Niall

Had a few near donuts recently that made me think I might need to put away the sugapens for a few months. Turns out I was wrong. Got up mega early to be out for sunrise. Walked past a drain on my way to the usual spot - saw a decent size fish hanging around that I thought was a big bream. Cast over him with one of the fake sugapens I've been using and got smashed straight away. Turned out to be my first ever Estuary Perch. Kept walking and casting and was getting loads of hits and the occasional hookup from feisty bream. You just need to cast accurately and keep the lure right near the structure - they're not venturing far from their hiding spots at the moment. Managed 6 bream and the Perch in about 2 1/2 hrs. Smashed a new PB bream as well - 46cm. As you can see I was pretty stoked. Not bad for a morning's work. I'll stop throwing surface when they stop biting. Stocked up on Cranka Crabs and Gulp crabbies yesterday so I'm all ready for winter bream fishing. It gets tough so I can't say I'm looking forward to it. Still haven't quite cracked the winter bite.

Hey mate. A five turn surgeons knot might work a little better than the double uni for getting through your guides. Chances are you're gradually wearing the double-uni over time until it snaps. If you're on heavy braid and leader an FG know won't be too hard to tie either.

Headed out this morning assuming the wind would hold off for a few hours if I got out early. Turns out I was right. Decided to bring a heavier outfit alongside my normal 1-2kg bream setup. I usually hate carrying multiple rods as it annoys the 💩 outta me having to put down and pickup a rod every time I stop for a cast. However, having come across some good sized Kings on most of my recent outings and being dusted several times, I opted for the inconvenience in hope of wrangling one these yellowtailed, Sugapen stealing bastards to the shore. The heavier outfit was a 4-7kg rod and a 3000 reel - still light by most people's standards but super heavy for me. The leader at 16lb was absolutely massive for this bream fisho 🤣 Couldn't go past a few pontoons and boat hulls on my way to the spot and managed a couple of legal sized bream on an Atomic Popper. Not my favourite lure and the bream don't seem too enthused by it either - it felt pretty quiet compared to other recent outings. I pushed on, confidence buoyed by the two small fish. I'd restocked my supply of Keitech 5" plastics in white recently and grabbed some heavy 4/0 1/6oz jigheads for them. There's not a lot of plastics out there that beat the Keitechs for their action in my opinion. Unfortunately to get that action they have to be quite soft and have a tendency to tear and generally get destroyed by fish. You can go through a lot in a session but I'm a big fan of that action - very realistic. The fish appear to agree. When I eventually got to the spot it was definitely on. A massive bait school had accumulated and was being worked to the surface every few minutes. Before I cast one of the new plastics I had to try a for a bit of surface action. On goes the 95mm Sugapen for a few runs. Hooked up after an extremely violent strike from a large tailor (would've been somewhere in the 45-55 range) and realised after pulling the hook and probably tearing the thing's face off that I had the drag set a bit tight. Had a few more throws and got a follow from a Kingfish who eventually shied off after coming up beside the lure. It was a little bit more difficult working the Sugapen on the heavier rod. Kings don't appear to be fooled unless your retrieve is on point. With the Keitech I was using a retrieve that @DerekD taught me a while back where you're twitching the lure by pumping the rod and reel together and holding the handle still. Kind of fishing backwards? Difficult to describe but it achieves a very enticing side to side dart of the plastic. It wasn't many casts before I hooked up to something solid. Not solid enough to pull a lot of drag though but I was hoping for a small King. After a bit of to and fro I got the fish to the surface and was met by my first ever Watson's Leaping Bonito - What a beautiful looking fish! Awesome colours and vicious looking teeth. The bonito must have had about a 1/2 doz Kings chasing him around on the way in, trying to grab the lure out of his mouth. I'd get them next. Got a quick photo and speared the Bonito back in. Kept casting for a while but the bait had moved and it suddenly felt very quiet. One more bream on the popper on my way home 😀 That's my third new species ticked off this summer.

Splashes with no hookup usually means it's a small fish, they've lost interest or they've seen you when they came up to look. You'd be surprised how big a splash a 15cm bream can make.

