Bream Sessions Jan 2022

[Niall]

Bit of a compilation of various bream sessions over the past couple of weeks.  Mostly solo, but some with folks you might know from here.

Finally got a chance to fish with @DerekD last week as he's been keen to put me onto his hassle-free blackfish rig.  Having been Luderick fishing a few times with another mate, I'd always had a bit of an aversion to all the gear required to do it succesfully.  Berley, buckets, nets, beads and stoppers and all the stuff for me was very frustrating as it too often tied us to a location which is basically the opposite of my lure fishing approach.  If I'm not moving around a lot when fishing I can get pretty antsy. 

Enter @DerekD who had put the work in and found a way to successfully target them arounds Sydney's wharves using little more than a standard light bream rod, a float and a few weed flys.  

So we met early down at Mort Bay and had a cast for some pelagics off the pontoon first thing.  Not a single bustup or boil in sight so it was a bit of an extended casting practice.  Got some good tips from Derek for casting heavier lures - I'm out of my comfort zone casting much more than 20g.  Casting gets old pretty quick when you're not producing fish so we bailed and headed for Balmain Wharf to try the new blackfish rig.  We managed to get a couple of downs after not too long but with me on the other end of the rod, we sadly missed those hookups.  The wharf didn't produce much more than that apart from a few pinkie snapper that took a liking to a green vibe I was chucking about.

Another spot change and we ended up at Propellor Park - this was where our luck started to change a bit.  Derek missed a couple of Blackfish early on just casting with his fly rod (Derek has a tackle shop's worth of rods in his car at any given time).  I managed a just legal flatty on a Holt prawn.  Mike, another fisho, rocked up with his blackfish gear and little bit of weed he'd salvaged from the wharf - it wasn't long and he was onto a Blackfish.  I switched to topwater and found a bunch of hungry bream feeding all the way along the wall.  Many hits and misses until I finally landed a couple up the beach end of the park.  Nothing massive, but always good to see them race out and nail a lure.

Derek was very keen for me to land a blackfish on the float gear so we headed with Mike back to Mort Bay and fished off the wall at Ballast Point for Luds.  I finally managed to convert a down into a hookup and pulled in a (maybe just?) legal fish.  I'll credit that one to Derek.  It's very encouraging to know that they'll hit the weed flys readily.  Once the bream season quietens down I'll have to give it a crack myself.

I think the other two were encouraged by my topwater success so we decided to head for Five Dock Bay for a last ditch at landing some good fish.  Derek was still pretty much on a donut at this stage -  poor guy 😂

Started getting hits on surface immediately upon arriving at Five Dock.  Such a fun venue when it's filling up and the bream are moving in.  It's really a perfect place to practise the topwater bream thing.  We missed a few hookups at the boat ramp end - Derek unfortunately missed a cracker on the bent minnow.  Sometimes they just can't get a hook in their mouths.  As we made our way up towards the back end the bites increased and I finally started hooking a few, including a couple of decent ones.  Mike landed the bream of the day on a soft plastic - about a mid 30's model.   He followed it up with a couple of flatties including a nice 50 model.  

Still couldn't get Derek onto a fish - many lure changes were happening without bearing much.  We've all been there and hated it.  The frantic lure change is a sure sign that your over-thinking.  It's encouraging to see that even someone as experienced as Derek can fall victim to it.

I've gotta say a big thank you to Derek.  He's such a generous bloke with his knowledge and time.  He's also determined and obviously doesn't crack the shits when it's not going his way - really the ideal fishing companion.  I think we fished a solid 9-10hrs that day.  I'd do it again any day.

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I thought I'd drop a little report of the past couple days as well because they've been quite interesting.  They've recently resurfaced and beautified a storm water drain / former creek near my place.  I've done some reports before about fishing plastics in the drains and how productive it can be.  The last couple of days were no exception.

Yesterday morning I started early with the rising tide.  I find the bream are following the tide up pretty much as far as they can get.  This means I'm rarely fishing in anything deeper than about 30cm - the canal has shallow edges and a channel running through the middle of it that the fish use as a sort of highway and for cover from any birds (always a few hungry Kookaburras about there).  

I've been having success in there on topwater if there isn't too much leaf and debris on the surface.  Pretty much any old surface lure works provided you work it slow and give it a good pause when it's sitting over the channel in the middle.  9/10 they're nailing it there and tearing off down the channel quick smart.  Some very fun fights to be had when you hook a decent one - I've had bream in there up to about 38cm and they go hard in that shallow water.  I even managed to get my wife onto her first fish in here on Christmas Day - it was my cast but I was very proud of her getting her first ever fish on a popper.

