Topwater bream

[DerekD]

Hi All,

For those of us doing topwater bream and whiting our typical season is generally October to late April. It is not that you can't catch those species outside those times but the aggression levels of the fish seem to drop off as the temperatures drop and as a result you have to put in a fair bit of effort to get a result. It might also be that there are probably a fair bit less of their favourite topwater food around - the humble prawn. Fortunately, there are other species such as salmon and tailor which will take a topwater lure in the winter months and those hits are spectacular.

This year I've decided to try topwater bream and whiting the whole way through to see if it is really as hard as I think it is or if I can still catch really good fish. I introduced a very good friend to topwater when he came back from Europe in March and it turns out that this style of fishing has sparked his passion for fishing again. When he said he was up for some topwater yesterday I was keen to hit the inner west.

We hit one of my favourite bays with him using a 58mm sugapen and me using two popper type lures (Skinny pop jr with assist hooks and a MMD splash prawn). My friend's technique looked fantastic and I know he would have had some hits in the warmer months. We had some follows but no proper hits. After a quick meal we then went to the bay run area with the tide dropping. If the fish are hungry there is no reason they shouldn't hit a topwater lure. I figured a dying baitfish is something the bream would be used to seeing all year round so I switched to a bent minnow. After about 15 minutes of working the lure I had a solid hit. Even better, line started peeling off. My initial thoughts were tailor but as I saw a flash of silver in the water I realised it was a good bream. My friend came over to help me unhook, photograph and release it. Based on his shoe size we called it for the low 30s. It looked really healthy and I was rather happy with this catch.

I then switched to a small sugapen to see if I could get success on the same lure my friend was getting. This is where things went a bit sour. There was a small cormorant in the area which went for my mate's lure. He was quick enough to wind it out of the way. It then startled and flew through my line and unfortunately hooked up. We were able to get it to a small beach in the area without breaking the line. I threw a large tissue over its head which enabled me to grab it by the neck and wing. My friend managed to get the sugapen out of the birds wing using my long nosed pliers. If we hadn't had those pliers with us we would have struggled far more to extricate the bird safely. It was released. Ok it was a two species topwater session but I don't want to catch another bird.

If you do topwater sessions with treble hooks keep some pliers handy because it makes unhooking whatever you catch a fair bit safer for you. The idea of hooking myself with a jumping fish attached to the lure really doesn't appeal to me.

Regards,

Derek

Edited June 5 by DerekD

[Little_Flatty]

Nice work Derek. The topwater bite has certainly quieted down in the past month or so but still seeing some hits. I was thinking the same thing; fishing topwater through winter. See how we go!

[Bennyg78]

Nice one Mr. Derek!

looks like a nice couple of catches

[Aussiefisherman]

7 hours ago, DerekD said:

Hi All,

For those of us doing topwater bream and whiting our typical season is generally October to late April. It is not that you can't catch those species outside those times but the aggression levels of the fish seem to drop off as the temperatures drop and as a result you have to put in a fair bit of effort to get a result. It might also be that there are probably a fair bit less of their favourite topwater food around - the humble prawn. Fortunately, there are other species such as salmon and tailor which will take a topwater lure in the winter months and those hits are spectacular.

This year I've decided to try topwater bream and whiting the whole way through to see if it is really as hard as I think it is or if I can still catch really good fish. I introduced a very good friend to topwater when he came back from Europe in March and it turns out that this style of fishing has sparked his passion for fishing again. When he said he was up for some topwater yesterday I was keen to hit the inner west.

We hit one of my favourite bays with him using a 58mm sugapen and me using two popper type lures (Skinny pop jr with assist hooks and a MMD splash prawn). My friend's technique looked fantastic and I know he would have had some hits in the warmer months. We had some follows but no proper hits. After a quick meal we then went to the bay run area with the tide dropping. If the fish are hungry there is no reason they shouldn't hit a topwater lure. I figured a dying baitfish is something the bream would be used to seeing all year round so I switched to a bent minnow. After about 15 minutes of working the lure I had a solid hit. Even better, line started peeling off. My initial thoughts were tailor but as I saw a flash of silver in the water I realised it was a good bream. My friend came over to help me unhook, photograph and release it. Based on his shoe size we called it for the low 30s. It looked really healthy and I was rather happy with this catch.

I then switched to a small sugapen to see if I could get success on the same lure my friend was getting. This is where things went a bit sour. There was a small cormorant in the area which went for my mate's lure. He was quick enough to wind it out of the way. It then startled and flew through my line and unfortunately hooked up. We were able to get it to a small beach in the area without breaking the line. I threw a large tissue over its head which enabled me to grab it by the neck and wing. My friend managed to get the sugapen out of the birds wing using my long nosed pliers. If we hadn't had those pliers with us we would have struggled far more to extricate the bird safely. It was released. Ok it was a two species topwater session but I don't want to catch another bird.

If you do topwater sessions with treble hooks keep some pliers handy because it makes unhooking whatever you catch a fair bit safer for you. The idea of hooking myself with a jumping fish attached to the lure really doesn't appeal to me.

Regards,

Derek

The cormorants must be dumb round that area, I had one do a similar thing, and they are a pain to unhook.

Is it best to cut the line or to remove the lure in its entirety? 

Also watch out for the tailor during the winter months they can inhale those expensive topwater lures 

[Yowie]

Nice bit of work Derek.

Earlier in the year, while down the coast with friends from the caravan club. I had a dumb duck fly into my line at night time. Not much of a fight though. I grabbed it and managed to untangle it. One of the boys was fair dinkum that he wanted to turn pluck-a-duck into duck a'la'orange. 🤣 He was not happy that I let it go.

[big Neil]

A good report Derek and one that probably substantiates the theory that the topwater fishing is more difficult now than in the warmer months. Most likely your expertise was the difference.

 

bn

[DerekD]

3 hours ago, Aussiefisherman said:

Is it best to cut the line or to remove the lure in its entirety?

We did everything we could to not cut the line and lose the bird. The hooks on the sugapen are pretty robust and would take a very long time to rust out. A bit of short term pain to clear the lure was the right decision. Also I got my lure back. I've rescued a cormorant hooked by someone else with about 4m of 100lb line (or heavier) hanging behind it. I'm pretty sure the owner of that rig cut the line rather than deal with the bird and that p!$$ed me off big time. it highlights the importance of cleaning up discarded tackle in our fishing environment.

[Robbo from Sydney]

Hey Derek

Not sure you can claim a record for Cormorant but you could always try if you took photos......

Good to hear that the bent minnow is still working around there on the bream - so well done on that one.