This is definitely part of it I reckon. I think also because they have relatively small mouths and no sharp teeth they aren't able to just inhale a lure or nip at it. With bigger lures especially I'd say this is the bream trying to incapacitate the lure or prey item whilst avoiding the sharp bits. Had it happen today on a 95mm sugapen going for kings today - a crew of bream all came out and started attacking from the sides. No interest in the rear treble assist hooks.

Also one last pic - this was my first 40+ bream landed pretty deep into winter last year. Was an amazing day.

Thanks Derek. Knew you'd be straight into this. It's a lot of words I know, but there should be some good stuff amongst the rambling.

Hi Everyone, It looks like my old post on surface breamin' has helped a few folks so I thought - since I've been fishing for bream solid over the past year with lures - I'd post a little update with some stuff I've learnt. I've broken it up into sections to make it a little easier to digest however it's a bit of ramble, so bear with me. Just a note that this is what works for me. I'm no oracle and I don't necessarily fish where you fish so take these words with a fistful of salt. WHERE? No this isn't a spot give away. Honestly if you need help finding bream in the harbour you're not looking hard enough. They're absolutely everywhere. I live in the inner west and I get a weird kick out of fishing more urban environments, so I like to fish the various bays around the city side of the harbour. This means boat hulls, pontoons, man-made rock walls and just about any structure you see that's providing shade or darkness. With this type of fishing it's absolutely crucial that you're casting at new water all the time. Pretty much one cast and the bream are onto you. Very rarely do you get a hit after multiple chucks. With this in mind, choosing spots should therefore be about having a lot of ground to cover. On a typical 3-4hr session, according to my phone, I'll walk 15km+ while casting. That means you're gonna want to have a big space to explore with lots of structure. Get on Google Earth and you'll find heaps. 40cm taken off a pontoon. WHAT GEAR? In order to throw and successfully work most of the small/light surface lures on the market you're going to need a pretty light rod with a soft tip. I've had a few over the past year as I've had some mishaps with breaking rods (🙃) but anything in the 6 1/2' to 7 1/2' range should do nicely. The lighter the rod is in your hand the better as you're going to need to control the fine movement of the rod with ease. There's actually quite a wide array of rods that will work - it's mainly a matter of adjusting your technique to suit. 1000-3000 size reel seems to work fine. The lighter it is the better really. I haven't experimented with using mono for its floating capabilities but I can see the appeal. It would be nice to have something strong, stretchy and floating. I've also heard of people using pre stretched co-polymer - seriously strong stuff that I may well try soon. For the moment I use 8lb fluro as I like to be able to change to other lures without having to tie a new leader. It's also gotten me out of a few sticky situations recently and I've been glad to have upgraded from the 4lb I was using last year. It's definitely not necessary to go that light. 4lb braid on the other hand is my ideal. Use whatever brand you like. They all have pros and cons and I pretty much change brands every time I replace mine so I don't have any real preference apart from thickness. 4lb just casts beautifully - I can't get enough of it. Very fat 42cm taken on the Splash Prawn early morning over a big mudflat. LURES It's no secret that the Bassday Sugapen is the dominant force in most people's surface bream arsenal but there's a lot of options, a lot of which I haven't tried so I'll try to be general here. Surface stickbaits like the sugapen are ideal as the walk the dog action just seems to interest bream in weird way. It's interesting seeing a bream approach your lure while it's walking then spook off if you pause and do a more irregular twitch. While the Sugapen has a unique splashing action due to its' tiny cup face, some lures have a smoother more snakelike action that doesn't cause as much splash. This can be an advantage on those days when a Sugapen is spooking more fish than it's calling up. Look for lures with a more pointed end at the front tow point to get this more subtle action. I hadn't really been a fan of poppers until recently but I've definitely become a convert over the past few months. I find the ones that work best need to have the ability to change from a large splash to a more subtle nudge with ease. Some poppers are small but for whatever reason make too large a splash. An ideal popper for me would be either the MMD Splash Prawn or the Jackall Chubby Popper. Both are quite different in size but they have the requisite prawn-like shape and are able to go from mini splash to tidal wave with