Learn more about bream

Bream can be recognised by their tall, flattened body and characteristic bellows-like mouth. Younger specimens are often silver, while older individuals are more copper-coloured. The bream belongs to the carp family and is mainly found in the southern half of Sweden and along the east coast of Norrland.

Bream can be confused with other carp, such as silver bream, vimba bream, and blue bream. Typical of bream are their dark grey fins and copper-coloured body. Bream are usually 30–50 cm in length, with a weight of 0.5–1.5 kg. The Swedish record is 8.7 kg, 80 cm, from Rögle Ponds in Skåne.

Just like most other species in the carp family, bream spawn in the spring. Spawning takes place in large shoals in shallow water. During spawning, the male gets visible warts over his body. Bream forage by sucking up and filtering bottom sediment for insect larvae. Their staple food probably consists of feather midge larvae. Larger specimens can also eat small fish.

Any type of rod is suitable for catching bream, and bottom fishing or match fishing are especially good. Worms or maggots make for suitable bait. You can attract bream to your fishing spot by throwing out bait in advance.