Photo by Tom Evans

The sweet smell of fresh spring wildflowers and the sudden disappearance of your float marks the arrival of spring. Bream fishing is where it all started for most of us as anglers. Whether your approach involves a bait covered hook and a float or finessing a popper along the surface, there are plenty of destinations for you to enjoy successful trips on the water this year in search of bream. You might just find it as fun as you did when you were a kid.

TIDEWATER REGION
The tidewater region's slower moving rivers, tidal surges and brackish waters includes the state's leading producer of citation-sized bream: Lake Prince.

One of the older impoundments in Virginia, Prince is located in Suffolk. The 777-acre lake is 30 feet deep in places and has been a consistent water for bluegill for a number of years.

Chad Boyce, fisheries biologist with VDGIF in the region, assisted us with data and observations on waters in his region. He reported that in 2002, which is the most recent year for which citation data is available, Lake Prince led the state with 89 sunfish citations. Lake Prince was followed by the Nottoway River with 81 citations, and Lake Meade with 32.

"Lake Prince produces large bluegill, while other Suffolk lakes like Lake Kilby, and Lake Meade produce a lot of smaller fish," he noted.

According to Boyce, Lake Prince receives a lot of fishing pressure during the prime bream fishing season, which he feels runs April through June. This could explain the high number of citations.

Boyce's sampling data from May 2003 indicates that the catch per unit effort (CPUE) was 83 fish per hour. This may not be an extremely high number but Boyce noted that the number of quality fish was good. Lake Meade had a similar CPUE figure but smaller fish dominated the sample.

Fishing Lakes Prince and Meade is normally best from early April to late May, depending on the weather. Sunny banks are great places to begin dunking bait as the waters warm up faster. Look for bowl shaped spawning grounds to really get in on the action. Both Prince and Meade have plenty of undeveloped shoreline.

Boyce suggests that anglers start with a number 8 or number 10 long shank hook baited with red wigglers or crickets suspended at least a foot below a float. Stick floats provide less resistance and alert anglers to a fish taking the bait just as well as traditional floats.

Flyfishermen enjoy using poppers to entice angry strikes from fish on the spawning beds.

A second choice destination for bream anglers residing in the Tidewater Region would be the Nottoway River. Most of the catch on this scenic river will be redbreast and redear sunfish.

Fishing for bream and redear, also known as shellcrackers, in the Nottoway River can be excellent in the early spring. Shellcrackers are notorious for their size and their aggressiveness. Anglers should try the lower section of the river, downstream of Courtland, during the early portion of the season and then switch to the upper river during the summer. Boyce notes that the water is cooler, which is ideal for a summer dip to get some relief from the heat and the fish are smaller but more abundant. Anglers will find plenty of launch locations on the Nottoway River. Carey's Bridge, Peter's Bridge, Hercules Landing and Rt. 258 near Riverdale all offer access.

Currently, the creel limit for bluegill and other sunfish in all of the above waters is 50 per day, with no size limits. Boyce also wanted readers to know that Lake Kilby, a Portsmouth water supply lake, no longer has public launch facilities available.

For more info on bream fishing opportunities in this region call (757)-465-6812.