# Bream basics for beginner?



## Barrabundy (Sep 29, 2008)

Ok people, about time I tried luring for Bream and the like. I think I'm ok for the rod but I need a reel and some advice on what weight line (and leader etc) to use.

I found some 4lb in an Anaconda bargain bin a couple of weeks ago, it's Platinum mono (yes I still use mono!) figuring it would be a good starting point. Forgetting the fact that it's mono, is 4lb ok for casting small hb's or sp's?....too heavy, too light or just right? While I'd like to target Bream, I'd still like to be in with a chance should I get something on the larger size.

I'd be looking at something on the budget side so far as reels go, not keen to spend over $100. Any ideas would be helpfull.


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## Plasman (Aug 27, 2008)

Definately go for the Braid over mono although I carry one outfit with each when I head out but do most of my casting with the Braid Sunline Super PE in 8lb (very fine diameter). Once you use the braid you will never go back to mono for the light stuff. As far as reels are concerned I bought a Shakespeare Synergy graphite combo $60 4 years ago and reel is still going strong - rod has a busted runner and haven't got around to fixing it yet. Have caught everything from little kingies bonito jacks to bream bass and whiting with no issues at all and drag feels great. Not sure if I just got lucky with a cheapo but i try to wash down after each trip and they still retail for $29 at MO Tackle so if i lose it or it breaks I'll just buy another 1or 3 no probs. I have used higher end reels and performance wise didn't get any more out of them and like I said at $29 if it takes a dunk get a new one and you've got some spares.
Goodluck


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## justcrusin (Oct 1, 2006)

> but I need a reel


For me I like the mid range reels shimano stradics or Diawa sols, but the cheaper reels perform just as well. Eg shimano symetre or sienna both perform well without the price tags.



> weight line (and leader etc) to use.


As the other guys have said fireline very good for the price. I use 4lb fireline and 10lb castaway for lines. For leader I only use Vhard from sunline, nitlon and vanish were ok but you could see them in the water vhard just disappears once in the drink.

as for mono some of the bream pro's use mono straight through but very light mono like 2lb the extra stretch of mono gives them that little extra play they need on such fine line. Personally i'd give it a miss if your just starting out.

On 4-8lb bream gear i have pulled in or seen people catch jews, large flatty's, salmon etc so big fish are still achievable. Just remember the fish will be stuffed when you get it in an most probably won't survive so if your targeting big fish if your not going to keep em cut the line.

Hope this helps some

Cheers Dave


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## Junglefisher (Jun 2, 2008)

I would not be fishing with anything less than 10lb if you are planning on using hard bodies. When that 70cm barra or 45cm jack grabs your $22 lure, you'll soon regret having 4lb line on. 
I prefer braid, but you can use mono - it just won't transmit the feel of the lure as well, especially with SP's. I use 10lb braid with 10lb fluror leader.
MOTackle have the exceller 2000 on special for under $100, seems an OK reel.


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## Ranger (May 31, 2008)

One of my favourite subjects!

Definately braid, and I'd be starting with 6lb. Don't go any lighter because you'll have problems with wind knots and tangles. You are targetting Bream not bycatch and you need a light line with no stretch so that you can feel every little bump. Bream are very fussy, shy, finicky and touchy at times, and they will often just bump your lure to see how it reacts....you need to feel that. Also choose a high visibility colour, (yellow, pink, etc) so you can see your line. Sometimes you wont even feel a touch, but just see your line move slightly on the surface.

Sure, if a big Barra takes your lure, it's gonna take off and bust you off (that's fishing), so maybe use Barra gear to target Barra instead. Big fish are likely to smoke you when you use ultralight tackle, but remember, many a good Mulloway/Jewfish has also been caught on 4 and 6lb Bream tackle. You upgrade to gear which will cope with Barra and Jacks, and you greatly decrease your chance of hooking the Bream you initially set out to target. Also, there's no point in loading heavy braid onto a reel with a small line capacity/4lb drag, sitting on a rod rated to a maximum of 6-8lb. Yep, ya heavy line will cope with a Barra, but you'll run out of line before ya stop it, or snap ya rod! Upgrade to reel with a heavier drag and greater capacity, mount it on a heavier rod, and now you're not using Bream gear anymore.

