Tactics for catching bream in May on a feeder and preparing for fishing

Spring passes its equator and for most anglers the season of the most promising and productive fishing begins, among which fishing for bream in May on a feeder especially attracts the increased attention of lovers of bottom hunting methods. Fish activity is associated with a sharp increase in water heating, stimulating schools to move towards spawning grounds. And the weather acquires a more stable background, bringing night and day indicators closer together, and also maintaining atmospheric pressure in narrow ranges for several days without changes, without sudden changes and jumps. This undoubtedly favors fishing, and even more so for such capricious fish as bream.

Although schools of feeding bream try to stay at long distances from the coastlines, the shallow zones saturated with nutritious organisms from the heated waters force them to approach water areas where they can get a trophy from the shore using feeder tackle. Anglers who are keen on feeder fishing should definitely delve into the topic of bream fishing on a feeder in May. After all, this short period of time is rightfully considered the high season of fishing, when most often you can get a trophy that responds to various types of baits, without being particularly capricious or overdoing it with taste, and even showing a stable bite. And we will talk further about the nuances of this kind of fishing.

How does bream behave in May?

In May, bream is already completing preparations for the spawning period. Most often, the second half of the month will be devoted to reproduction and the fish will have no time to search for food. But the vestibule of the spawn guarantees increased bite. In the spring, schools of bream are characterized by a high concentration of individuals of different sizes, prowling through reservoirs in search of promising feeding zones. The fish finds such areas on heated shallows and, unlike the rest of the open water period, and indeed the entire under-ice season, bream can be confidently searched for in shallow waters 1–3 meters deep, where it is quite active and not at all timid, gaining the last calories before the period reproduction.

Fishing strategies differ from the summer and autumn periods - catching bream in May with a fishing rod and feeder gear shifts to the banks and spits, where the bottom is dotted with mollusks or young growth that begins to grow intensively in warm water. When choosing bait, May bream are not picky and actively respond to both animal and plant baits. The easiest way to attract a flock to the fishing zone is with dusty, dark-colored bait with the obligatory presence of sweet ingredients.

Where to look for bream in May

Closer to spawning, the bream comes out to shallow water, where it stays throughout the day, continuing to actively and continuously feed. Fishing for bream in May with a feeder on the river is promising at the exits from the main channel, where the currents are seriously slowed down, and the area of the river water area gradually turns into extensive and shallow coastal backwaters. A migrating flock will stop in such a place without thinking, especially if the bottom has a solid structure and is covered with a colony of shells. Rare snags and stones will only add promise to the place.

Good fishing in May for bream, on lakes where water areas adjoin dams and embankments, as well as the walls of coastal thickets, which attract fish with young and sweet shoots of new plants. Small fish are less timid and come close to the shores, but trophy bream prefers to stay on the borders of feeding zones, moving into deeper waters if there is any suspicion. Therefore, the tactics for catching large individuals should focus on supplying bait in the water area where a distinct bottom drop begins .

Bream spawning time and the beginning of spring fishing

Active bream fishing begins in May

You can go for spring bream immediately after the ice melts from the surface of rivers and reservoirs. This usually occurs at the end of March or beginning of April.

The fish bite improves as the water clears and its temperature increases.

The closer to the spawning period, the larger the schools become, the closer the bream come to the shore. It is important for the fisherman not to spook the fish with awkward movements or the slightest rustle.

Bream begin to bite most consistently in the month of May.

Until spawning, bream prefers to feed on insect larvae and worms at the edge of aquatic vegetation in shallow bays. If spawning occurs in rivers that flow into a body of water, then it is necessary to catch bream at the mouths of these rivers. Here the fish are actively feeding and, as soon as the water warms up, they will go upstream to the spawning grounds.

In large rivers, before spawning, fish accumulate near dams, near pits, next to oxbow lakes in which spawning occurs. In some rivers, bream remains in its permanent location for a long time, leaving for spawning grounds at the last moment. The spawning period, even in one river or reservoir, can last almost a month, starting in May. It all depends on the weather conditions at this time.

How to properly catch bream on a feeder. Guide to equipment, baits and groundbait, as well as choosing a fishing spot.
Catching bream with a ring is a popular method of casting a wide-back from a boat in a plumb line. What the tackle looks like is shown in the article about fishing secrets.

This is interesting: Catching bream with side rods

What feeder equipment to use

For spring bream feeder fishing, heavy feeder rods with a length of 3.5 meters or more are suitable, providing stable long-distance casting. They are equipped with power spinning reels of 3000–4000 units, preferably with a baitrunner. After all, round-the-clock fishing will be reliable with the presence of safety gear with this functionality, which will save the loss of gear in the event of a sudden bite of a large trophy. The reel is loaded with a braided line of 0.12-0.15 mm, which has low windage and high information content, using feeder installations in the form of an asymmetrical loop or a paternoster familiar to most tying fans.

