Black Seabream (Spondyliosoma Cantharus) arrive in Dorset in early April and leave end of September.
On Silver Gannet we return all female bream as they are full of eggs, and have travelled great distances to spawn off our shores.
We return anything smaller than 25 cms or Female.
They particularly like the Dorset coastline, breeding off Kimmeridge and Poole Bay. See red marks on the map above.
They like to inhabit rough ground and by the end of May the first nests start to appear.
Bream are very interesting species as the Male fish builds the nest, looks after it and guards the eggs. The female inspects the nest as part of its selection process of selecting a mate.
The male bream provides parental care of the nest including predator defences and nest clearing duties. It will see off any predators such as Ballan Wrasse who try to feast on the eggs.
The timing of the breeding migration is thought to be directly linked to the temperature, where the bream follow a 9 degree isotherm travelling from the West up the English Channel. They also seem to appear in numbers on Spring Tides.
Only when the males start nesting do they change to a darker colour.
Light tackle and small hooks is the key to catching Bream. Use a light lead so that you bounce the lead back in the tide.
Bream fishing is mostly done at Anchor and very often in light ( neap ) tides.
A floro bead just above the hook helps as an attractant to the Bream and helps lure them out. Traces with beads typically outfish beadless traces.
Best bait is thin strips of squid and ragworm. They love the squid heads and if you fancy trying to catch a large Bream a strip of mackerel can be deadly.