I'm not going to recommend a reel, because the choices are wide, varied and budget dependant (Daiwa and Shimano are the two biggest names in this tackle), but you'll need a reel in the 1500-2500 size range, preferably with a wide shallow spool, braid friendly roller and a very smooth drag system. Avoid places like Anaconda, K-Mart, etc, but instead go to ya local reputable tacklestore to get advice from guys you can trust who use the gear. Tell them your budget, and they should lay out a range of suitable reels for you. Also take the rod with you to mount the reels onto it while making your decision.

Hopefully the rod is a light graphite (1-3 or 2-4kg) and around the 7' mark.

When it comes to trying your hand at Bream luring, there's an awful lot to learn in a short space of time, as you're gonna be using different lines, leaders, knots, lures and techniques, so about the best advice I can offer is to nip into the tacklestore and grab a copy of the Berkeley Soft Plastics DVD with Adam Royter. It's about the most informative DVD I've seen on the subject, it's delivered in an amusing, easy to understand method, and it's absolutely packed with useful information on rods,reels, lines, leaders, knots, techniques, jigheads, lures, selection, etc. You'll find it a great help to get you started, and it answers pretty much every question you haven't even thought of yet.


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## Junglefisher (Jun 2, 2008)

Ranger said:


> Sure, if a big Barra takes your lure, it's gonna take off and bust you off (that's fishing), so maybe use Barra gear to target Barra instead. Big fish are likely to smoke you when you use ultralight tackle, but remember, many a good Mulloway/Jewfish has also been caught on 4 and 6lb Bream tackle. You upgrade to gear which will cope with Barra and Jacks, and you greatly decrease your chance of hooking the Bream you initially set out to target. Also, there's no point in loading heavy braid onto a reel with a small line capacity/4lb drag, sitting on a rod rated to a maximum of 6-8lb. Yep, ya heavy line will cope with a Barra, but you'll run out of line before ya stop it, or snap ya rod! Upgrade to reel with a heavier drag and greater capacity, mount it on a heavier rod, and now you're not using Bream gear anymore.


I'ts up to the person involved of course, but up here 50% of your catch is likely to be bycatch of jacks, barra, moses perch, fingermark etc. 
I've never known anyone that actually fishes the tropics regularly to recomend going lighter than 10lb.
I don't fish bream, Cairns does not have a good bream fishery but I would not go any lighter than 10lb for my mainline. 6 lb braid means you will be putting around 1-2lb pressure on the fish, 10lb means you will be up around 2-4lb drag, big diference.


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## Ranger (May 31, 2008)

Junglefisher, I respect your knowledge of the local area.

I think the different areas we fish denote our difference in opinions and tactics, and this also has to be taken into consideration by Barrabundy. As Barrabundy is up your end of the country, possibly your advice is much more valuable to him than mine, even though I spend most of my time Breamfishing, as for you lot up there, the environment is different to ours, and the bycatch is barra and jacks, while down here for us in the south, bycatch is mainly salmon trout and school mulloway. We don't have oyster racks, so don't require heavy leaders, and the fish here don't seem to hang out under boat hulls as they do elsewhere.

Also bear in mind the difference in Bream species. Our Southern Black Bream _butcherii_ are a lot more timid than your Eastern/Yellowfin _australis_ so we need to use a little more finesse with our fishing down this way.



> 6 lb braid means you will be putting around 1-2lb pressure on the fish, 10lb means you will be up around 2-4lb drag, big diference.


Keep in mind though, we are talking braid here (not mono), which breaks well above it's rated strength. Because of this I rarely fish with 2-4lb drag, even on my meagre 6lb mainline. The Bream hold tight to structure, so when I hook one, I wanna quickly drag it free of the structure before it turns and snaps me off on barnacles, etc, or snags me amongst the structure, so I normally tighten my drag right up (6-8lb on my Daiwa Airities) and skull-drag the fish out, letting the rod tip act as a shock absorber for me. I've rarely busted the line doing this, whereas with monofilament 6lb I would be instantly pinged.

Just to satify my own curiosity, what sized leaders would be the norm up your way when targetting Bream? Down this way we'd also use 6lb, but alternate between about 4 and 10lb to suit the environment we are fishing at the time.

