Bream Mad

Light Rain was falling as I ventured upstream into uncharted waters armed with my new custom baitcaster. I wanted to fish fresh pools so walked a fair way before making my first cast with an evergreen plastic weedless frog. Over weedbeds, under trees the Bass were pretty hesitant to hit the surface. Usually just one sloppy shot and nothing more. Upstream I trudged, tied on a CK40 and soon had my first fish, just a dink but better than nothing. A quick snack and another lure change to a secret creek spinnerbait did the trick, very next pool this nice 40cm fish climbed on and tried out the Alphas drag The next few weedy pools were perfect for a spinnerbait and each had their own feisty bass ready to slam it I pitch out another cast between two weed beds, let the spinnerbait sink down, and begin a slow retrieve when BAM it is hammered by a lunker! After a guided tour of each snag in the pool and some serious rod bending, she is finally tired enough for a pic or two before release. A beautiful wild Bass of exactly 45cm in top condition.

these are jerkbait in the finest sense give them a hard rip! if there is not any surface action going on use them around washes ect they are great lures bm

well done mate nothing like a surface strike in the dead of night to get the adrenilan going cheers bm

Hodgeys advice is spot on (as usual) Flathead are suckers for any lure that bumps along the bottom (realy) Once they pounce they have in fact given away their hiding spot, and 9 times out of ten they won’t be satisfied until the lure is down their gob The biggest major difference with lure fishing is that YOU are finding the fish, not the other way around, and maybe that is why it is so satisfying. Think of these three steps: 1. Choose correct tackle and lures for the fish you expect to catch (your raider mates will help you here) 2. Find the fish that are actively feeding (drop offs, weedbeds, EDGES with baitfish present) 3. Present you lure is the most realistic manner to get those fish to strike (Slow, hopping with always contact at the bottom) Confidence is always important, so don’t flog a dead horse, move to a different spot, change lures, pick the best time or tide. Remember you are lure fishing so cover lots of ground and give your lure every opportunity to be eaten Good Luck bm

yes very close in fact bit to tight for the flyrod though kl

Yeh Hodgey has definitely nailed it Sunline is awesome stuff my standard bream/bass leader for a while now is siglon 4kg mono (i am into my second 300m spool) great knot strength, abrasion resistance ect I also use basic FC as well, but i like the fact mono does not sink when fishing on top cheers bm

it is definitely within the hornsby shire I will try to keep them coming cheers mate still keen to meet up with you at the south coast 'megabass dam' over summer yah getting many bream and whiting off the surface yet? kael

the high end Daiwa spin reels are awesome but in the low to mid range i recon shimano rules i have also been experimenting with abu and pflueger and the results have been very good as well bm

Heard some cicadas on Friday night and thought to myself finally the Bass must be on. Hit my local at dawn on Sunday, tied on a fresh buggi pop and whammo, first cast a small feisty Bass just smacks it! Next three cast’s eager bass swim out from everywhere to nail my lure like they have not eaten all winter. Size increases with casting accuracy and by 6am I have my first 30+ model. As I move up the river every nook and cranny yields more beautiful native Bass, and although they are ignoring my divers, the buggi pop keeps on producing those wonderful audible surface strikes. I get to a favourite pool that has in the past produced three 40+cm fish and start prospecting with a brown chubby. As the lure gets towards the bank it is hit that hard my 4kg leader snaps on impact Almost time to leave but one last cast at the home pool. Back with the buggi pop and a classic cast behind the tree produces a sloppy strike, then two more before the hooks stick and my drag now realy starts to groan. She powers to the safety of her underwater log, but the leader holds and I manage to extract her briefly before she powers under the other one. Now she is tied and I get her head up and lift a precious wild Bass of 44cm from the water for a pic or too. It does not get any better than this