the flick of a wrist. Basically anything in the 30-100mm range should see you right. Poppers have a big advantage when it's windy. Because you don't need slack in your line to work a popper (in fact it's less than ideal) it's possible to work them effectively in even heavy wind. You'd be surprised how many bream will hit a surface when it's howling. Bent minnows are great but I don't do the OSP ones as I just think they're just a bit too expensive. I lose plenty of lures and I feel like losing a $35 lure to a pole or a cast off would end in a blowup of such embarrassing proportion that it would haunt me for life. $25-$30 is where I top out on lure prices. I also think there's a bit of a psychological effect with expensive lures that makes them a disadvantage. I find with a lure over about $30 I won't cast it in certain places for fear of losing it. That's the wrong attitude in this game. You need to be willing to cast into some really quite stupid places to get the bites. There are plenty of bent minnow-a-likes out there. I'd love to know some cheaper models that are working for people in the comments. I've managed a few on cicada-type lures recently which was a huge buzz. I can't see them working as consistently as other lures mentioned but I suppose whenever you can hear cicadas in the trees it's worth having a throw. Don't think you need to be in or near freshwater either. The few that I've caught have been in the pure salt. Lots of people use assist hooks on their lures. For whiting I think they're great and necessary but for bream I'm not so sure. Definitely they increase hookups but I think you also drop more on those little hooks. Tailor also have a habit of biting them off. All the same I prefer to refit my lures with No12 size Decoy Y-S25 trebles. Most of my hookups with these are in the corner of the mouth and usually two hooks buried in there. Don't discount the ones that come on the Sugapens though - they're sharp-as and work just fine until they're rusty or bent. A lot of surface lures for the Australian market seem to come with decent hooks these days. An interesting side note about hooks is that I'm finding the fish are actually targeting the hooks of the lure when they strike - maybe they're mistaking the hooks for legs or antennae? They'll often come up beside the lure and grab the front treble. Whether or not lure colour makes a difference is a huge debate that I won't get into here. I've caught a lot on plain black and white lures but the overall consensus seems to be that transparent lures with prawn patterns seem to work best - I can't really argue with that. However I wouldn't discount a lure based on colour alone. Action and profile are far more important for me. 44cm model taken off pontoon over about 8m of water. Very deep. Fake Sugapen ftw! WHAT CONDITIONS? This one is a little bit contentious and I know people have a lot of strong opinions on what does and doesn't make fish bite on any given day. The truth is that there are ideal conditions and tides but these are highly dependent on your target species and your location. There is enormous diversity in Sydney Harbour and the surrounding systems - blanket rules do not apply. So with this is mind, my advice here is simple - Go fishing anytime you can. I know that's almost a cliche now but it's as good a piece of advice as it ever was. You won't learn much about the area you're fishing if you only fish high tide, or sunny days or overcast days etc. Fish, and particularly bream, are scavengers and opportunists. If a lure looks like food and moves like food, I don't think there's any question that a bream is going to hit it regardless of the atmospheric pressure or the moon phase. I've had my two best days in almost opposite conditions. One was stinking hot, early morning it had been dry for a couple of weeks straight. Another was pissing it down and almost in the middle of the day. There are however, some things you can bank on giving you an advantage when it comes to conditions though. The main one is obvious - fishing early in the morning. There's no question that I've had more success fishing before 8am. However I'm not so sure this is down to it necessarily being darker. I'm much more convinced, given the areas I'm fishing, that it's down to it being quieter. As soon as all the footsteps and noise of the day start - the bream are heading for cover. I'm not sure this applies as much to the afternoon though - makes sense as there's a hell of a lot more people stomping around at the water's edge in the late arvo than in the early mornings. Morning's are therefore the best for me - usually less wind and hell of a lot quieter. The only variable I would say is a guaranteed indicator that the fish will be on is how warm the water is. I've caught them on surface in the dead of winter but this game is unquestionably a spring/summer/autumn game. For this reason it can be excruciating waiting for the time of the year when it really switches on for surface bream. Typically