Rectangular mesh metal or plastic feeders are used in installations. The weight of the feeder varies depending on the intensity of the current or its absence from 60 to 120 grams. The mesh cell is selected based on the strength of the water current and the fraction of bait used. The size of the cell should release the complementary food in the form of turbidity, creating a nutrient trail and be washed out at least 10–15 minutes after casting. As a rule, a monofilament leash has a diameter of at least 0.12 mm. Depending on the activity of the fish, its length ranges from 30 to 100 cm.

Important! The more passive the bream, the longer the leash.

It is reasonable to use the technique of installing a monofilament or fluorocarbon shock leader in the rig, which saves a large catch at the final stages of fishing, especially if the coastlines do not allow convenient removal of the trophy. The installation ends with a hook, the type of which is selected according to the type of bait. A hook size of 8–12 numbers is almost always sufficient, even for catching a couple of kilogram trophies.

Preparing gear: choosing a feeder rod, reel and line

The recommended feeder length is 3.9 meters. The test should be about 90 grams. A four-meter rod will allow you to fish far from the shore. The same applies to a float rod; it is better to use a 6-meter blank. Often, the coastal hole in which bream feeds is located far from land and long casts are simply necessary. The second advantage of such a feeder is the convenience of lifting the feeder from the bottom.

The impressive length reduces the chance of a bad hook during this process. Take care of the equipment; dressing it at night is a difficult task. It is recommended to install a reel with a large spool diameter. It is necessary to wind about 150 meters of fishing line on it. A section of 0.3 millimeters is suitable.

You can use fluorescent fishing line. It will make fishing easier in low visibility conditions. Alternatively, braided line can be used. It is less noticeable, but has incomparably greater strength.

Wobblers that catch 100%:

Equipment. For fishing you need a feeder weighing up to 45 grams. Weight varies depending on the specific body of water. A strong current means a heavy feeder. An anti-twist agent is also required. There are two varieties: curved or straight. It is recommended to use the curved type.

The gear is installed as follows:

The anti-twist tube is put on the main line
The feeder is attached
A bead is placed on top of the fishing line
The swivel is fixed
A leash up to 25 centimeters is attached to the swivel

It is also recommended to use a rocker arm. It allows you to use several different attachments at once. The recommended cross-section of the leads is 0.2 millimeters. This diameter is not noticeable to the fish and allows you to be sure that the bream will not tear the tackle.

Attention! Before fishing, make sure the drag on the reel is adjusted. The bells and firefly in the compilation are perfect for the role of signaling devices

The disadvantage of this solution may be that the main line may get stuck in the bell's clothespin and create difficulties when fishing. The firefly must be firmly fixed to avoid falling out during hooking

The bells and firefly in the compilation are perfect for the role of signaling devices. The disadvantage of this solution may be that the main line may get stuck in the bell's clothespin and create difficulties when fishing. The firefly must be firmly fixed to avoid falling out during hooking.

Feeder is one of the main elements

The shape of the feeder is of great importance when fishing. It is recommended to take triangular or rectangular options. Thanks to their form factor, they are securely fixed to the bottom despite the current. Common cylindrical feeders can roll along the bottom, clinging to surrounding vegetation.

In general, there are many types of feeders, and if you have a boat, then be sure to try the ring fishing method, which brings in a lot of catch. In this case, a feeder is also used, which you can make with your own hands and very simply.

Bait for catching bream in May on the feeder

Prey fishing for bream in May is impossible without effective complementary feeding. A distinctly dusty sweet trail will help to detain and concentrate the fish at the fished point. Feeder compositions are not particularly sophisticated. For mixed baits, universal baits for any type of carp fish are suitable, which are supplemented with some ingredients that attract bream specifically. Such additives include steamed peas, canned sweet corn and boiled pearl barley.

Important! A mandatory attribute of complementary foods should be the components of the baits used in fishing.

So, if fishing is carried out with a worm, cut worms are added to the bait before casting, for bloodworms - small bait bloodworms, and for maggots - then directly live multi-colored hemp or its canned analogue. In spring, bream loves the sweet aromas of vanilla, anise, chicory and molasses. Light-colored baits darken, which can be simply done by adding a couple of spoons of cocoa to the already swollen and ready-to-use food, which also attracts bream with its smell. The diluent for mixed mixtures is river sand or clay.

Read more about how to prepare bait for bream for different fishing conditions.

DIY bait for bream

To catch bream, you need a lot of bait mixture, since it is not clear in advance what the activity of the fish will be and how often food will have to be supplied to the fishing area. If the bait suddenly runs out, then you can safely reel in the gear and go home - there will be no bite. Fishing stores sell a wide variety of mixtures.

