at the boundary between a slow and fast current, or at the boundary between a shell and a muddy or sandy bottom. How to determine where the shell begins and the clean bottom ends? We throw out the tackle and drag the weight along the bottom. If we fish with a fence, we can easily see how the tip of the rod at first does not show itself in any way, and then begins to rattle sharply. As soon as we notice these twitchings, we clip, this means that we have found a shell. Why is the beginning of the shell so promising? The fact is that there is enough animal food on a clean, muddy, sandy bottom, but it does not stay well in one place. The shell holds it back well. When the food is washed away by the current, a large amount of it settles on a kind of shell carpet. At the beginning of this carpet, the concentration of food is higher and bream, as well as other fish, visit these areas more often.

If we used bait, then we do not feed the starter. Otherwise, we feed our zones using a slingshot or manually. Our task comes down to making a trail of bait that will spread downstream, luring bream.

Bottom tackle equipment

Using a donkey to catch this species is the most common and effective method, but to get an impressive catch, the fishing rod will need to be properly equipped.

All features associated with this process will be discussed in detail below:

The length of the rod is not particularly important, so you can take short tackle up to two meters or longer models. The main requirements are that it must withstand the weight of the equipment used and the jerks of the prey, otherwise there will be a large number of fish runs that will not allow for a large catch.
reel can be installed, even a budget inertia-free model made in China.
Casts will be made extremely rarely; a significant part of the fishing process consists of waiting for a bite, so there are virtually no requirements for this device. However, the use of better quality reels allows you to expand your capabilities and catch not only bream, but also silver bream, roach and other small species.
The fishing line is selected with an average diameter; its value can vary from 0.2 to 0.3 mm. The choice of a specific option depends on the fishing conditions, working depth and the weight of the rest of the equipment. It is also necessary to focus on the speed of the current in the chosen place: the slower it is, the thicker the fishing line should be.
The leash should be thinner than the working line, its diameter can be 0.1-0.2 mm, and its length varies from 5 to 10 cm.
The size of the hooks is selected depending on the expected dimensions of the prey, but they must be of high quality, since the fish will practice self-hooking. At the same time, you should not take too small hooks, this will minimize bites from very small bream. It is recommended to have a set of various devices, which will allow you to quickly change equipment in the event of no bites.

Bait options

To get a fragrant and rich trail, add fine-grained elements to the bait: breading, coconut flakes, bran and milk powder. Since bream loves sweets, fishermen often add ground biscuits. Fresh, with a vanilla scent will do.

Once lured to the point, the bream will eat the peas. It is no coincidence that at the beginning of the article there was a mention that the amount of peas should be 2 kg. Bream is second only to carp in its gluttony. To keep large individuals at the point, there must be a lot of food. Along with peas, you can use pearl barley and boiled millet. These cereals can also be cooked together in a ratio of 1 part pearl barley to 2 parts millet. First, cook the pearl barley, ten minutes before it is ready, add the millet. The amount of water should be three times the total amount of porridge. Mix the porridge with peas and other ingredients. As a result, we get something like this aromatic mixture:

Tackle elements

For bottom fishing for bream, rigid steel spinning rods 2.7 meters long are best suited. You can also use 4-meter telescopic rods. Both of them throw the tackle far. Since we are targeting bream, the sensitivity of the gear is not so important to us. When he takes, especially at night, it is difficult not to notice even on a rough fishing rod. It is better to use swingers or a regular firefly as a signaling device.

We put a powerful reel on the rod. This could be a classic Neva coil, which is installed on a rod. An inertial reel should have a spool volume of 4000 to 6000. If you cast far beyond 80 meters, then set it to 5000 or 6000. When fishing at a distance of up to 80 meters, a 4000 is suitable. Before fishing, be sure to adjust the clutch. It should operate smoothly, making characteristic clicking sounds. A 0.35 line or 0.16 braid with a breaking load of up to 10 kg is wound onto the reel. It is better to use a fishing line of dark colors on a dark bottom and transparent if we are fishing on a sandy one. The less noticeable it is, the better.

Features of catching bream on bottom tackle

Bream loves holes. Or more precisely, places where the water depth is not a couple of meters, but seven, or even ten to twelve. Fishing such places and their surroundings is our main task. And in order not to waste time, you need to feel everything out. How? There is more than one option here.

The first, most accurate and reliable is checking the bottom with an echo sounder. You will learn the depth, relief, the presence of snags and other things that threaten snags. Some successful models have such an excellent function as fish search. With such a tool, you have a great chance of finding the fish before casting, moving away to the required distance, throwing the gear and just waiting for the right moment. Often it is patience that is rewarded much more than years of experience or the purchase of expensive gear.

