Tips for catching big bream? (And other fish)

[TheFishyFisherman]

I use a pea size split shot and the fish are right underneath the jetty so I cast under there and let my bait float down slowly. Although the little guys smash up my bait. Water isn’t that deep (maybe a metre or two?) and they’re kinda in the middle (closer to the bottom) of the water depth and are swimming around gently. If I use canned tuna as burley, I might be able to excite them (haven’t tried yet) but that would also attract unwanted guests.

Edited June 3 by TheFishyFisherman

[Peter KH]

Have you tried float fishing, this will make fishing for smaller fish a lot easier, if you want the bigger fish, your going to need to be using soft plastics, i have had some decent mid 30's bream on raw chicken chunks so perhaps try that. I don't really see the purpose of using tuna oil as burley if your not going to fish with tuna/fish chunks, it will only distract the fish. The burley techniquely should be the same bait as what your going to cast around. 

[TheFishyFisherman]

Ok! I usually use tuna oil and tuna mixed with flour to make a pudding bait when fishing for baitfish so I thought it would work. Will try plastics next time

[TheFishyFisherman]

Do I cast them under the wharf and slowly bring them out do do I jig them right next to the fish? What would be more ffective?

[Peter KH]

Try both, don't spook the fish thats the main thing, it should be the 'bait' fish swimming towards/drifting towards the bream, if you drop on there heads they may not willing eat it and get scared, or will give you a shy bite resulting in poor hookups.

[sashkello]

Yup, so, if you're fishing under your feet, then soft plastics with any kind of action would be a bit awkward, not impossible though. Just hanging them there might work, again, depending on a plastic. I mean, Berkley beach worms aren't supposed to have action, so they can be used under a float. Any smelly ones will get attacked even when they just hang there. But the problem is, a lot of them don't look threatening enough and smaller fish will try to bite them and it will get mangled. Moving bigger plastics would be a better bet. You don't need cranka crabs - can use crawZ plastics or other similar ones, they don't require much movement and might interest bigger bream. And they aren't expensive.

Yeah, live prawns will get destroyed very quickly. Yabbies with no claws as well. You might have some luck with beach worms - they catch pretty much any kind of fish and big chunks of worm might incite bigger fish to snatch it whole before it gets pulled apart by the pickers. 

I actually have the opposite experience with bream you can see in the water... They usually are eager to take small fresh bait, but don't bother chasing anything and I've never caught anything decent in such conditions... But I can't say I have done it enough to form a pattern. 

[TheFishyFisherman]

Ok thanks! Will give my soft plastics a go. Sadly, there are no bait fish in the area (as I know of) so that’s probably why there’s not much movement. If the lures don’t work, I’ll just drop a massive chunk of bait down so the pickers can’t demolish it quick enough before it reaches the big fish. Did that last time and it worked pretty well. The hooks I use are tiny too so my bait will be covered completely unless I strike or if a big fish smashes it 

Edited June 4 by TheFishyFisherman