Advanced and professional brands are expensive, so purchasing them is a costly affair for a simple fisherman, and budget products do not show the expected results. In this case, the most reasonable solution would be to make your own bait for bream at home. Let's look at several recipes for its production.

First recipe

Boil oatmeal and millet in the required quantity over low heat. Be sure to make sure that the porridge does not burn, otherwise the unpleasant smell will not allow you to make attractive bait.
Arriving at the reservoir, we mix the porridge with sand and soil obtained from the river bank.
Add breadcrumbs, peeled sunflower seeds, and vanilla to the resulting mixture. You can fill the mixture with chopped worms or bloodworms.

That's it, the simplest bream mixture is ready. All that remains is to make balls with a diameter of about 10 cm, make a starting feed and periodically throw them into the water, keeping the fish in the fishing zone.

Second recipe

A little more complicated in terms of ingredients, but just as easy to make. We recommend you take note of this:

Directly on the pond in a bowl, mix bran, corn or oat flakes, sunflower cake, bloodworms or maggots, coffee drink or ground coffee beans.
Add clay from the bottom of the reservoir and water also taken from there to the prepared mixture.
Mix the mixture until thick. Let it brew for a few minutes.

Similar to the first case, we make balls and send them into the water in portions.

Third recipe

The most complex of those presented in this section, but it is the most versatile; it works throughout the open water season; in addition to bream, it can be used for hunting roach, crucian carp and crucian carp. Does this:

Boil 3–3.5 cups of water in an enamel pan.
When the water boils, add 2.5 cups of barley to it.
Cook it until half cooked and then, as the pearl barley swells, add millet to the pan.
Cook the porridge until almost all the water has boiled away.
Then turn off the pan, cover it with a lid and let it brew for about 45 minutes.
You can add vanilla, sunflower oil, and other flavorings to the cooked porridge.

When going to a pond, we transfer the porridge to another container, mix it with corn grits, and add clay directly on the river bank. You can throw one or two handfuls of small bloodworms, maggots or earthworms, chopped into pieces, into a bucket of bait.

The advantages of bait made at home are:

cost savings;
you can come up with the recipe for the mixture yourself;
full control over the cooking process.

However, preparing bait with your own hands will take time. The fisherman will have to control the process in order to make a working and catchable mixture.

Feeding tactics

Schools of bream at the point chosen for fishing can only collect a decent amount of dusty bait. The plume, carried away by the current of water, will lure the school from a long distance and upon arrival at the table the fish should try the food. A small amount of the mixture will go to the nimble and fearless little thing. Large fish, having not tasted the treat, will move away from the point in search of more accessible and larger food. Therefore, the starting feeding is made plentiful and the table is maintained throughout the entire fishing trip at the slightest hint of a deterioration in the bite.

From 10 to 20 feeding volumetric feeders are sent to the fishing zone, and, if possible, a bait that is much more effective in action is installed. After the initial feeding, fishing begins with the main feeders, which are filled with a larger amount of the animal component and a component similar to the type of bait used. Bait for bream in May is mixed from ingredients that are heavy and dense in consistency, which are not prone to rapid ascent. Fishing is carried out at relatively shallow depths and the rapid erosion of feed has a negative impact on the bite and leads to overuse of bait.

Recipes for preparing bait for bream at home

There are many different recipes for making your own complementary food for bream. But the taste preferences of this fish vary greatly depending on the time of year. For example, in hot summer weather, bream will prefer complementary foods containing more plant components. And in the cold season, fish, on the contrary, will like bloodworms, worms and maggots. In sunny weather, fish should be lured with a sweet mixture with the addition of honey or vanilla, and on cloudy days, fish prefer the aroma of garlic or dill.

Examples of recipes for preparing bait for bream with your own hands:

1. A universal recipe for inexpensive and effective bait:

What to use to catch bream in May

You can catch bream in May using a variety of bait. Without much ceremony with the choice, the fish does not miss the opportunity to feast on both animal and plant dishes, actively filling its belly. Bunches of dung worms, bloodworms, maggots and caddisflies, which are common in the spring, are placed on the hook. On shell rocks, fish respond well to the meat of the local mollusk known to it. If the bite is weak, all these types of baits can be combined into a sandwich, which gives a positive result.

Important! Animal baits work regardless of the decrease or increase in water temperature, but regarding the use of plant baits, it is worth noting that their prospects increase with increasing heating of the reservoir.

In May, bream bite on grains of sweet corn, steamed pearl barley and peas. Bread crumb, crushed with the addition of sunflower oil, mastyrka, dough flavored with sweet dressing are also good types of bait in feeder fishing. Sandwiches of plant and animal baits work. When fishing on currents, they fish with white foam balls, played along by the current of water, and recently, small and medium-sized boilies with sweet fruity smells such as banana, strawberry and mixed tutti-frutti are increasingly being used.

