Terry Jackson visited Ireland’s real capital to try for some good bream. Not only did he manage a new personal best he also witnessed the capture of two 10lb bream in consecutive casts by one lucky angler…

I recently asked Sidney Kennedy (Lee Reservoir Angling Services, County Cork) to keep me in the loop on the next Bream foray, and typical of this man, it was not long before he gave me the nod regarding an up-coming adventure. My angling buddy, Andrew Wolsey had also been hankering for a “Bream bash” and was cordially invited. Two days, including one over-nighter is a relatively short stint when it comes to Bream sessions in general, but it was all the time we could afford. Bringing my 19ft McA Lough boat along would serve well as a means to transport the mountain of gear necessary, and by using the sounder; we could also spend a few hours hunting down potential bream shoals close to land. Hopefully this would fast-track us to some big-fish action.

wild Bream, just under 10lbs
A wild bream of just under 10lbs - Terry's new PB

We soon found a deep gulley within casting distance from the shore; and I am happy to say, with the sounder showing plenty of markings directly below the boat. Hoping these were our target species, we dropped four H-Block marker buoys in a straight line at thirty yard intervals denoting four separate “swims”.
Back on shore, bait preparations were in full swing. With the aid of my boat, we accurately dropped approximately 20-30 large balls of feed between our designated markers.

My boat allowed for accurate pre-baiting at distance
My boat allowed for accurate pre-baiting at distance

Andy’s alarm signalled some interest. A few small beeps were audible over the relentless roar of the wind, then a positive, single tone that had Andy bounding through the undergrowth towards his rods. This seemed like a decent fish, and with net waiting, a genuine “bin-lid” slipped over the lip into safety. I have taken a lot of Bream over the years, and this was the largest I had ever seen in the flesh.

One of Andy’s brace of ten pounders taken in consecutive casts
One of Andy’s brace of ten pounders taken in consecutive casts. Andy takes our 'Catch of the Week' for this cracking fish

Carefully lifted from the un-hooking mat and into the weigh sling, my calibrated scales put Andy’s fish bang on the ten-pound mark. What a fantastic achievement, and immediately it seemed, with our first fish landed, the trip was a resounding success. An hour later, and he was into a second fish. It sounds in-plausible, but this fish also topped the ten pound mark. Andy was now one of the very few anglers in Ireland to land a brace of ten pound Bream in consecutive casts.

The killer bait! A ring of maggots, hair-rigged, and a single Berkley artificial maggot
The killer bait! A ring of maggots, hair-rigged, and a single Berkley artificial maggot

My rods were next to see some action as the shoal moved in. They were obviously making their way from the right hand side of our baited area to the left, as Sid and Derick had yet to receive a bite. My first fish pushed the scales past eight pounds, and a new PB for me. The following fish topped nine pounds, almost hitting the ten pound barrier, but not quite. As far as specimen Bream were concerned, this was without doubt my finest Bream session to date, and we had only started…

…The activity was such that none of us had any sleep whatsoever, and it was almost a welcome break when the following night produced nothing at all! We now had hailstones beating down between the rain showers, and a quick water reading showed the temperature had plummeted by two degrees. The long, lazy summer days of yester-year that suited Irish Bream fishing so well seem to have left us these days, and our angling windows of opportunity are extremely narrow, but when the ingredients manage to come together, jeeze, can Ireland produce the goods!

A group short of a small portion of the shoal that gave us a trip to remember. All fish shown were specimens, photographed before quick release.
A group short of a small portion of the shoal that gave us a trip to remember. All fish shown were specimens, photographed before quick release.

On this occasion, we landed over seventy fish between us, with an estimate of around 450lbs, amazingly with only a dozen falling short of the specimen barrier. The Bream tally included an astounding three tens, three nines, a dozen eights and over twenty, seven and a half pound fish. The Roach-Bream Hybrids included two over six pounds and seven over five pounds, along with at least a dozen Tench between four and five and a half pounds. We all agreed that we had never seen the like, and chances are, will never experience this once in a life-time angling session again.

For the full story and even more photos see here…

Compliments of:

Terry Jackson.
Terry Jackson goes fishing.
Web:
Terry Jackson blog

Rogues Gallery

Specimen Album

Terry has created a gallery of the specimens he has had in recent times. There are some great Irish fish featured in it and it is well worth a look –Specimen Fish Album
The Irish Specimen Fish Committee over-sees the verification of Irish Record and Specimen Fish captures. Interesting information on species, where and when caught, and best baits or lures can be found athttp://www.irish-trophy-fish.com/.

Go fishing…

Sydney Kennedy is a guide with Lee Reservoirs Angling Services a new angling guiding service for pike, ferox trout and any coarse fish of your choice on the Lee Reservoirs. Boats are available for rental on previously untouched water as no boat rental has been available to the public before now. Be sure to visit their new website www.leeangling.com for a range of guided angling options in the Lee Sytem.
Ross 087 920 8742
Sidney 087 281 6778
[email protected]