Bream detectives... help required targeting elusive tanks

[Tommy TJ]

Hey Fishraiders,

 

A few weeks ago whilst fishing my local in the eastern Sydney Harbour I snagged my $20 Samaki vibe on the end of a jetty. So I decided to take the reasonable course of action of grabbing some goggles and swimming out to find it. And oh boy... not only did I save myself $20, but whilst I was swimming out there I saw some very healthy slabs of bream congregating near the end of the jetty around its pylons and stairs. I saw around 5-10 school sized bream but underneath those were 2 tanks around the 40cm mark. Ever since that day I've been revisiting that same jetty to try and tempt them to bite, however, I've had zero success in catching even a single bream. Using PE 0.8 braid and a 6lb leader I've tried soft plastic grubs, minnows and flickbaits, ecogear zx40, a couple crankbaits and even a soft vibe. Some additional info about the spot: 

• It was approx. high tide when I went for my swim and it was around 2.5m deep at the end of the jetty
• The jetty is private and not accessible to the public
• The bottom is mostly sandy however there was some patches of more rocky/ harder bottom texture, with some patches of weeds scattered around
• Wind often blows weeds and other debris into the bay

 

I think one of the main issues is that using such light lures as we do for bream I can't get the casting distance required to reach the end of the jetty. I could just about reach the final pylon using a metal bladed lure, but it was a hairy proposition due to the risk of the wind catching my line on the jetty and losing another pricey lure. Using lightly weighted soft plastics and standard ~3.5-4g cranks I seem to stand no chance of getting my lure into the zone. 

So my questions to you all are: 

1. Are these bream likely to live in the area and be returning to the jetty often?
2. What would your strategy be in my situation?
3. Any recommendations for the longest casting bream lures, or other tips to help me get the additional metres I need in my cast.

 

Cheers everyone,

TJ

 

 

[Rebel]

Mate, I always use cooked Australian prawns on a size 4 sucide hook. Never have a problem when fishing for bream.

If you are going to stick to SP'S, try the Holt Production range.

Good luck.

[Isaac Ct]

Using unweighted baits will help, nippers and live prawns are dynamite for bream

[Jiggy]

For big bream try small crabs, around the size of a 10 to 20 cent coin and an appropriate size hook. Nippers and live prawns are fantastic bait but the little ones will pick them apart. Not with crabs. Small bream might pick at them, without much luck, but the bigger ones will crunch them down. And minimal sinker, if you can get away with none thats the better option. Whichever bait you use toss in a small amount of berley to get them going. And maybe try at night, that's when the big girls come out to play. And if you fish at night don't shine your light on the water, that's a good way to scare them off.

Cheers

Rob

 

[Mike Sydney]

@Tommy TJ you might find this article interesting, as it talks about bream movement. I stumbled across this when trying to answer the same question - how far do bream move or do they live at particular structures?

https://www.fishingworld.com.au/fish-facts/fish-facts-black-bream-tagging

You might want to determine the tide height and direction of when you went swimming, then try and return at a similar time (especially at night as they travel more during the day). 
 

As for lures I think blades are your best bet as they cast a long way for how light they are. I’m guessing you don’t wanna come in too heavy on a heavy jighead to reach the jetty, only to have the lure sink like a stone once it gets there! A metal blade might be a good balance.

 

edit - some surface lures with the ball bearings cast for miles as well. But they’re generally fairly pricey and you’ll be swimming again 😁

Edited November 14, 2022 by Mike Sydney

[Mike Sydney]

Just saw your reply @Jiggy , crabs a great option, I do very well on them at night,

for a lure crab option I’d heartily recommend the Hurricane Spidercrab - casts for miles, and you get four of them for the same price as a cranka. They’re fairly snag resistant as they use assist hooks in the claws. 

[Green Hornet]

By your efforts so far, it appears you want to catch these fish on lures. That being the case I’d be giving a 50mm, 5.9 gram Cranka Crab a go, but I must say the Spidercrabs that Mike recommended look good too.

I would hazard a guess that if you return to the jetty at the same stage of the tide when you saw the fish, they’d be there.

You could also increase your casting distance by dropping down to 6lb/PE 0.6 braid. Even 4lb if you’re the adventurous type.

[Jiggy]

If you want to be really adventurous go down to 2 pound line. That is if you've got the eyesight to tie knots in it though. Light line like that really teaches you on how to fight fish and not bully them. Just be prepared to lose a few in the process

.

[Little_Flatty]

Adding small gulps into the mix, like small gulp grubs or minnows.

Like the others have said, keep weight and line/leader classes as light as you possibly can dare. It's not just the line itself being visible, heavier lines/weights also affect the way your bait/lure moves in the water.

[Little_Flatty]

Adding to the mix, I recall reading a book on luring Mulloway by Sol Bannura. He used to swim in the Hacking, with a handline and some bait in a bag and watch how the fish reacted to certain presentations. If you're willing to swim, it's worth a try sometime.

[Mike Sydney]

I have to ask the question as I’ve seen some of your other posts have been from the kayak…would that not be a better way to reach the jetty than long casting? 
 

Cheers, Mike 

[noelm]

I have found fish feeding all the time on jetties and the like can be very hard to catch (except Leather Jackets) they become used to feeding on tiny worms, crabs and shells growing on the piles. Best bet would be light line, a tiny crab (caught around the shore line) and hope you can keep the fish out of the pylons!, maybe a tiny crab plastic might induce a bite?

