As the Summer comes to a close, and the mild September days begin, many stretches of
Vienne offer good fishing for bream and barbel.The river is beautiful along its length, and can be successfully fished for these species near Limoges, St Junien and Availles Limousine, to name but a few potential spots. Bream can be quite prolific if fished in the proper manner, and of course, if you are lucky.

Most of the time, because of the flow, wind direction etc. it can be difficult to float fish successfully on the Vienne. A good alternative is to fish the feeder with maggots and ground bait. For a good days sport, I recommend you use a 12` feeder rod, fixed spool reel with 4 or 5lb line fished straight through to the hook(size 16). It is usually easier to fish with the rod resting on a long bank stick, with the rod tip up high. This is for the following reasons: It keeps a lot of the line clear of the water thus reducing drag on the feeder, and the rod tip will be outlined against the sky, making bites easier to see. So find your spot, sit so that you can see the rod tip easily, stick 1 or 2 maggots on your hook, fill your feeder with a mixture of damp groundbait and maggots and you are ready to go. N.B. if you fill the feeder first, it will be empty before you have baited the hook. Maggots move fast! With this method it`s important to cast the feeder to approximately the same spot every time. This will concentrate the bait , and therefore the fish. Cast slightly upstream, let the feeder settle, allow a bit of spare line so that a downstream bow will form, place the rod on the rest and tighten down so that the tip is just curved over. Re- cast at least every 10 minutes as by then the feeder will be empty.

Normally the rod tip will go over to indicate a bite or will come back straight if the fish dislodges the feeder (a drop back). For little nibbles, sit on your hands. Wait for a positive signal. You will find that the bites come more frequently as the fish home in to the steady stream of bait.. Sometimes a bite will occur before the feeder hits the bottom, sometimes it takes a bit longer. If you are lucky enough to catch a barbel you will soon know, as you will think you have hooked a small, irate Yorkshire Terrier. Bream are a bit more predictable and more prolific, but well worth catching.
Tight Lines,
Phil the Pecheur.