May’s Glory

Great weather, hot bream fishing

I’ve always loved the month of May. That’s partly because my birthday is this month. And it’s partly because growing up, it was the last full month of school before summer vacation.

But mostly, it’s because at some time this month, the weather will enable me to leave my house before the sun rises, fish all day long, and return home after the sun goes down, all while wearing nothing but a pair of shorts, a shirt, and a pair of sandals.

Another reason this month has always been special to me is because the bream are biting like mad. Like many other anglers, bream were the first fish I remember catching. The action was fast, so it kept my interest, and because we used mostly ultralight gear, these little panfish always fought like monsters.

One of my earliest fishing memories is being in a johnboat with my dad and brother, while Mr. Robert Munn and another family friend were close by in their johnboat. We were in a bream bed so hot that other boats started paying attention to us and heading our way.

“Don’t catch any while other folks are watching us,” Mr. Robert instructed. “Don’t use any bait. Just drop your hooks in bare until these folks aren’t paying attention any longer.”

No bait needed

My brother and I did as instructed while the grown-ups exchanged hellos with the passers-by. But that bed was so hot, my brother and I both pulled in gargantuan bream. This was followed by the passers-by inviting themselves to share in our fish hole, which my dad and his friends begrudgingly allowed.

But the only difference I noticed was the bream bed got even hotter. And being sticklers for following directions, my brother and I continued catching them on bare hooks until we asked if it was finally okay to bait up again, which brought laughter from the grown-ups.

It wasn’t long before we had to count our fish to make sure we weren’t over the legal limit, and we had thrown back far more “littles” than the trophy-sized bream we had in our coolers.

I’ve fished for just about everything you can catch in the Carolinas, and beyond. But anytime someone asks me what my favorite type of fishing is, I can’t betray the truth of it. It’s bream for me, and during the month of May, when I don’t have to worry about keeping up with a jacket, gloves, and long pants, it’s even more true.

Let’s go fishing.