Read: Summer fishing for bream from a boat in still water

If you don’t have an echo sounder, then you’ll have to take a fishing rod with a jig attachment. This method is good for any situation except strong currents. But this can also be solved with a heavier, flat-shaped sinker. It won’t be carried far, which is what we actually need.

Fishing with a donk very much depends on how accurately you cast. That’s why many people prefer to use either a short spinning rod, or even just a small stick with a weight and hooks. In fact, this is a kind of device for lengthening your own arm when casting gear. Question: where is the best place to throw? Ideally, above the place where the hooks will fall, as the current will carry them away. But the correction for different bodies of water will always be different.

Snaps

It is known that bream does not like to stretch out its meal at night and in the morning. Its feeding period at night lasts from 11 to 3 hours maximum. When he has a glutton, he starts eating from 9 pm until the morning. After this, the bite is interrupted and can resume at 8 am and lasts until 11. Based on the above, it is extremely important to use equipment that does not get tangled when casting and lies in the right position on the bottom.

One of the successful equipment is an anti-twist tube, with an attached triangular sinker or feeder.

The length of the tube is not less than the length of the leash, approximately 15-20 cm. The use of such equipment minimizes overlaps and tangling of the leash with the main fishing line. When assembled it looks like this:

The classic equipment for fishing bream is a rocker with two leashes and a net feeder. The food is easily washed out of this net. This equipment has been used by bream anglers for many years. It has a number of advantages. Firstly, this rig flies well. Secondly, it has a design that does not allow the leashes to get tangled when casting and retrieving. Thirdly, it holds a lot of food, which is important when catching bream.

The leashes on such equipment have a length of 10-15 cm and a diameter of 0.25 mm.

If we catch bream without a feeder, then we use approximately the following rig options:

Springs with an infused heavy weight or method equipment are also used:

Other Important Accessories

If we fish at night, we definitely use a flashlight. It's better to have two. One is head-mounted or worn on a cap, and the second is regular, with different glow powers.

Another important accessory is coasters. If we fish with two rods, then it is better to use this:

If it’s 4, then we use either singles or rodpods:

Here is a good option for attaching rods from homemade stands:

When fishing for bream, a landing net is as important as fishing rods and tackle. It is better to use a landing net 3-4 meters long with a round head with a diameter of 50 cm.

Catching bream on a donk in summer

If you are fishing in a reservoir or other body of water where the current is weak, take light feeders, light tackle and looser bait. But with strong currents you have to use viscous bait and a heavy feeder. And the choice of fishing line is completely different. We have to think about greater strength.

Summer fishing has stages. The first is in the summer, before it gets hot. They start fishing here in the morning, or before sunset. At this time, bream bite well on pearl barley and steamed wheat. If you go fishing for bream by mid-summer, then fish early in the morning or at dusk. On particularly hot days, it is better to go fishing at night. A good catch is guaranteed to anyone who has perseverance and patience. Sometimes it happens that bream may not bite your bait at all for several hours. Then colored foam comes into play. Very often this is how you manage to “open an account.”

Read: Fishing with donkeys in winter from ice on the river

Nozzles for fishing on the bottom from the shore

The main baits for bottom fishing for bream are a dung worm, large maggots and, in cold weather, bloodworms. Worms are placed on hooks No. 6-8 according to international numbering with a long shank. They are baited in bunches so that the bream has the desire and opportunity to swallow the fragrant bait. The same thing with bloodworms and maggots. Fishermen often combine baits with each other. Good options for bream are a worm with maggots, maggots with air dough, pearl barley with a worm, and corn with maggots. Here's what it all looks like:

Among the vegetable attachments, we will highlight steamed wheat, mastyrka, pearl barley, vanilla dough, and canned corn.

The most important condition for successful bream fishing is a high-quality and always appetizing bait. Worms and maggots should not hang snot or be lethargic. They must be mobile and attract fish. A moving and smelling bunch is much better than a stone lying chewed bait. Therefore, never be lazy to change worms. Always use the fattest, toughest worms and maggots. When the worms are pierced, a yellow liquid should come out. These are the ones that are suitable. Bream loves meat food; it will swim past thin and featureless baits.

A little more difficult with bloodworms. In spring and cold summer days you don't always need fatty ones. It happens that he sluggishly takes only one, small size. In this case, we use hooks with thin wire, which, when pierced, do not tear the skin of the bloodworm and liquid does not flow out of it. For bloodworms, it is better to use Ovner or Gamakatsu hooks with a long shank.

