How To Catch Bream

Would you like to learn how to catch bream? Bream is one of the most abundant and easiest fish to catch. It is a member of the Sunfish family in the United States. Bream is a good fish to teach beginners how to fish. In this article, we share information, fishing techniques, and tips to help you catch more bream.

How To Catch Bream

1. Casting

Casting your line in the river from the shoreline or from a boat is one way of fishing for bream. First, you have to look for structures that may have bream and then send your bait in the area to get a strike from the fish. When you get a bite, you reel in the fish. Live bait and lures can be used to fish for bream.

Additionally, you can often catch the largest bream when you fish at night as they are less wary during the night and will be out searching for food. This will result in more strikes and catches for you.

2. Fly Fishing

Fly fishing can be used to fish for bream. Fly fishing is becoming popular with bream anglers. Use small flies for baits and go light for spinning gear.

Bream Tackle Setup

Bream can be caught with any regular tackle. Cane poles and light spinning tackle. Cane poles are long poles with no reel. The line is usually tied to the stick or pole or it is tied to an eye on the end of the pole. When rigging a cane pole, use an 8- to 10-lb test. use a bobber and a small thin wire hook in the size range from 6/0 to 10/0.

A 5 to 6 feet light spinning rod with a reel rated for a 2 to 8-pound test line will work for bream fishing. Hooks in the size of 8/0 to 10/0 will work. Use a bobber or a spinner.

How To Catch Bream From Shore

Bream likes structures that gave them cover from predators and also that they can hide in to ambush their prey. When fishing for bream from the shore, look for structures like weed beds, brush piles, boat docks, fallen trees, riprapped banks, stumps, and other covers.

Cast out into the water and when you get a strike, reel in the fish. One technique is to cast on the bank and jump the bait or lure into the water. This attracts the attention of Bream when a popping bug or cricket acts like this or when a spinner leaps from the bank and swims away.

How To Catch Bream on Lures

Lures can be used to fish for bream. You can use lures to cast into the water and reel in when you get a bite. Look for structures like weed beds, brush piles, boat docks, fallen trees, riprapped banks, stumps, and other covers to drop your lure around and try to get strikes from bream. When on a boat, you can drop the lure into the water and slowly reel it up. Topwater plugs, spinnerbaits, crankbaits, and plastics are some of the lures that can be used to catch Bream.

How To Catch Bream In A River

When fishing for bream in a river, look for fallen trees, stumps, weed beds, brush piles, and other covers that bream may be hiding around. Drop your bait or lure in and when you get a strike, reel in the fish.

Chumming is a fishing technique that can be used to get the attention of Bream. You can drop tiny baits of cut bait into the river to get the attention of the fish and then send in your bait on the hook to get the fish.

How To Catch Bream At Night

Fishing for bream at night can be interesting. Most success comes with using a glowing topwater popper. They seem to be attracted to the glow of the lure in the night. Fish very slowly, especially around structures like jetties.

If there are street lights not far from the water you are fishing in, bream will move closer to the light and wait for bugs and other insects that will drop in the water. If there are trees, grass beds, or brush tops in parts of the water, target those areas as well. Bream likes to hang out in such areas.

How To Catch Bream In A Lake

When fishing for bream in a lake, look for trees, brush tops, brush piles, weed beds, fallen trees, boat docks, stumps, riprapped banks, and shallow areas of the lake. Bream-like cover to protect them
from predators. Study the lake and look for any cover. They find food from the bottom, insects from the surface, and the middle of the water column. Cast your lures and baits into areas with cover to catch bream.

How To Catch Bream In Summer

In the summer, bream will be around piers, under willow trees, and in shallow waters. They can also be found around rocky areas and on the shady side of rocks. They usually will be hiding under the rocks waiting for baitfish to swim close to them. Bait and lures can be used to catch bream. Nightcrawlers work well for casting out to catch bream.

Best Bait For Bream

1. Crickets

Crickets attract bream and they are a good bait for catching bream.

2. Red worms

Red worms are excellent for catching bream.

3. Nightcrawlers

Nightcrawlers are also good bait for bream as they like nightcrawlers.

4. Minnows

Minnows are one of the best baits for catching fish including bream.

5. Grass Shrimp

Grass shrimp works well for catching bream.

6. Small Crustaceans

Small crustaceans, like shrimps, work well as bait for catching bream.

Bream Fishing Tips

1. Bream feed at all levels.

2. Bream likes structures that provide protection from predators and also provide cover for them to ambush their prey.

3. Look for bream around weed beds, brush piles, boat docks, fallen trees, riprapped banks, stumps, and other covers.

4. Fish for bream in shallow waters, still lakes, rivers, or ponds. Usually, fishing in waters that are four feet or less improves your chances of finding bream.

5. Water that is not too clear, yet not too muddy is ideal for bream.

6. Use small hooks, small weights, and small corks when fishing for bream.

7. Crickets are one of the easiest baits to use when fishing for bream.

8. Spit on the bait; it works!

9. Bream is usually inactive during the winter and will feed when there is a period of warm weather.

10. Summer is the best time to fish for bream.

11. If you are finding it difficult to get bites, use a size 16 hook paired with very small bait.

12. Bream will inspect a baited hook for some time before biting.

13. Always try to keep the baited hook positioned on the bottom and be patient.

14. Bream is a bottom feeder that preys on worms, mussels, snails, etc.

15. Bream is active early in the morning and late in the evening. Fish for them during these hours and target weed beds, drop-offs, and other structures with depths of 3 to 8 feet.

16. Bream like to be just outside of the currents that bring food to them. Hence, look for calm waters when searching for bream.

17. Fish for bream from April to June since they spawn during late spring.

18. Bream prefer gravel or sandy bottoms when they are spawning but will spawn on silt-covered muddy bottoms if sand or gravel is not available.

19. Bream sometimes give off an odor that smells like a mixture of watermelon and fresh fish. If you pick up an odor like this, this should be an indication that Bream is in the area and you are close to them.

20. Add a piece of banana peel to your cricket cages. This gives it a flavor the bait that is irresistible to bream.

21. If you need worms for fishing, try fiddling. Drive a wooden stick in a moist and loamy soil. Then use a hand saw and rub it back and forth across the top of the stick. The rubbing makes the wood vibrate and that drives worms crazy and they will start coming out of the ground all around the stick.

22. To find bodies of water with large bream, make a call to the freshwater fisheries division of your state wildlife agency and ask to speak to a fisheries biologist who is familiar with bream waters. The information you get will be gold.

23. You can be more successful by fishing at night for large breams.

24. On calm days if you spot patches of foam on the water, that is an indication that bream are in that area as the foamy bubbles are made by them.

25. Fish with as little noise as possible because large breams will leave when they pick up noise. Only the little ones will tolerate noise and stick around.

26. Use chumming to attract bream when fishing is slow by using egg shells. Crush the eggshells and sprinkle them in the water.

27. Backcountry waters often have a huge concentration of big bream. Use belly boats to access these waters that are there is no way for vehicles to get close to them.

28. Circle hooks can be used to catch bream.

29. Use minimum weight when using bait or plastics to remain in the strike zone longer.

30. Fly fishing can be used to catch bream.

The Bottom Line

Bream is a member of the sunfish family and is abundant and easy to catch. It is popular among anglers and is a good fish to introduce kids to fishing. In this article, we discussed fishing techniques, fishing equipment, and fishing tips to help you be more successful fishing for bream.

If you are interested in fishing for other fish like cod, pollock, and kingfish, then read how to catch cod, how to catch pollock, and how to catch kingfish.