it starts around November and stays good till April sometimes May. Nice 42cm model. Sugapen. GENERAL STUFF TO CONSIDER In my experience bream can be very aggressive on the right day but more often than not are very susceptible to spooking through even the smallest of mistakes on the angler's part. For this reason there are some (perhaps obvious) things you can do to increase your chances. - Don't stand too close to the edge of the water or cast from too close to the structure you're fishing. Bream can feel/hear your footsteps and if you see them, they can see you. I've also observed that bream appear to know that fishing rods = danger. I was watching someone feeding bream by the waterside the other day and walked over, rod in hand, for a chat. As soon as the fish saw my rod they were gone, where they were happily eating off the surface moments ago with this person right above them. Don't underestimate how smart or how skittish they are. - If you have to stand on the edge exposed to the fish's line of sight then make sure you're pumping out big casts to give yourself a chance to get hit before the lure is too close to you. It's easy to understate how sensitive bream are to things that are above them (ie YOU!). - Practise your casting accuracy. You're definitely going to get a lot of practice when you're searching out bream as they are typically holding tight to structure and a cast anywhere within a few metres of said structure has the potential to call them up to the surface. However the closer you can land your lure to the edge, the better chance there is of fooling them. I've definitely noticed a big increase in my hook-ups this year and I put it down mainly to my casting accuracy getting better. Most of the time if you come up to a spot and your first cast misfires, you're done. You've spooked them. This is another reason I don't use assist hooks on my lures - too often I cast and find the lure won't swim because the assists have become tangled during the cast. You won't get another chance at most spots. Can be very frustrating when you know there's fish there. Definitely don't be afraid to cast to places where you might lose a lure - there's only two possible outcomes for a lure in my world. It either gets taken by a fish or by a snag - I don't believe in "retiring" lures to a trophy wall or otherwise after a significant catch. Keep throwing the bastard till it breaks, catches or is lost. - If possible always cast parallel to structure rather than perpendicular or any other angle. This might seem obvious, but casting parallel to structure will keep your lure in the zone for longer. Not always possible but you will learn to cherish those spots where you can throw a nice cast and walk it alongside a pontoon or a rockwall for 10m-15m. They're few and far between but you'll catch a lot of fish on them. - Don't be bothered by structure that sits over very deep water - some of the bream pictured here were taken in 5-6m of water on surface. Surface hits will definitely happen a little more frequently in shallow water, but you can bet that if you land a nice cast at a pontoon over 8m of water there'll be a bream or ten sitting under it just waiting for something to come splashing along beside it. - You will inevitably come to a situation where a bream has followed your lure all the way back to your feet. This can be the most frustrating scenario of all. Perhaps the bream has struck a few times already and missed (happens all the time). The only real thing one can do at this point is try to stay as still as possible and definitely don't move your rod tip. Sometimes they'll feel safe enough to bite but in my experience they mostly spook off. The exception would be when a group of fish has chased the lure all the way to your feet. Competition often gets the better of them and one will throw caution to the wind and strike. Gets the heart pumping for sure. - The by-catch opportunities with this technique are plentiful. I've lost many lures to oversize kingfish and tailor that have taken a liking to my offering. Not always welcome (especially the tailor) but equally they can turn a boring session into a bit of a heart racer. I had a recent occasion where on a single retrieve I had a hit from a King followed by a Kahawai followed by a Tailor before a big Bream finally nailed it. Exciting stuff for sure. I even got my first Mangrove Jack (and my second and third) recently up at Nambucca Heads using the same technique. If you're fishing with a friend I've found a surefire way to hook up to a Kingfish is to catch a tailor first then cast another lure at the hooked tailor while your reeling it in - I haven't caught a single tailor recently that didn't have at least one king following it trying to steal the lure out of its' mouth. That's about all I've got for now. Hopefully these pointers put a few people onto some fish. Feel free to add anything you like to the comments below. Tight lines! Niall The inevitable tailor. Good soize though!

