# totally insane breaming on the NSW south coast..



## john316 (Jan 15, 2009)

On Saturday we were supposed to be going out to explore an area that has been in our sights for a long time but after sleeping in I started the new trailer project instead and left the kayaking for today. Its one of the wonderful aspects of living in such a beautiful place, there are so many places to paddle and fish and if you miss out today you can always try again tomorrow, or next weekend.

I normally take a leaf out of Red's book and am quite happy to say where I went but this is one time when I will use that dreaded term "spot X". We had a leisurely start to the day and headed off in the "new" (very old) truck with the kayaks in tow. The truck is a total other story but it goes very well and should give me all the ground clearance I need to get in and out of some places I want to visit.

I started out with a definite idea of where I wanted to go as we had tried this spot once before when the water was very stale and filthy from lack of run-off but the recent rains had refreshed it beautifully and it is now crystal clear and like many places on the coast so much prettier after it has had a clean out. Part of the clean out has changed the riverbed so much that we were unable to get through to where we were heading so we changed course and headed into completely virgin territory for us. Unfortunately the shallow water, ebbing tide and the awful wind all combined to have us wondering if it was going to be worth the effort but there was that dark line in the water up ahead that indicated a deeper channel to reward our hard slog. As we finally reached the line we had seen it proved to be more than just a channel and it opened up into a lake with good deep water around the southern bank and disappearing out of sight into a western corner.

We had specifically come to explore this area as we were unfamiliar with it but also had some fishing tackle with us and as we hit the deeper water I pushed out past the drop-off and called out to the child bride that I was going to pause and wet a line. We had only taken a smallish amount of gear and were using cooked prawns, instead of soft plastics, on light jigheads and the child bride paddled out a bit further and dropped a bait over the side. I cast one rod back at the drop while I was preparing the other and before I had even got the second rod out of its rod holder the first rod went off and was almost pulled backwards out of its rest. It was immediately obvious that this was a strong fish and it fought hard requiring good technique with the light tackle I was using. As it approached the kayak it took a very strong dive pulling the tip of the rod deep into the water. This became a hallmark of the afternoon. Some fish fought right from hook up and some started off with little fight but without exception as they came close to the kayak they took off hard and fast into the deep, peeling line off the reel and putting a lot of pressure on both the tackle and the fisherman.




























When I finally lifted a beautiful bream into the boat I left the fish at my feet just long enough to cast the second rod and before I was able to get the first fish into the keeper net, the second rod went off just as fast as the first. This rod was loaded with 2lb braid and so had a light setting on the drag and consequently the fight was even better although the result was the same. Both fish were very good specimens, well over 30cms, and as I had not been expecting any fish in the winter cold I was certainly glad to have found this place. The child bride had seen the fight I had had with both fish and decided to head into the bank and try some land based fishing and almost immediately hooked up on what she initially thought was a small fish as it had only gently tapped at the bait. It quickly became apparent that this was not a small fish and she called it for a large flathead but then started to make some rather strange sounds as she finally brought it up onto the beach. As she held it up I could see from a distance that this was a brilliant fish, well played by a very smart lady. she netted the fish so I could take some photos and we settled back to a time of quiet while the fish regrouped. They came back with a vengeance and I had an absolute ball playing in fish that were both heavy and strong and when I had five in the bag I headed into the child brides position to take some photos. That's when the net came undone and the two biggest fish made their escape... oops.










Anne also used that moment to land her second outstanding bream showing that even though I had the numbers on the board she had gone with quality, a matched pair at 43 cms. I made one cast from her position and felt a slight nudge before there was a good weight on the line and I caught the only non-bream of the afternoon, a lovely flathead that was about 45cms.










We elected to move as we really did want to see some more of the area and as we headed towards a spot where there were some melaleucas along the shore line I cast a bait towards the shallow water and fished it back towards me in exactly the same fashion as I would a plastic. Lift, settle, bang. It was so quick and so definite I can only think that the fish in this place don't see too many fishing lines. Almost every cast brought a beautiful fish to the boat and during the afternoon I only threw back one fish that was under the legal size limit. The afternoon sun dropped behind a cloud and as the winter chill made its presence felt, the child bride decided it was time we headed back before we began to run out of light and I made a real fisherman's response... "I've got one prawn left here that gives me three baits and I'm coming in". I broke off the head and flicked it out and I was on with a fish that towed me far enough and fast enough that I almost crashed into my lady. Got that one in and broke the tail off the prawn and tossed that out and was off again leaving ripples running of the bow. Landed that one and cast out the remaining piece of prawn and made three good bream from the last prawn.



















Winter may not be the season for bream but this was one totally insane session and tonight I will sleep with happy dreams of watching some thumping big bream swimming away as we released them to breed and fight another day. I have not had a session like that for a long, long time and to make it even more incredible neither the child bride nor myself had a single bust off.










We kept the flathead and a couple of bream for dinner, the rest make for memories that along with some photos made this a day to treasure...

Cheers

John


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## southcoastmatty (Jan 21, 2009)

Far out brussel sprout! That is one spot x best kept in the bag ;-) 
Thanks for the report John.
scm


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## seawind (Mar 29, 2007)

Well done John and Anne, enjoyed the read, now where could that place be?


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## Ifishtwo (Nov 6, 2008)

Good read. Fantastic day by the sounds of it. Liked the photo's too.


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## Dodge (Oct 12, 2005)

Great results for the pair of you John, and some nice fillets there mate.


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## gcfisho (Oct 31, 2009)

Great report and photos really enjoyed it . Just wish i could get amongst some bream !


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## warren63 (Apr 16, 2009)

mugfisherman said:


> Great report and photos really enjoyed it . Just wish i could get amongst some bream !


Mick or i will let you hold one next time we are out :lol:

Great report and fish !!


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## RedPhoenix (Jun 13, 2006)

Unfortunately, due to the change in ownership of this web site and the lack of response by the owners to my requests to remove my email address from all administrative-level notifications and functionality, I have decided to remove my posts on AKFF. Thank you for the great times, the fantastic learning experiences and the many many fish. If you are desperate for the old content of this particular post, it is available below base64 encoded and bzip2 compressed.

Red.

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## FishWhisperer (Mar 5, 2009)

Great story and photos there John, sounds like a great spot, next time we catch up I might have to slip you a few beers and see if I can get that 'spot x' off you.


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## Squidder (Sep 2, 2005)

Great report John and some serious trophy-sized bream in your bag, I don't blame you for keeping that spot a secret ;-)


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## keza (Mar 6, 2007)

the stuff of dreams.

A session like that would definitely get me into bream fishing.
Well done.


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## yaktopia (Nov 30, 2008)

Thumper session!!


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## onemorecast (Apr 17, 2006)

Sensational Session even if I am green with envy!


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