Today there was way too much leaf litter on top to attempt any surface so I fished plastics all morning.  This turned out to be very productive.  Within 3 casts I landed my first fish, a respectable low 30's model that slurped the plastic up without me feeling him - my first warning that I was on was him tearing down the channel headed for bay.  A good tussle and he was flipped over the fence.  From then on it was basically a hit or a fish every other cast.  As the tide shifted back and forth it was essential to move around and find where they were holding - nothing was too shallow either.  I could see fish bow waving after my lure all over the place.  Amazing.

After about 1/2 an hr of fishing something unexpected happened and huge swell made it's way up the canal, pushing the tide further up and filling the canal another 200mm deeper in about 3mins flat.  This must have been the tsunami predicted from last night.  This basically turned the canal into a fast running stream that changed direction every 20mins or so.  Various bits of debris created Eddys in the current and casting into the Eddys or drifting the plastic on a slack line with the flow would come up with a fish more often than not.  Over the next 2 hrs I must have landed 20+ bream of various sizes.  Def one of the better sessions I've had lately.

Apologies for the long read.  Hope you're all out there getting into em as well.

Cheers

Niall

(sorry no photos.  I've got some short vids but they won't fit as attachments)

[DerekD]

6 hours ago, Niall said:

I think the other two were encouraged by my topwater success so we decided to head for Five Dock Bay for a last ditch at landing some good fish.  Derek was still pretty much on a donut at this stage -  poor guy 😂

I think my tendency to get into teach rather than fish mode when it goes a bit quiet does have some downsides.

I had a ball that day with some great company and the chance to mix up some locations. My toadfish on lure at least helped me avoid a donut and it was worth it to me to see you work that MMD splash prawn in a way I had not considered for bream. I'm keen to head out with you and @HenryR (aka Mike) again as soon as my isolation lifts.

I was fortunate enough to grab these photos of your fly caught luderick and HenryR's cracking 33.5cm bream on plastic. I'd also call your fish as legal.

Edited January 16, 2022 by DerekD

[Yowie]

You've had some great fishing times. Fish will head into very shallow water if there is some colour in it, or food to be grabbed, as you found out.

[Pickles]

Great report Niall, very informative. You’re right about Derek, a very generous hearted bloke, always willing to share with others.

[Little_Flatty]

Always enjoy your posts @Niall; I enjoy the different perspective you provide on luring.

I heard about your trade secrets from Derek afterwards. Unfortunately there's no helping me at this stage, I just need the requisite time working the lures and finding water around me where they are receptive! When I can muster up the discipline, I'll ban myself from plastics and focus on the surface for a bit  

[Niall]

2 hours ago, Little_Flatty said:

Always enjoy your posts @Niall; I enjoy the different perspective you provide on luring.

I heard about your trade secrets from Derek afterwards. Unfortunately there's no helping me at this stage, I just need the requisite time working the lures and finding water around me where they are receptive! When I can muster up the discipline, I'll ban myself from plastics and focus on the surface for a bit  

It might look like discipline mate, but it's actually just obsession 😂

I really feel like surface fishing is 70% confidence and believing that it'll actually work.  

If you're ever gonna skip the plastics and dedicate yourself to it, then now's the time.  Best time of the year for it.

[Niall]

4 hours ago, Yowie said:

You've had some great fishing times. Fish will head into very shallow water if there is some colour in it, or food to be grabbed, as you found out.

Yep.  Find the food and you'll find the bream.

[Mike Sydney]

Awesome as always @Niall.
Question on the creek - when I’ve fished there it was running basically empty by the time it hit that rail bridge ‘fork’. Have you fished/caught further up from there on a larger tide? I imagine yesterday morning it would’ve had a ton of water up there?

 

[Niall]

On 1/17/2022 at 1:07 PM, Mike Sydney said:

Awesome as always @Niall.
Question on the creek - when I’ve fished there it was running basically empty by the time it hit that rail bridge ‘fork’. Have you fished/caught further up from there on a larger tide? I imagine yesterday morning it would’ve had a ton of water up there?

 

Yeah Mike it fills up nicely on anything over about a 1.5m tide. Anything above 1.6 and you’re pushing right up past the bridges next to Tramsheds and round the bend up to the next bridge - I was out the past couple of mornings and got basically all my fish past the underpass. Probably averaged 7-8 fish per session over a couple hours.

Nothing is too shallow!! 😂