Derek a good bloke alright. Sounds like you're smashing it mate. Might see you out sometime.

Yep I've caught heaps of bream on that little stretch. Unfortunately it'll be un-fishable while they're doing the re-naturalisation on the creek. Should be done in about 6 months.

Hey mate sorry I missed this. Not sure where you mean? What pool behind what hardware store?

I err on the side of caution when it comes to eating fish from Sydney Harbour and it's tributaries. Catch and release only I'm afraid - there's better and cleaner places to catch a bream for dinner in my opinion.

If it was only rainy I would've been out for sure. Unfortunately the wind just makes it too frustrating and, given I'd be fishing amongst a lot of tall trees, dangerous. We had telegraph pole snap clean in half outside my house - still waiting for power to come back. Many large fallen trees in my neighbourhood as well. It was a frustrating day but I'm glad I stayed in.

Mate you're sure to get some fish with that lot on your arsenal. Just find a bit of clear or shallow water and you'll get into em. I put off doing top water for ages as well. Always seemed so unlikely that you'd get a fish that way but trust me, it works. Best way is to go out one day with nothing but surface lures and just keep casting.

It's never as bad as you think. Once you're wet it's not like you can get wetter right? Makes the shower when you get home all the better as well.

Seeing as it's nearest water to my place I've been exploring what I can catch out of Johnston's Creek lately and have found it extremely productive. First of all, to call it a creek is a slight overstatement. I'm sure it was at some point but it's a pretty standard canal/stormwater drain in reality. Don't get your hopes up about casting at snags like you're on a real river. There's no real structure apart from a couple of bridges and it only fills up to a decent level on a tide over 1.5m. Make no mistake though, the fish know there's food in there and they come up in big schools looking for it every high tide - especially my favourite target, the humble bream. I planned to meet up with a fellow bream obsessive this morning in spite of the weather report of torrential rain and near gale force winds. I've cancelled too many sessions based on the weather forecast and these days I don't believe it until I'm at the spot and experiencing it. This morning that attitude was well vindicated. We met at 7am near the Tramsheds building, I'd already arrived and scored a decent bream on about my third cast. The water was Cafe Latte brown with the storm water mixing with the salt. The water's only about a foot deep but you couldn't see the bottom at all. Plenty of swirls on the top indicated feeding fish - the canal attracts luderick, mullet and whiting in addition to the bream. I'm yet to catch a flattie in there and I think I'll be waiting a while until that happens. Anyway my mate Richard got a 30+ bream on his first cast doing a mega-slow retrieve. I'm talking half a handle turn, pause, half turn, pause ect. For the next 2-3hrs we were getting a fish every ten minutes. Some proper size to them as well. I can't say enough about how awesome it is landing a good fish in such shallow water. Richard had got nothing but donuts his past couple of sessions, so he was stoked to land 15+ fish (on his fancy new Daiwa rod). If you try it yourself you have to be willing to move around. The fish wise up to your game pretty quick and once you've pulled a fish out of a section, the rest of them spook for a while. Sometimes a lure change will do the trick but you're better off just walking down the creek and casting to a different patch. Plenty of attention from all the dog walkers coming past. No one can really believe we were pulling fish out of such a tiny bit of water - it's completely dry at low tide. Having spent a fair bit of time fishing this creek I've also discovered that the fish will happily eat top water lures when the water's clear. Nothing like seeing 20+ bream climbing all over one another to smash a Sugapen in 25cm of water - Even better when the biggest one in the pack barges in and gets it first! If it's dirty like today then any grub or creature bait will do the trick. Jighead weights depend on the flow (of course). 1/12 to 1/16 were doing it today. Don't fear the rain and don't trust the weather man (well not entirely.) Tight Lines folks!

Have to admit I'm in the same boat with regard to Bream fishing - there's something about them that makes them different. I think it's their ability to recognise a lure and to pick up cues from one another - they're clever little buggers. My favourite way to target them is on topwater - since I started targeting them this way my catch rate has gone up massively. If you're keen to learn then grab a couple Bassday Sugapens and practice the 'walk the dog' retrieve. There's many ways of doing, you'll need a really light tippy rod and light line (4-6lb max). I wind slowly and tap the handle of the rod with my right index finger - that seems to give it enough vibration make the lure walk. Make sure you incorporate plenty of pauses on your retrieve and don't be afraid to let the lure sit still for longer than is comfortable. A mate and I went out this morning and bagged over 20 in Johnston's Creek near Glebe. The water was latte brown but they were smashing soft plastics on a slow retrieve. If you're in or near Sydney I'd be keen to meet up and share some techniques. I am land-based though. Good luck in the comp mate. I've been tossing around the idea of entering as a non-boater for a bit now - I'd love to know how you go.

