with KINGFISHER. . .

BREAM have to be the target for any non-commercial still-water anglers at this time of year, with plenty of excellent local waters offering the opportunity for big weights.

Foulridge and Elton spring immediately to mind for those of you wanting a day-ticket facility, though there are others.

Each have started to produce bream this month and like all reservoirs give the angler a good choice of pegs.

Some bream will be found in the deeper water all year round, but the vast majority now will be found relatively shallow and anglers should not be looking for any more than 12 feet or so, with six often plenty.

Choose to face the prevailing wind, from whichever direction it blows. If it is in the south or south-west you can prepare yourself for a net-full, especially if it is blowing strongly enough to colour the shallow water in front of you.

There is no need for fancy tactics either.

Fish a feeder (open-ended) rig at a distance to suit you ability to be accurate - no more than 30 yards usually. Three pounds b.s. mainline to a 1.7lbs b.s. tail (0.12) with a size 16 or 18 hook on the end is about right, the tail being about a couple of feet long.

A single red maggot will do the trick, though it is better (in my view) to make it a cocktail with a small red-worm.

The feeder is filled with brown crumb, mixed very lightly and loaded with chopped worm and maggots. That's right, you chop these as well.

Have a few casts, using some far bank feature as am aiming point and clipping your line at that comfortable distance, without hook, to introduce a bit of feed before you start to fish. Then put on your hook and bait and cast to the same place - no problem now!

Anglezarke Reservoir, near Bolton, is a lovely big water that does not get the attention it deserves. It holds a tremendous head of bream (and roach - for later) but demands a similar, yet different, approach. It can be, however, well worth the effort and it is just coming to its best for bream.

It is hold drinking water and, as usual in these cases, ground-baiting is not allowed. That means, for most of the regulars, using a maggot feeder.

Because of this you will need about three pints of maggots for a session, though I personally would continue to mix them with chopped worm.

On the right day, as with the other two, you should be able to get the fish coming very steadily. There are some huge shoals of quality bream in Anglezarke and you could be on for a ton, but roach and roach/bream hybrids to 10 ounces will keep you well occupied even if the big ones never turn up.

Fluctuating temperatures, particularly in the past week, have made for some patchy results from the commercials. You can be certain of catching at any of them, whatever the weather, but just as the average bag is on the increase a cold night or two puts the carp off a bit.

Pellet is the top bait, just now, at all of them. For the pleasure angler there is no real need to go armed with anything else, though who would not go with a bit of corn?

In some of the more established waters, like Bradshaw Hall Pool 4, it is noted that the average size of the carp has risen fairly dramatically over the past year and represent a real challenge to land if you are not set up right.