Bream fishing is good???

[Michael]

I love to fish for bream. My father turned me on to bream fishing with a fly rod many years ago and I still enjoy a summer day filled with bream fishing with dad. I would rather catch a boat load of bream than 5 or 6 b****all day. The only downside is we seem to catch a lot of small bream, anyone got any suggestions to catching the larger ones? We usually fish poppers. I have not tried Charlie Elliott and look forward to it. Is there a web site with more info on C. Elliott?

Tight lines.....

[Ted]

Michael: We have a few lakes out here (Charlie Elliott)known for some larger bream. Owl and others have a lot of experience fishing for them (I think). I have caught larger bream in various ponds and lakes (here and elsewhere)on poppers, foam beetle flies, woolly buggers and other weird things I've tied (even a small pink scud pattern). I FINALLY got to try out my new Christmas present 4-wt flyrod a week ago. I broke it in on a few large bream and smaller bass. The bend of the rod and action was exciting! Maybe I will get to use it on trout eventially (which is what my wife had in mind when she bought it). Hopefully will get to go trout fishing next month when we go out west. Primarily going to Las Vegas but might fish the Colorado below Glenn Canyon and above Grand Canyon.
I digressed...no website for Charlie Elliott / Marben PFA at this time. We have information kiosks and visitor's center out here. Call office for information and directions(770) 784-3059.

Ted

[floater]

Breams ARE good!!! It's the closest thing to trout I have in my backyard. Grasshopper, caddis, cricket, all day.
....................floater

[The Ole Man]

Michael
BG's are fun on poppers but you will catch bigger ones by fishing deep. Biguns don't like to show up on the surface-too smart for that. Thats why they are biguns. Fish a rubber spider, a Madam X , a Rubber Leg Dragon , or anything with rubber legs (besides a popper) down deep. If your fly is not weighted and normally floats (rubber leg foam spider for example), put a couple of splitshot ahead of it to make it sink or slide a 1/8 " or larger br****bead on to your leader before you tie on the fly. Cast and let it sink for a while. Short strip and stop-now lightly jiggle your rod tip-sets those rubber legs in motion. Repeat this all the way back. See if the fish size improves. Keep a good grip on your rod because some of these strikes are jolting.

[Windknot]

Michael
You've gotten good advice from T.O.M. regarding going deeper for the largest bluegills in a population. They really are almost a separate species. Note that Ted described "a few lakes out here known for some larger bream." Some bodies of water have a magic mixture of ba$$ and bream that allows many surviving bream to grow much larger than normal. Instead of being hand-sized, the average fish might be half-again as large. I once had access to two farm ponds in Madison that produced bluegills and shellcrackers that made the drag sing on my light baitcaster (6lbs. line) and required two hands to unhook and release. It broke my heart to lose access to those two jewels. http://www.georgia-outdoors.com/ubbngto/frown.gif

My point being - if you enjoy the surface strikes on poppers more than subsurface takes, check out the ponds with a reputation for larger fish. Please note that the "go deeper" advice applies on these ponds, too, for the really huge fish. Another way to discourage little fish is to increase the size of your poppers, say, from a 10 to an 8.

Tight lines and smelly hands,
Windknot

[Owl]

E-mail me for CE info......glad to share.
Owl