Middle Harbour - Cracker Bream and Blackfish

[rjc123]

Hi Raiders,

Hit up Middle Harbour for a jewie flick the other day. Conditions were pretty good and was keen to get onto my first of the summer. I had planned to fish a live yakka or tailor on a bait rod to increase my chances. The tailor and yakkas wouldn't play but in 20 mins or so found a few legal bream in the early 30's and a Blackfish of 30cm. Didn't know blackfish fancied unweighted prawns?!?!

Over the next hour or two I flicked around SP. Z-man swimmers 4" in "red shad". No interest for the first hour then i noticed a little tick in my line. Often the bigger jews take softies so subtly that the bite often goes undetected. So, feeling optimistic i struck up on it and whatever it was had a bit of weight and then went for a short, sharp run, with a few nice headshakes. Thinking school jew for sure i played it out for a couple of minutes. When it began to tire i took advantage and coaxed it in. To my disbelief, a cracker of a bream revealed itself. Never thought i'd catch a bream on a 4" paddle tail lure but it happened I was a little gutted having thought it was a jew but still happy with what turned out to be a Soft Plastic PB for me. Measured the fish up and went 40cm on the dot. I was running 15lb braid and 20lb leader, so the fish really gave a good account of itself to draw out a 4-5 minute fight.

All in all, a productive session with a nice little PB the result. Good to see things heating up and hopefully the fishing continues to improve.

Cheers, Tom

Edited November 26, 2012 by mulloway man

[mr.e.p.d]

Gotta love the big bream

[dadwithnoidea]

Nice session Tom..Great fish

Went Sunday morning early and the tailor and yakkas were everywhere but nothing else to follow. Also flicked a couple of different plastics and one black one with sparkly flecks through it kept getting chomped but missing the hook. Guess it was tailor.

[rjc123]

Nice session Tom..Great fish

Went Sunday morning early and the tailor and yakkas were everywhere but nothing else to follow. Also flicked a couple of different plastics and one black one with sparkly flecks through it kept getting chomped but missing the hook. Guess it was tailor.

Yeah, the baits been on the move lately... Some days they're up there, some they aren't. I guess i'll have to try and pre-empt when the baits there. This will give me a better chance..

[Robinsoi]

Tremendous report Tom and congratulations on a wonderful and well deserved PB

What a classy looking fish that is and nice blackfish too!

I didn't think bream would take a such a big SP but that is one big bream mate so I suppose it's all relative and I bet he pulled hard!

Maybe next time when you target bream on SP you might get a ripping jew

I've heard a lot about the Z-man SPs particularly from the threads where you have provided input but I have never used them. Do you use standard jig heads with these and apply scent or are they scented straight out of the packet?

Thanks for sharing Tom, keep up the tremendous work and I hope that 20kg monster mulloway comes your way very soon and I look forward to reading that report!

All the best

Ian

[rjc123]

Tremendous report Tom and congratulations on a wonderful and well deserved PB

What a classy looking fish that is and nice blackfish too!

I didn't think bream would take a such a big SP but that is one big bream mate so I suppose it's all relative and I bet he pulled hard!

Maybe next time when you target bream on SP you might get a ripping jew

I've heard a lot about the Z-man SPs particularly from the threads where you have provided input but I have never used them. Do you use standard jig heads with these and apply scent or are they scented straight out of the packet?

Thanks for sharing Tom, keep up the tremendous work and I hope that 20kg monster mulloway comes your way very soon and I look forward to reading that report!

All the best

Ian

Hi Ian,

Yeah, I was also surprised at a bream taking a lure of that size. I guess the bigger bream have been feeding on poddies lately.

So many people get jew as by-catch compared to when they target them specifically, so you never know!

I have been using z-mans a lot lately. Great plastics

I do use standard jig heads on them, although tt jigheads (tt owns z-man) seem to work best. Most of the time i add a dab of super glue to keep the plastic fixed on the jig head. Once it's superglued, its ready to catch plenty of fish. The tailor are no match for their 10x toughness which is always a bonus

They don't come with a scent but i usually put some s-factor on them. Given that they melt when stored or in contact with other brands of plastics, i'm not sure if s-factor is recommended. It seems to be working well at the moment though!

Cheers, Tom

[Robinsoi]

Hi Ian,

Yeah, I was also surprised at a bream taking a lure of that size. I guess the bigger bream have been feeding on poddies lately.

So many people get jew as by-catch compared to when they target them specifically, so you never know!

I have been using z-mans a lot lately. Great plastics

I do use standard jig heads on them, although tt jigheads (tt owns z-man) seem to work best. Most of the time i add a dab of super glue to keep the plastic fixed on the jig head. Once it's superglued, its ready to catch plenty of fish. The tailor are no match for their 10x toughness which is always a bonus

They don't come with a scent but i usually put some s-factor on them. Given that they melt when stored or in contact with other brands of plastics, i'm not sure if s-factor is recommended. It seems to be working well at the moment though!

Cheers, Tom

Thanks for the info Tom I'll have to give them a try and good to hear the tailor are no match for them.

Last week I waisted so much time rigging up squidgies wrigglers and making sure they sat nicely on the jig head with a generous coating of s-factor only to have the choppers steal half the SP cast after cast I must have gone through a packet of them in quick time.

Thanks mate

Ian

[PRED-ATOR]

Hi Raiders,

Hit up Middle Harbour for a jewie flick the other day. Conditions were pretty good and was keen to get onto my first of the summer. I had planned to fish a live yakka or tailor on a bait rod to increase my chances. The tailor and yakkas wouldn't play but in 20 mins or so found a few legal bream in the early 30's and a Blackfish of 30cm. Didn't know blackfish fancied unweighted prawns?!?!

Over the next hour or two I flicked around SP. Z-man swimmers 4" in "red shad". No interest for the first hour then i noticed a little tick in my line. Often the bigger jews take softies so subtly that the bite often goes undetected. So, feeling optimistic i struck up on it and whatever it was had a bit of weight and then went for a short, sharp run, with a few nice headshakes. Thinking school jew for sure i played it out for a couple of minutes. When it began to tire i took advantage and coaxed it in. To my disbelief, a cracker of a bream revealed itself. Never thought i'd catch a bream on a 4" paddle tail lure but it happened I was a little gutted having thought it was a jew but still happy with what turned out to be a Soft Plastic PB for me. Measured the fish up and went 40cm on the dot. I was running 15lb braid and 20lb leader, so the fish really gave a good account of itself to draw out a 4-5 minute fight.

All in all, a productive session with a nice little PB the result. Good to see things heating up and hopefully the fishing continues to improve.

Cheers, Tom

Awesome Bream Tom!

Your killing it at the moment mate keep up the awesome reports : )

[lostproperty]

Nice one Tom, plenty of oysters right where you are at that tide did well to get him in without it cutting you off.

[joseph2593]

Great report tom! Used zmans today for the first time, first cast on a 3inch minnow resulted in a legal flattie! Great soft plastic

[rjc123]

Nice one Tom, plenty of oysters right where you are at that tide did well to get him in without it cutting you off.

Very glad I hooked him on the 15lb jew gear, not 4lb

Edited November 27, 2012 by mulloway man