Shame they don't appreciate the bones mate. Fish cooked one the bone beats a fillet any day of the week for me - especially as you get to hunt around for all the bits in the heads and collars. Whiting are especially good cooked whole.

Hey mate. I'm no bait caster expert but a mate of mine has recently become obsessed with the BFS (Bait Finesse System) style reels and rods. This is apparently a style imported from Japan that allows you to cast extremely light lures with a bait caster. Might be worth having a look into that as well.

HAHA! This scenario is all too familiar for me. The other day I was sat on the edge of the water with my legs dangling while I picked apart a giant wind-knot. Ended up giving up and cutting about 10m of braid off my spool. Dropped my braid scissors in the drink by accident, the proceeded to try and use my rod (with sugapen still attached) to retrieve the scissors. Ended up getting the lure stuck and losing it amongst the oyster covered rocks. Felt like an absolute Desmond all day until I went back at low tide the next morning and (miraculously) my lure and scissors were still there. There's a couple of trees with my sugapens still stuck in them around Blackwattle Bay as well. I guess Sugapens are so good even the trees love 'em. Glad you got something out of my post mate. Not sure how you can tell the difference between the whiting and bream hits as I've only ever caught one whiting on topwater and he nailed it first try (maybe this is common). In my experience bream will have a couple of swipes before committing 9 times out of 10. Never hurts to throw a pause in though - as far as I've heard the whiting will hit a lure on the pause no problem. Welcome to the topwater bream club mate. You'll be chasing those boils behind your lure for good now - hopefully sugapens get cheaper over time. Cheers!

I'd heard from a few people that if you fish the inner west storm water drains and canals during or after a big rain you could have some fun catching bream on plastics etc. Turns out they were dead right. Headed down to Johnstons Creek this arvo right in the middle of the heaviest rain we had today. Johnstons Creek is dry at low tide and barely has any water in it unless the tide is over 1.5-1.6m. Today though, the water was pumping out of the storm water drains into the canal and the bream were feeding where the storm water met the incoming tide. I'd had some success in the past casting surface lures in the same water over the past few weeks but I'd never found the fish in this creek to be as fired up as they were today. With a small Pro Lure Yabby SP on a 1/32oz jig head I was getting bocked multiple times per cast. Mostly little baby bream but once every few casts the lure got nailed by a decent sized fish. The best I got was probably early 30's - a good fight in close quarters on 4lb line. Interesting to note that when I changed up to 6lb and a heavier jig head (the storm water was running so much it was dragging my plastics all over the place) the bream shut down. As soon as I changed back to 4lb I was getting smashed. Discerning little buggers aren't they? I didn't try that many lures as the yabbies were proving so successful, but when I (briefly) tried a gulp crabby, they shut down again. Anyway, I must have caught over a dozen bream over a 2 or so hour period. Also pretty sure I briefly jag-hooked a big mullet that ran me around a bit before getting off. I still had a big mullet size scale on my hook when I got it back in. Pretty decent arvo I reckon. Beats work. Have a crack yourselves next time it rains heavily and there's a high tide.

Nice work Derek. Great to see you down there again this evening. I was probably one of the ones doing more talking than fishing 🤣 It was definitely tough fishing down there today but you've got that retrieve dialled in nicely and it's showing with the fish you're catching. Just gotta get you onto a nice 40+ model now. They're out there!

Hey Dave, I don't know much about boating but I reckon if you timed your visit with the right tide and wind you could set up to drift by the right spot. If you're facing the shore you'd wanna drift along the wall to the right of the Boathouse restaurant. Otherwise it's a pretty much ideal shore based spot.

Great to meet you last night Derek. Picking up a couple of new retrieves and having a good chat definitely made up for the lack of fish. I'm still wondering what smoked me just before I bumped into you guys. Apologies for the lack of hat - don't know about you but I struggle to walk past any fisho without saying hello and finding out what they're catching. Never had anyone react negatively to that. Definitely keen to be shown to ropes re: Kings from shore. Cheers!

That's awesome to hear mate. Bumped into a couple of other fish raiders down at Blackwattle this arvo. It seems I've struck a chord!