when fishing surface lures. The key for me thus far, has been to STOP unless you're fishing for pelagics. With bream, if they're swirling at a lure, they haven't got it in their mouths yet. Let them take it down and turn before you take up the tension.
Remember, do NOT strike like you would with normal placcies. This is made even more important by the fact that bream have relatively small mouths, and aren't built for inhaling things, rather, they bite. So, let 'em, and let them turn, subsequently hooking themselves.
The timing of a strike is at no time more crucial than when fishing surface lures. Takes some getting used to, but you'll get there. There'll always be more bites than hook-ups guaranteed, but it's oh, so much fun.