A bream is a small round fish belonging to the genus of bream. No other fish species within this genus were found. It is found in nature in the form of three subspecies: common bream, Danube and eastern. The bream is part of a family of cyprinids, which, in turn, is included in the order of cyprinids. The largest bream reached a mass of 11.6 kg.
What is bream fish
The bream has a rounded body shape with a significant (relative to its size) distance between the upper and lower points on the back and belly, respectively. The height of the fish is 1/3 of the length. The head is shaped like a body and has small dimensions, like a mouth. The latter goes into a tube, the length of which can be changed at the request of the fish itself.
An adult has a brown or gray back, a yellowish belly and with a golden tint of the side. Young individuals are distinguished by a silver tint. The length of the bream can reach 82 cm, by weight - 6 kg. The fish lives for a long time - sometimes more than 20 years.
Where is bream found and how is it used
The main part of the range of this commercial fish is located in the former CIS and Russia. It can also be found in the northern and central parts of Europe. You can catch bream in the rivers of Siberia, where it was specially brought in for distribution. It is less common in Transcaucasia. For living, it selects fresh or brackish waters. Most often found in rivers.
The bream is considered a valuable commercial fish. The largest catch was recorded in the 30s of the 20th century - 120,000 tons. In the late 90s, 25-32 thousand tons per year were caught. The bream is used for the manufacture of canned fish and for sale both in fresh and processed (ice cream, dried, smoked) form.
Features of behavior and reproduction
Bream is a flock of fish. Swims in groups, and sometimes in large flocks. Prefers deep areas with an abundance of plants. It is considered a smart and cautious look. Looking for food at the bottom, in a layer of silt. Therefore, you can learn about its movement by observing the pop-up air bubbles from the bottom. When flock hunting on the bottom of a reservoir, whole "roads" may form. This behavior is more typical of bream swimming in very large bodies of water.
Fish prefers snails, shells, larvae and tubuli. The bream spends winter in the depths. Some generally go to sea. Larvae consume zooplankton, and fry consume benthos. Bream breeds in small areas, producing a lot of noise.
What do bream catch?
Experienced fishermen use a variety of gear and lures, the choice of each of which depends on the specific circumstances and characteristics of the reservoir. The most commonly used are:
- worms, bloodworms, maggots;
- various vegetable lures: semolina, corn, peas, pieces of potato or pearl barley;
- a combination of plant and animal baits, for example corn with a worm or maggot with pearl barley;
- artificial bait.
As practice shows, in the spring it is preferable to take vegetable or combined lures for fishing, and in the summer - animals. In winter and autumn, it is more difficult to catch a bream, and the choice of a specific bait is determined experimentally.
Bream is being fished. It can be both bottom and float. Use different types of hooks and lines, as well as their accessories.
Trophy instances
Usually, the size of the bream is not large, but under certain conditions a very large and massive individual can grow. Of course, catching this is a great luck for the fisherman. Unfortunately, giant bream are now becoming less common. Active catch and pollution of water bodies reduce the chances of the appearance of trophies, as evidenced by statistics.
The usual mass of bream does not exceed 3 kg. Everything above this value is already captured items. The maximum dimensions of this fish are: weight - up to 6 kg and length - up to 70-100 cm. This is something that can really be caught in favorable conditions. However, there are exceptions to this rule, although they are single. The world's largest bream was caught in Finland in Lake Vesijärve in 1912. The caught then weighed 11.6 kg.
However, the biggest weight of the bream is probably even more. Truly huge bream could once be caught in the Vitebsk province, which was located on the territory of Russia. On Lake Vrovlya, the weight of the caught individuals could reach 16 kg!
The records of recent years are already more modest. So, in 2001 in Bavaria, on an Ismaninger lake, an individual weighing 8 kg and a length of 81 cm was caught. And in 2003, a bream weighing 7 kg and a length of 75 cm was caught there. Thus, the largest bream caught in recent years , inferior in size and weight to those record specimens that were caught earlier. However, even captured trophy specimens are currently quite large. This is evidenced by photos of the largest bream.
How to catch a trophy bream?
Large individuals are not found in all reservoirs. Now they can be found in the lower reaches of such rivers as the Volga, Oka, Samara, Dnieper, Don. Important conditions for feeding fish is the size of the reservoir, its depth, a large amount of food. Moreover, the depth should be small. In addition, there should be a sufficient number of predatory fish in the pond that feed on bream fry, but do not touch large individuals. Various predators are suitable for this, with the exception of the bottom pike. Removing young animals provides more opportunities for feeding and growing adult fish.
An ideal place can be closed lakes with a shallow depth. Much less likely to catch large fish in a deep pond. Most likely, the fisherman will have to work hard and go around different water bodies before he can catch the trophy. But such fishing is very exciting and is of sporting interest.
Thus, the largest bream had a mass of over 10 kilograms. At present, such large specimens are likely to be found.