England’s Bream shoals , Shoal

[TF_paulnewell]

Many years ago , on the upper Warwickshire Avon something happened and at the time us match anglers didn’t suspect what it meant . There was a huge explosion of big Gudgeon . Hampton Lucy was the spot and there were bags over 20 lbs !! Week in week out they were caught . Then disappeared and became rare . I think they came together for a mass spawning exersise because they knew their life cycle to be over . A new record of Bream on the Trent last week and big bags on the Severn and Avon . I wonder if something similar is going on with them . At 5 lbs apiece they must be quite old . The super long and hot summer may produce a bumper spawning season . Let’s hope so . :rolleyes:

[TF_Double Dipper man]

You get Bream hanging about in year groups too when we used to go to Ireland alot you would catch fish of a different size at every venue we went to some places were solid with 1lb skimmers and nowt else, other venues there were no skimmers just 3lbers it’s changed a bit now there’s just smaller fish on most venues.

[TF_paulnewell]

I do like the species , just wish they would spread out a bit . What I particularly like and it happens in Ireland perhaps more than here is when the roach and Bream have a love affair and we get an explosion of Hybrids .There seems to be some school of thought , or maybe it’s trendy to call them Gustas . And that they are a separate species . ? 🙂 🙂

[TF_CriagH66]

Lifespan bream 15 – 20 years.
Lifespan gudgeon 5 years max.
Bream as a species will survive a number of poor spawning years and still be present in a range of age classes as per double dippers observation.
Gudgeon tend to go through population explosions and crashes due to their short life span. On my local lake this coincides with the presence of monster perch. Currently we are moving out of a cycle of big perch and the gudgeaon are back with a vengeance after a 10 year low. No doubt the perch will now grow to massive proportions over the next 3/4 years and then the gudgeon disappear again.
The Warwickshire Avon is full of bream of all sizes. Anglers rarely see them as they mainly feed at night due to water clarity and cormorant predation (skimmers). Take Barford upstream as an example, massive shoals of bream and skimmers often seen basking on the surface in summer sunshine, caught once in a blue moon. Wonder what a night session would produce. Same on many of the UK’s other rivers.

[TF_Double Dipper man]

paulnewell wrote:

I do like the species , just wish they would spread out a bit . What I particularly like and it happens in Ireland perhaps more than here is when the roach and Bream have a love affair and we get an explosion of Hybrids .There seems to be some school of thought , or maybe it’s trendy to call them Gustas . And that they are a separate species ????? 🙂 🙂 🙂 :confused:[/quot
quote
Hi Paul,you do get loads of hybrids in Ireland – is it true hybrids do not reproduce they are always the result of roach and bream spawning, I’ve heard different tales I’ve even heard of lakes where f1s allegedly reproduce?

[TF_paulnewell]

Retire to ireland ??? :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: 🙂

[TF_AlibongoParticipant]

those bream caught on th trent the other week werent 5lb fish. They were 4lb at best. The shoal has been there for years yet very rearly feed. I was in that shoal that day and it amazed me as to how many must have been there. There were four of us below the bouys and all chucking different distances and all catching. TBH I think toby who had the 167lb was also chucking defferent to the rest of us. So thats 5 different distances and all catching bream! The place is solid!!!

[TF_NoCarpPlease]

I’m sure that we only ever catch a tiny percentage of (particularly bream) shoals.

the bream shoal at Barford upstream that is mentioned further up this thread is well over 100 fish of 4 to 6 pound , yet the best match weights are 30lb or so.
Do the maths!

[Woody]

I can remember those gudgeon weights from Hampton Lucy, only from 2 or 3 pegs though weren’t they, about 6 pegs downstream from the Oak tree peg, can’t remember the peg numbers though as its been such a long time since I’ve fished the stretch, happy days 🙂

[TF_paulnewell]

Bang on Woody , long time ago .Drew a couple of pegs too far down from the big shoal of gudgeon on an open and sat and watched a bloke having a net roach a bung opposite. There was a white over frost and it was well into winter . I thought I could see him throwing in hemp ! What you catching on I inquired ?? Tares he replied , only bait to get through the blessed gudgeon .!!! You never stop learning in this game . 😮 😮 😮

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