Light Line For Bream?

[Kit]

Here is an interesting finding....

I've always ran light lines for fish like bream and whiting etc.. I always thought that fishing line that was too heavy would put them off.

Recently I've spent a lot of time targetting jewfish. While I've been targetting jewfish, the missus will have a light outfit set out for bream or whatever comes along.

The missus has caught quite a few big (35+cm, 1+kg) bream lately on the light outfit; but strangely enough, I have caught equally as many (as by catch) on my heavy jew setups (30lb main line, 30lb leader, 6/0 double hook rigs, big snapper leads). All of the big bream I've caught on my heavy setups have been on butterflied yakkas or squid though, none on the livies.

Has anyone also found that bream are not as finicky as we make them out to be?

Chris

Edited May 16, 2008 by Kit

[Jake]

Night time makes all the difference.

I reckon if it's dirty water or night time they are a lot less shy. I've caught some big bream on mullet strips made for jewies at night off the beach. And these bream have just sat and sucked them all the way down, i'm talking 4/0's in the gut.

Clear, shallow water or heavily fished areas like pittwater for example i would not go any heaver than an 8lb.

Yet i caught my biggest bream of 43cm just recently in a hole in sydney harbour on a 14lb trace, although it was flurocarbon and deep water.

Cheers

[Kit]

Night time makes all the difference.

I reckon if it's dirty water or night time they are a lot less shy. I've caught some big bream on mullet strips made for jewies at night off the beach. And these bream have just sat and sucked them all the way down, i'm talking 4/0's in the gut.

Clear, shallow water or heavily fished areas like pittwater for example i would not go any heaver than an 8lb.

Yet i caught my biggest bream of 43cm just recently in a hole in sydney harbour on a 14lb trace, although it was flurocarbon and deep water.

Cheers

ahhhh. makes sense..

Yeah, all these were caught a night.. and in the harbour.

[jewgaffer]

Here is an interesting finding....

....I've always ran light lines for fish like bream......I always thought that fishing line that was too heavy would put them off.

....Recently I've spent a lot of time targetting jewfish. the missus will have a light outfit set out for bream or whatever comes along.

...The missus has caught quite a few big (35+cm, 1+kg) bream lately on the light outfit; but strangely enough, I have caught equally as many (as by catch) on my heavy jew setups (30lb main line, 30lb leader, 6/0 double hook rigs, big snapper leads). .........

Has anyone also found that bream are not as finicky as we make them out to be?

Chris

Hi Kit

Bream are not the least bit finicky as such. Mature Bream are a perfect example of an ambush predator and are a tough confrontational fish to smaller fish and when large bream are in packs they are threatening to larger fish as well.

Larger bream, are very aggressive with the support of a pack and will maim other fish and a bream attack can be recognised by double tail splashes on the surface. Bream are like a jewfish school or pack on the attack and maim some of the baitfish which are often picked up by waiting gulls or when found by the spotter gulls.

On the other hand specialist bream fishermen may be inclined feel bream are finicky because they need to use light weight "finicky" gear and "finicky" tactics to catch bream in good numbers and in particular when bream shutdown as they do and fishermen may feel bream are "finicky" when they are scarce.

Still it's is the lightweight gear, the lightest of lines the fluorocarbons mentioned bt Plastic Man and the lightly weighted naturall baits gently lobbed out to fall naturally or the best sp's that catch the most bream and in their natural habitats and not in deep water jewfish territory.

Bream are similiar in habits to Bass, and apart from the infrequent entry of bull sharks Bass are the rulers of coastal freshwater rivers and bream are similiar to flathead to an extent and run out of cover and even rise and attack small birds, as well as insects which land ever so lightly on the water, and baitfish and fry, either when those fish are swimming out in the open or in close in the shallows etc.

Bream thrive by using stealth and attack out of cover in their own structural and heavily vegetated habitats including hiding in weed beds in shallow sandy areas. Accordingly fishermen should identify and locate natural bream habitats in order to target bream successfully. Because bream thrive on stealth, fishermen will also thrive on stealth to catch numbers of them and for best results should only target these fish in their own habitats and have to persevere again for reasons of scarcity.

Kit I see you're persevering hard for your jewfish and if you have everything put together properly and some spare time on your hands I am sure your efforts will eventually pay off. I know they are hard to find at the moment but I think you should take another look at the times you are fishing and the particular locations where you are fishing. Where you are catching an equal amount of bream as are being caught on the more effective light weight bream gear does not seem to me to be a good jewfish location at all. I would stand back and say that in Sydney at the moment except for one or two deep water areas in the Port Hacking River there is no deep water area for high general activity as such in jewfish territory.

Kit I have been thinking hard on the water for a while now as to the wherabouts of the larger seasonal jewfish schools. I, as my friends throughout Sydney and other raiders I know have found there is only an abundance of soapie jew and smaller jew at the moment, many less than ten inches long, and they also have had many large livies killed in deep water by bream of which, to say the least, the frequency is unusual for the Sydney area at this time.

Cheers

jewgaffer

[Kit]

Kit I see you're persevering hard for your jewfish and if you have everything put together properly and some spare time on your hands I am sure your efforts will eventually pay off. I know they are hard to find at the moment but I think you should take another look at the times you are fishing and the particular locations where you are fishing. Where you are catching an equal amount of bream as are being caught on the more effective light weight bream gear does not seem to me to be a good jewfish location at all. I would stand back and say that in Sydney at the moment except for one or two deep water areas in the Port Hacking River there is no deep water area for high general activity as such in jewfish territory.

Kit I have been thinking hard on the water for a while now as to the wherabouts of the larger seasonal jewfish schools. I, as my friends throughout Sydney and other raiders I know have found there is only an abundance of soapie jew and smaller jew at the moment, many less than ten inches long, and they also have had many large livies killed in deep water by bream of which, to say the least, the frequency is unusual for the Sydney area at this time.

Cheers

jewgaffer

Hi Byron,

Thanks for your comments.

I've been interstate for work so haven't been fishing for the past two weeks.

I'm keen to hit the water again tomorrow though.

With the full moon early next week, a high tide coinciding with sunset, I'm hoping to bag my first one tomororw night. I'm also keeping a close watch on the barometric pressure.

Hopefully I'll have some good news to report back this time tomorrow.

Chris