The fish used to be found extensively in
the English Channel as far east as the reefs off the Sussex coast
and to the
Newhaven wrecks. Fairly common around the Isle of Wight, the Channel Islands,
Dorset, Devon and Cornwall, though not present in the numbers seen prior to
1975.
The fish appear in early summer and stay
until late September to early October. In recent years they have only been found
in numbers in the Channel Islands.
Whilst WRECK FISHING large bream were
quite commonly captured whilst Conger Fishing. This has not been seen for years.
However the fish appeared once again on the reefs in numbers during 2000 and
2001.
Bream shoal best over the shallower reefs. Places to look for here are definite vertical shelves, depressions, and
scattered rising rocky pinnacles coming off the seabed. The shoals
work through such areas cleaning out all the food before moving on. They are
voracious eaters.
Common methods of catching both of these
species is to use mackerel strips on baited feather traces used for mackerel
fishing. If feeding well, it would not be unusual to catch several at a time.