be interested to hear how they go they are the ones i was going to try bm

With regards to surface fishing for whiting and bream here are a few tips. Whiting Seem to like a medium speed constant retrieve with no pauses, just cast over your fav sand flat (with sea grass patches is good 0.5-1.5m deep) as far as you can and rip it in. Clear lures such as sammy’s are awesome for this and they cast miles! Bream Ditto however will only eat the lure when it is paused, so if you are not sure wether it is bream or whiting just mix up the retrieves. The advantage of using this technique is the amount of water you can cover is massive in a short space of time, if you get boils but not hookups just downsize to say a NW pencil or Tiemco pencil Bream are generally closer to cover and if you ever see a skipping prawn on top of the water followed by a chomping sound, you can be sure it is a bream, for this kind of work a popper is tops just chuck it near the prawn, twitch it and let it sit. Remember when casting to visibly feeding fish or tight cover use a popper (I like the LC Kerrol jr) When searching flats or weed beds use a pencil and cover lots of water, pay close attention to the edges and also weed beds ect. Tackle for this caper is a light fast actioned graphite rod at least 7 foot. Quality spinning reel 2000 size spooled with 4-8lb braid or GSP. Leader is MONO between 4-6lb, why mono because it floats. cheers bm

i have the 3000FI (import) and it is very SOLID you will enjoy it! bm

Just as my own reply I ordered the Supreme MG3025 at it arrived on Friday arvo. It was rushed into active service Sun morn and it has already accounted for 20+ Bass including a brute of 44cm that gave the drag a good test out Impressions of the reel are excellent !! It has a silky smooth retrieve that feels so fluid and powerful. Drag is awesome as it growls away , it has great capacity as it easily fit on 150m of 8lb braid with room to spare. Bail works superb and casting and line lay are top knotch. Also only weighs 185 grams. IMHO I sold a Saros 1000 to fund it and it is far superior to that reel. The best part is it only cost me $110 dollars, far out!!

definitley sunline mate for the price it is awesome! i run 6,8 &14lb and it has performed flawlessly it also comes in white if you know where to look bm

great work well done give a pencil like a sammy a go on a straight out retreive the whiting realy line it up bm

I would definitley look at a Stradic i have a 2500FI and it realy feels solid as a rock I just feel confident it can handle big fish bm

Hi Raiders Trolling lures for Kingfish has got me interested I am in the stages of completing a DIY downrigger and relise that the gun method for extracting Kings is trolling live baits such as squid on a downrigger past structure. Now what about trolling a lure past structure that imitates a live bait. I was thinking a R2S live squid or swimbait such as my SPRO 4” Shad. I will be fishing mainly Hawkesbury/ Pittwater and I am heading to Jervis bay in a couple of weeks as well. Your thoughts guys Cheers bm

Hi Raiders Tossing up between two reels for my small stream bass rig and would like your opinions. The reels are the Stradic mgfb 1000 and the Pflueger Supreme 3025. Both reels are magnesium and lightweight (190 v 183grams). Stradic is $190 and Supreme is $160. Now I own a Stradic FI 2500 which I do love but have never even picked up a Pflueger spinning reel. I am willing to take a chance only if it has the quality of the shimano. Cheers bm

with bass choice of lure is far less important as accuracy of cast! get your lure into the deepest darkest corner and BAM ! your on three of my very favs for stream Bass are Smith Camion SR R2S Buggie Pop Auspin Mini Spin go for it bm

Awesome fish well done bm

Awesome Greg! getting close to the magic 20lb red well done on a cracker!!! bm

Well done sounds like a good night by all involved i recon the ep's are prolific this year!! lots of raiders have caught heaps of them and JEWS!! nothing wrong with a coldie before or during a fishing session! i recon it calms the nerves and leads to more hookups bm

Wow!! some absolute crackers! great big bream well done bm

I am very keen to tackle some kingys preparing a downrigger ATM had any luck at the drop off upstream from the sandflat upstream of the marina you know where the the rocks jut out bm

That is a cracker to start the season!!! well done mate bm