Fishing for bream at night

Night fishing is somewhat different from daytime fishing and it’s time to talk about the second equipment called “nipple”.

Since polystyrene foam did not bring me the desired result while fishing at night, I decided to continue searching for the “old-fashioned” methods of fishing. Grandfather Vasya, a breamman, helped me with this again. He told me how to adapt the spring for the night, namely, remove the rear leash and tie three more in front. Then mastyrka is stuffed into the spring, and mastyrka balls with a diameter of 1.5-2 cm are placed on the hooks, after which these balls are stuck to the main mass in a circle.

It turns out a lump of bait with tubercles in which the hook is located. The fish sucks the tubercle and simultaneously swallows the hook located in it. Hence the very name of this equipment.

I also tested the catchability of this “pacifier” in parallel with others and can fully guarantee its nighttime effectiveness. I will only add that night fishing brought a slightly larger average fish size. If the average size of a bream during the day is 1-1.5 kilograms, then at night it often exceeds two pounds.

I’ll leave it at that for now and hope that this article will help you. In the future, I will return to this topic more than once, so I suggest becoming a subscriber to the site so as not to miss the release of new articles, the announcement of which will be sent to your specified mailbox for free.

Happy fishing and see you again on the site!

Fishing for bream in spring

They begin to actively catch bream on donka in the second half of spring. In April, you can safely go fishing, taking bloodworms and maggots with you. The time when the water level drops after a flood is considered the most suitable for fishing for bream.

During the pre-spawning period, which lasts until May, this fish is active. At this time, it can be caught on a running bottom with a sliding sinker. The fishing location should be close to the food base. These may be flooded trees or quiet places where there are enough crustaceans and larvae. The fishing distance at this time is small - 20-30 meters. Instead of a weight, you can also use a sliding feeder. It is stuffed with pea or millet porridge with bloodworms.

In mid-spring, it is better to use smaller hooks No. 10-12 and thin fluorocarbon leaders with a cross-section of 0.2 mm. In May, they are also caught using vegetable baits: mastyrka, pearl barley, corn in combination with animals. Millet porridge with ground fried seeds is suitable as bait. It is better to roll the bait into balls, adding soil or clay to them for viscosity. First, 5-6 balls the size of an orange are thrown into the fishing points. Then, every hour, one ball is added. Again, it is best to use bait tactics, when the bream is fed three to four times a week with simple porridge, and then they come fishing and provide it with more aromatic and tasty bait. In the spring, the bait is darkened and store-bought versions are used for catching white fish in cold water.

The fishing site is located 10 meters downstream from the feeding site. The current gradually carries the bait, forming a path 10-15 meters long. Schools of bream will gradually approach this place and within an hour from the start of fishing you can count on a bite.

Nozzles, lures and groundbait

Without these components, fishing is unlikely to be successful, and you shouldn’t use the first thing that comes to hand either.

Baits and lures

The following are used as baits:

worm;
maggot;
corn;
dough;
bread;
barley;
peas;
bloodworm.

Suitable bait is selected experimentally, taking into account the time of year. In mid-summer, from June to early August, dough and cereals are more suitable. In spring, April-May, and autumn, late August - November, bait of animal origin. However, there are exceptions to this rule - bream is a capricious fish and can behave finicky.

Winter baits in warm regions where bodies of water do not freeze are similar to summer ones. At this time, the bream is inactive and more often takes plant baits. In some cases, carp boilies show high efficiency.

You need to have several different attachments or baits with you, this is due to the fact that the fish may not take any of them and experiments will be required.

Lure

When catching bream on the bottom, bait plays a big role; it is the smell of it that the fish comes to and begins to feed in the fed area.

There is a universal recipe for preparing bait mixture, which in most cases works well. It will require the following ingredients:

soaked wheat bread (half a loaf);
boiled pearl barley (350 g);
dry semolina (150 g);
rolled oats (250 gr).

As an attractant you can use:

vanillin;
dill;
anise.

Synthetic baits for carp fishing also perform well.

Any flavoring should be added to bait with great care, as its excess will have the opposite effect and scare away the fish.

The bait mixture must be sweetened and salted, as a result it should taste pleasant. For feeder fishing, the bait should be thicker, otherwise it will quickly wash out of the feeder.

At the fishing site, add a little sand from the shore to the mixture and, if necessary, dilute it with water. If you plan to fish with bait of animal origin, they also need to be included in the bait; they should be at least 5% of the total volume of the mixture.