🏆 British record: 3 lb 4 oz (1.474 kg), Mill Farm Fishery, Pulborough, Sussex (2012)
🔍 How to spot it
Flat, deep and silvery, like a skimmer bream, but with a noticeably bigger eye, a smaller head and pinky-red bases to the paired fins (common bream fins are grey).
Silver bream are also a lot less slimy and have fewer, larger scales along the lateral line.
📍 Where to find it
Slow lowland rivers, drains and fenland waters, especially in East Anglia and the eastern Midlands. Some lakes and canals hold them too.
They shoal, often mixed in with roach and skimmers, usually in quieter water.
Bottom and mid-water feeders on insect larvae, small snails and shrimps. Best through summer and autumn.
Best time: Summer and autumn.
🪱 Favourite baits
Maggots
Casters
Bread punch
Small worms
🎣 How to catch it
Waggler or pole
Drains and slow rivers
Rod
12–13 ft float rod, or a pole
Reel
Fixed-spool (2500)
Line
3 lb main line
Hook
Size 18
Bait
Maggot or caster
Fish on or just off the bottom and feed little and often, just as you would for roach.
🤲 Handling and rules
Small and gentle. Quick, wet-handed return.
📜 Rules and seasons
On rivers, streams and drains in England and Wales there's a close season for coarse fish from 15 March to 15 June. Most lakes, ponds and canals are open all year, but check the water's own rules.