Summer fishing

During the open water season, a variety of tackle and bait are used on the reservoirs of Dubna and the surrounding area - from a simple float rod with a chatterbox on a hook to a feeder with a sandwich of bloodworms and maggots.

Tackle

In summer, on the reservoirs of Dubna and its environs, the following gear is used:

Feeders - when fishing on the Ivankovo Reservoir and the Volga, they use rods 3.6-3.9 m long with dough up to 120 g, while on Dubna and the Moscow Canal, forms 3.0-3.3 m long are more convenient.
Float fishing rod - on the Volga and Reservoir, Bolognese fishing rods with spinning reels and current-resistant spindle-shaped floats. In stagnant water of bays and oxbow lakes, on Swan Lake, fly forms with blind rigging and more sensitive and lightweight floats are used.
Spinning - in backwaters, old rivers and channels, predators are caught using ultralight or light spinning tackle with a weight of up to 15 g. For fishing on the river reaches of the Volga, hard heavy class spinning rods with a weight of 10-15 to 30 g are used.
Mugs for catching pike, pike perch or carp

Read How to choose the best lures for pike perch in winter and summer

Lures

The choice of bait depends on the fishing season:

In early spring (March-April) and late autumn in the reservoirs of Dubna and the surrounding area, baits such as dung worms, bloodworms, and maggots are more catchy.
From the end of spring to the beginning of autumn, vegetable baits are also actively used - semolina, mastyrka, canned corn.

Bream fishing in May

Feeder tactics consist of choosing a point that is promising for fishing, which is generously fed with starting throws, after which the fishing itself begins. As a rule, in the spring, at a well-chosen point, bream begin to gather for the table after a half-hour pause. If the bites have not started, it is worth repeating the intensive feeding and, noticing a quarter of an hour of fruitless waiting, think about changing the fishing spot.

Important! The May bream bite continues around the clock, but it is more intense in the early morning hours, at dawn.

The first bites will bring nimble breams and even agile and impudent roaches. After a couple of hours, a larger bream will come to the table. The bites of spring fish are sharp and quite powerful, capable of tearing the tackle off the rack. A heavy feeder provokes the trophy to self-hatch and the fisherman has only to pick up the tackle and immediately begin fishing. You shouldn’t force things, because fishing is carried out at shallow depths and holding the fish on a taut cord while reeling it in from a long distance, the fisherman will in any case give the bream a breath of air, after which he will calmly lead it into the landing net prepared in advance.

Gear requirements

Feeder. To reach the feeding fish, you will need a high-quality and sufficiently long feeder rod. After going through many options, I chose the so-called light feeders. Having a top test like a liqueur (40-50 g), these rods are longer and simply cast the equipment at a specified distance. Most of these “sticks” have a complex structure. The casting range and splashdown accuracy of the equipment are excellent, and when landing fish, the blank dampens the jerks of the fish so effectively that even when using very thin leashes, slippages almost never happen. An interesting option is the Briscola Granito light plus class rod. The inexpensive model has the qualities of a good sports fishing rod. And, which is also very nice, you can always buy spare tips for it in the store. In the spring, when debris constantly clings to the fishing line, they often fail. For many rods, a broken tip brings a lot of trouble: you can only buy a spare quivertip on order, and you have to wait for several weeks. And for Briscola, spare parts are always available in sufficient quantities.

Read: Catching bream at night with a float

Coil. The choice of reel can be taken more democratically. For light feeders, spinning models are also quite suitable. But I prefer match reels with a huge spool diameter. The gear ratio for such reels is 1: 4.8; 1: 5.2. But due to the fact that the spool is small and its diameter is large, the casting qualities of such reels are very high. In addition, the brake of match models is always smooth, which is extremely important when working with thin leashes. For those who want to purchase a high-quality and easy-to-use reel, I would recommend Daiwa Emeraldas. I have been using it for several seasons now and am very pleased.

Main line. For the feeder, as a rule, I choose monofilament lines. But for fishing at a distance of 40-50 turns of the reel, monofilament fishing line is not suitable. Due to its great extensibility, after the next cast the feeder does not lie at the point you intended; a fuzzy spot of bait forms on the bottom.

As the main line I use Poontoon21 Exteer braid with a diameter of 0.128 mm. A very high-quality four-core cord is characterized by high strength and increased abrasion resistance. This is an ideal option for fishing on shell rocks.

In addition, Exteer is sold in continuous unwinding of six reels of 100 m each. You can take as much fishing line as you need to fill the spool under the rim. I chose such a small diameter in order to reduce the water pressure on the equipment as much as possible. At a distance of 40-50 m, reducing the thickness of the fishing line by just a few hundredths of a millimeter weakens the water pressure on it significantly. This means that I can afford to install a lighter feeder, which will certainly affect the quantity and quality of bites.

Read: The most catchy pearl for catching bream