Midwinter Surface Surprise

[Niall]

I headed out the other day after a couple of weeks of seriously average fishing - even for winterl.  I decided during the slower season to try to get my head around fishing blades in deep water around structure and under boats - definitely still need a bit of work at this.  I've found myself busted off by good fish around mooring ropes a few more times than I'd care to mention.  Anyone with winter bream fishing tips please feel free to chime in below - I'm all ears as I've found the bite to be very inconsistent day to day.

Even through the winter I'm tragic enough to still always have a surface lure rod handy.  There's room for 4 rods on my kayak so I've generally got a decent spread to cover most scenarios.  

Over the past couple of years I've come to build up a reasonable mental-rolodex of spots where I've managed to find surface feeding bream in the cold months - and once in a while one of these spots comes up with the goods.  I've always maintained that, although the winter surface bites from bream are few and far between, they are normally responsible for better than average fish.  

I only had a short window to get out on Tuesday morning so I got up with enough time to get to Rozelle Bay for just before first light.  Got a small bream first cast on the black blade - I think it's a Gomoku one.  They all work as long as they're black and about 30-40mm.  Not long after I had a cast with the Splash Prawn at a spot that's come through many times before.  Sure enough I didn't stuff up the cast and landed the prawn within about 20cm of the edge of a pontoon over about 2-3m of water.  Within a couple of short jabs of the lure a decent bream had one then two then three whacks at it before it covertly slurped the treble from underneath, getting the jump on me and heading straight for some wooden poles.  I put a pretty substantial amount of hurt on what felt like a heavy fish until it took a powerful dive and pulled the hooks - rookie error on my part.  That was gonna haunt me for the rest of the week.

I pretty much thought that was my morning ruined at that point.  I managed a few more small fish on the blade over the next hour.  Tried a few more known surface spots but got nothing - the bite earlier had obviously been a fluke.  I paddled over to the end near the fish markets for one last shot between the party boats.  It was still shady back there even though the sun was well up by then.

First cast between the boats attracted a menacing looking boil and a loud smack of a big bream hitting the air.  He missed that time, but came straight back and nailed it taking an instant dive as soon as I put pressure on.  I saw the line going almost horizontal and realised the fish was running under the boat next to us - for once I made the right move and jammed pretty much my whole rod into the water and managed to put enough pressure on to turn him.  After a few more lunges and dives I had a very large bream in the net - he went 45cm to the tip.  A proper donk.

After a picture and a measure I put him back and he swam off happily.  Pulled around the corner and cast between another couple of boats only to get nailed again by another smaller bream.  And another a few casts later.  I guess they're not all hanging on the bottom in winter hey?  Funny how all the better quality fish that day were taken off the surface and the more conventional winter technique (blading) only seemed to come up with smaller fish.  

Gotta love when the fishing gods send a bit of love your way.  Hope everyone's well and catching a few.

Niall

[dirvin21]

That's a cracker

[Isaac Ct]

Stunning fish, well done.

good result for the work put in over the weeks

[Little_Flatty]

Stonker Niall!

My best winter bream tip is not to fish with me!🤣 Been a quiet winter fishing wise. Still good to get out though.

[Green Hornet]

Anything over 40 is nice, 45 is a beast! Very nice catch.

I spend winter/spring up in the brackish water chasing black bream and one thing I’ve found is at this time of year, they tend to fish better one the sun is well up. Possibly yellowfin are the same. Especially if targeting with surface lures. As for blades, try short, fast lifts with the rod tip of only about 20cm and long pauses on the bottom.

[Niall]

1 minute ago, Green Hornet said:

Anything over 40 is nice, 45 is a beast! Very nice catch.

I spend winter/spring up in the brackish water chasing black bream and one thing I’ve found is at this time of year, they tend to fish better one the sun is well up. Possibly yellowfin are the same. Especially if targeting with surface lures. As for blades, try short, fast lifts with the rod tip of only about 20cm and long pauses on the bottom.

Ah mate I'm always very jealous of the southern anglers that have that option in winter.  Yellowfin I fond are a much different prospect in winter and the chances if finding them in a shallow creek are very slim indeed.  I'd love to bend your ear for some general locations for chasing black bream though - I'd be happy to take a drive while I'm waiting for the yellowfin to come back to life.

[Niall]

1 hour ago, Little_Flatty said:

Stonker Niall!

My best winter bream tip is not to fish with me!🤣 Been a quiet winter fishing wise. Still good to get out though.

Land based fishing for bream is tricky at the best of times - mid winter is very very tough in my experience.  I doubt I'd be getting much without the kayak

[Pickles]

45cm is a really good Bream @Niall, makes the cold start worthwhile 

[Blackfish]

Now that’s a Bream, excellent fish.

[Green Hornet]

3 minutes ago, Niall said:

Ah mate I'm always very jealous of the southern anglers that have that option in winter.  Yellowfin I fond are a much different prospect in winter and the chances if finding them in a shallow creek are very slim indeed.  I'd love to bend your ear for some general locations for chasing black bream though - I'd be happy to take a drive while I'm waiting for the yellowfin to come back to life.

Any creek, river or lake will hold black bream down here on the south coast. Head upstream to where the mangroves give way to the bull rushes and start fishing there.

They’re spawning and will be quite concentrated in an area, seeking out the right salinity. This year they’re well upstream as its been a particularly dry winter.

Feel free to message me @Niall for anything I could possibly help with.
 

[Yowie]

Very nice bream. Any over 40 are worth the effort.

[bessell1955]

A great fish, well done.

[kantong]

top dog fish. Well done on wrangling that one out!

[Rebel]

Nice bream.

Top report.

Well done.

[jenno64]

Absolute horse, bluest lips I've seen for yonks!!

[big Neil]

Great report Niall. I really like posts with detail and yours has plenty, That's an absolute cracker of a Bream, and would probably be well over 20yrs old, so not a stupid fish by any stretch of the imagination. Keep up the effort through Winter, you seem to have found the recipe for success.

Cheers, bn