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Paul hooks up bream runs into the current in the back of the net! WE came to Brittany looking for a relaxing family holiday with beaches, places to visit, and fishing for myself. Visiting Sam's website, the comment of a previous holidaymaker making a comparison to Ireland's bream fishing (in the past) told me that this was the place we were looking for. We'll let me say, this was everything that Ireland should have been in terms of fishing! The Shannon promises the myth of magical days catching 50 to 100 lb bags of bream, but this place can deliver it without too much effort. One specimen bream... ...and what do you know, another! On the first Saturday evening, having unpacked, visited the local village and supermarket, I decided to give the river a quick 'tester session' before dinner and took 6 fish in an hours--4 of them were over 5lb. This was without any prebaiting, groundbaiting, nobody having course-fished the swim all year...and then therein lies the beauty of this venue--its a secret. None of the locals really fish for these fish as they are more interested in coarse fishing for small silver fish for the table. This stretch of river has probably 3 to 5 week of coarse activity per year, when an English anglers comes out for a holiday. I probably shouldn't be sharing this with you now, for the secret shall be out, but that wouldn't be fair. Forget Ireland, if you're are booking a coarse fishing holiday next year, Brittany is the only option. We've done Ireland twice and the average fish was perhaps 1lb. Here at the end of the week, I swear the average fish size has been around the 5 lb mark, that's average! I've broken my personal bream record 4 times while we've been out here, finished with a specimen you see here and I have been told by Sam that they run into double figures. I'll be back to break that record again in the near future! Paul 'blasé' Steele with one of many big specimen bream The location is idyllic. with the river at the bottom of the garden with swings, patio tables, and lawned areas. the cottage was immaculate, containing every creature comfort including English (SKY) satellite TV and a massaging power shower. Sam and Amanda are great hosts and whatever fishing you come to try, Sam will take you straight to the place where you can wet your lines. Paul returns another Bream for your future enjoyment! I fancied a little carp fishing and he took me to a weir where the morning fishing had known to yield big wild carp. The stretch by the lock looked so 'carpy' that you couldn't fail. I put in the rods with PVA offerings around the hookbait and the fish were bubbling within 5 minutes. I approached the rods carefully , just waiting for the buzzer to scream away, and then nothing. I would later reel in a twisted rig minus hookbait. the other rod have 4 pickups and once again no fish on the bank; the gods were not smiling on me that day, but with only 4 hours to fish for wild carp at least I had a little excitement and it was not time for another day-trip with Beverley (wife) and William (son). I took my frustrations out on the bream that evening and it probably took about 15 minutes to be into another 6 lb specimen making no mean show of acting like a carp in its efforts to evade the net. These wild bream fight like crazy. Firstly, they shoot off of the old river current then sail downstream at a rate of knots, then unlike UK bream they make a couple of driving runs and finally thrusting a the next in a last ditch attempt to smash the line. This fight is like no other bream I have ever caught before and exhilarating when the biggest fish were on the other end of the line.  Sam says that I've got a little blasé last night when I wasn't even going to photograph my net of 4, 5, and 6 lb bream, and perhaps I was, but that 's what this place does to you when such little effort is involved in catching such big fish. 2 hours of fishing can put a 50 lb net of bream on the bank, all specimen size. How can you not get blasé when your first cast of the holiday, from the bottom of the garden, to unbaited water, produces a 4.5 lb fish in just 10 minutes? Now I am off to that carpy swim for one last go at a wildy before the holiday's over, then it's back to the reality of UK fishing. Give me blasé any day of the week! Paul Steele (June 2008) PRACTICAL INFO: Although Sam can guide you to many swims on the river which have been known to produce, a child could catch fish from the bottom of the garden and I never left the one swim all week! Call me lazy! Sam has a covered 'lock-up' to keep your gear in between the house and the river, i.e. right by the swim, so absolutely no need to take down your at night or carry unnecessary stuff that you 'may' need later, and no fishing gear in the cottage--perfect! I fished and caught all week on Red maggot (get them in the UK as the French only stock pinkies and lesser quality maggots), despite being equipped with sweetcorn, worm, and maize which are all supposed to work too. Swimfeeder is the best tactic and due to the flowing current of the river, the only reasonable option in the swim behind the cottage. Although float fishing would probably work on different slower stretches that we (both my wife and I) saw when walking the towpath. I fished 4 lb line, but to be honest I tested lines up to 8 lb and it didn't make a difference to the action really, but with no real snags, if I were to fish again, it'd be 4 to 5 lb line. Hooks: again, anything from a size 10 to a size 18 caught fish equally efficiently, and due to the flow and colour of the water, coupled with the competition for food, a size 10 hook stuffed with 7 maggots sometimes proved more successful than the traditionalist stealthy approach. The river bottom is made up of silty-clay and slate, and the feeding action of the bream, coupled with the erosive nature of the current, had a habit of exposing the rock resulting in feeders and hooklengths snaring the bottom and the loss of tackle--bring plenty of large cage feeders. Finally, don't forget your keepnet (like I did), you're definitely going to be needing it! Thanks for the loan Sam.   © 2011 Fishinista.com (all rights reserved)