[Tommy TJ]

23 hours ago, Mike Sydney said:

I have to ask the question as I’ve seen some of your other posts have been from the kayak…would that not be a better way to reach the jetty than long casting? 
 

Cheers, Mike 

@Mike Sydney Yeah I still do have my kayak but just haven't had the time to take it out recently. I hope to take it out in a week or two though and I am super keen to target some bream in the harbour out of it - feel like I've learned a lot since the last time I chased bream on the yak so I'm feeling hopeful!

[Tommy TJ]

On 11/14/2022 at 12:34 PM, Mike Sydney said:

@Tommy TJ you might find this article interesting, as it talks about bream movement. I stumbled across this when trying to answer the same question - how far do bream move or do they live at particular structures?

https://www.fishingworld.com.au/fish-facts/fish-facts-black-bream-tagging

You might want to determine the tide height and direction of when you went swimming, then try and return at a similar time (especially at night as they travel more during the day). 
 

As for lures I think blades are your best bet as they cast a long way for how light they are. I’m guessing you don’t wanna come in too heavy on a heavy jighead to reach the jetty, only to have the lure sink like a stone once it gets there! A metal blade might be a good balance.

 

edit - some surface lures with the ball bearings cast for miles as well. But they’re generally fairly pricey and you’ll be swimming again 😁

@Mike Sydney That was a good read thanks for that. Yeah I'm thinking metal blades might be my best options as well, although I didn't know that ball bearings in the lure increase casting distance - any notable surface lures with ball bearings? I have a 70mm sugapen lying around somewhere that might be worth a flick. 

[Tommy TJ]

Thanks for the advice @Little_Flatty@Jiggy @Green Hornet, I'll get some ultra thin braid next time I'm at the tackle store, and I'll also have to have a go targeting them at night - maybe even with bait as a few members have suggested. 

[leonardgid]

On 11/14/2022 at 11:56 AM, Rebel said:

Mate, I always use cooked Australian prawns on a size 4 sucide hook. Never have a problem when fishing for bream.

If you are going to stick to SP'S, try the Holt Production range.

Good luck.

On 11/14/2022 at 11:56 AM, Rebel said:

Mate, I always use cooked Australian prawns on a size 4 sucide hook. Never have a problem when fishing for bream.

If you are going to stick to SP'S, try the Holt Production range.

Good luck.

interesting!  have you  compared  raw versus cooked  prawns  is what im wondering , just to see if one catches more then the other , 

[Berrero]

Not that I can offer anything really constructive to your hunt, but thought I'd point out that bream are a veeeeery slow growing fish - there's a good chance those tanks you saw are 30-35+ yrs old... 
Words of wisdom told to me by a friend -- they don't get that old eating everything that presents in front of them, they can definitely be very elusive

[Little_Flatty]

Just now, Berrero said:

Words of wisdom told to me by a friend -- they don't get that old eating everything that presents in front of them, they can definitely be very elusive

Except maybe a lump of the freshest white bread! 🤣

In all seriousness, that's one thing that has not yet been put on the table. Many different ways to play it, but what I do is squeeze little pieces of white bread up so that it sinks and use that for berley. Then I use a size 6 or 4 hook, tied directly to the end of the leader (no sinker), squeeze a 5cm piece of bread around the hook, leaving the end a little fluffy. Then I dip it in the water, firstly to ensure the bait will sink and also to give a bit of casting weight. You'd be surprised how far you can (gentle) cast the bait and also how many decent fish you'll catch with it. Here's one reasonable example that I got on bread this year, but many bigger models have been caught.

Same rules apply though. Needs to be fresh and well presented (i.e. light line, light or no sinker, make sure bait sinks slowly and naturally).

See also this thread - bream will even take a chip in many places! Sometimes it pays to think out of the box.

 

[Jiggy]

Many, many years ago I went out to a marina at Cowan Creek with a mate. He said that there were a lot of big bream there and we should do well. Got there very early with live nippers and worms and started a light berley trail. A few hours later the sun came up and we had landed a total of three very small bream.

Another angler came along a cast out a blob of bread under a float...down goes the float and up came a bream around the 35cm mark. Definitely don't underestimate bread as a bait.

Oh and the big bream are probably better off being released, but that is up to you when you land one.

Cheers

Rob

[leonardgid]

20 hours ago, leonardgid said:

 

interesting!  have you  compared  raw versus cooked  prawns  is what im wondering , just to see if one is better then the other 

 

[Rebel]

I have tried raw & cooked prawns over the years.

I just seem to have success with cooked.

Cheers.

[Green Hornet]

1 hour ago, Rebel said:

I have tried raw & cooked prawns over the years.

I just seem to have success with cooked.

Cheers.

I wonder if the reddish colour has anything to do with it?
I knew a trawler skipper that would give me Royal Red prawns and I always seemed to do better using them than fresh Schoolies.

[noelm]

Royal Reds are great bait, that's all I use for Bream from the boat in the ocean, off the rocks, mostly bread.

[Green Hornet]

31 minutes ago, noelm said:

Royal Reds are great bait, that's all I use for Bream from the boat in the ocean, off the rocks, mostly bread.

I agree 100%, especially using bread off the rocks. Funny thing down here is inside Jarvis Bay the bread method doesn’t work. Either crabs, scallop or abalone gut gets the job done there.

[noelm]

A nice Bream, caught on bread, right in front of my house, got three others, bread, no sinker, casting about 5m from the shore, just over the edge in that picture, one of my grandsons.