I gotta admit, we have some cracker sized fish down here in the south, but I'd certainly like to have the variety you lot get up in the north! And with bycatch such as you get up that way (fingermark, coral trout, etc), why bother fishing for Bream in the first place? ;-) :lol:


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## Ranger (May 31, 2008)

Ranger said:


> Junglefisher, I respect your knowledge of the local area.
> 
> I think the different areas we fish denote our difference in opinions and tactics, and this also has to be taken into consideration by Barrabundy. As Barrabundy is up your end of the country, possibly your advice is much more valuable to him than mine, even though I spend most of my time Breamfishing, as for you lot up there, the environment is different to ours, and the bycatch is barra and jacks, while down here for us in the south, bycatch is mainly salmon trout and school mulloway. We don't have oyster racks, so don't require heavy leaders, and the fish here don't seem to hang out under boat hulls as they do elsewhere.
> 
> ...


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## Junglefisher (Jun 2, 2008)

As I say, I don't target them but I'd say 10-20lb leaders. Maybe go 4-6lb if they are quiet and you are willing to risk your lures to get a bite (we've all been there).
I've heard of people using 40lb leader (on mira shads / SX40s) when the fish are really fired up and still getting busted off.


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## Barrabundy (Sep 29, 2008)

Thanks for your input guys. I've got a 7" Uglystik 1-4kg (glass rod) which has a slow taper. I reckon the rod is probably ok but am probably too heavy with the 12lb line and 30lb leader. I can flick the soft plastics with 1/8oz heads easily but not sure how I'd go with the really small hb's (new in packets for 7 years!). The reel is a Penn Slammer 420? which is over gunned for bream but I've never actually targetted them before.

I'll take all your comments on board and see how I go.


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## Ranger (May 31, 2008)

Barrabundy, if you wanna get serious about the bream it might be time for a new rod too.

1/8th is very heavy for a bream jighead, as it'll tend to plummet straight to the bottom looking awfully un-natural. You'll actually find that most times you're using weights only a fraction of that (1/50, 1/40, 1/32, 1/20 or even an unweighted hook). This it to increase the "hang time" in the strikezone.

A soft/slow tapered glass rod really isn't suitable for tossing these around accurately, and you'll find a faster action graphite rod does a much better job of flicking the light weights where you want them.

You'll also find that the hardbodies cast easier than the soft plastics as the hardbodies weigh a few grams.


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## Feral (Oct 18, 2008)

4lb mono would be fine, match it with a Siena, tidy little reel, its only bream your chasing, it will handle that fine with the odd flatty or cod bycatch. (They will chew through the mono if a reasonable size anyway)


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## Barrabundy (Sep 29, 2008)

No wonder I've only ever caught 2 bream on a lure! Seems I have a lot to learn.


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## danfish (Feb 20, 2009)

viewtopic.php?f=10&t=27164&hilit=fish+of+the+month+bream

This was the fish of the month topic, surely be something of use in there.

Dan


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## Barrabundy (Sep 29, 2008)

Thought I should give some feedback after taking/not taking on board your comments.

Went out today with one rod set up to target bream. As I haven't been shopping yet I put together what ever I could and used my 8yo son's $10 Jarvis Walker (k-mart) rod. I whacked on a Penn spinfisher 4200 with 10lbs mono on it and tied the lightest jighead I had to it with a grub over the top.

First couple of casts I had a hit. What ever it was took the tail off the grub.......and I'd left my sp's in the ute :twisted: :twisted:

Seeing I couldn't get any interest on the remaining bit of plastic I resorted to hb's (for anything)....and went home with nothing 

Thanks for the advice, I will get there eventually.


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## grinner (May 15, 2008)

agree with most of the advice above esp light jig heads but the most important thing with bream fishing is this

BE QUIET no noise whatsoever, no tapping rods and jigs on the hull or fiddling with tackleboxes or sneezing or pedaling noisoly.

drift and make no noise whatsoever, ie never bream fish in a big bunch and leave the kids at home.

also head for a shady area. a little tip , the shade cast by a red or green beacon may well be enough to hold a bream

cheers pete


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## Astro (Nov 27, 2006)

BB this makes you the first nth qlder that i know that targets bream...i prefer fishing for jacks and barra and have bream as a by catch

good luck with it


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## Junglefisher (Jun 2, 2008)

I actually managed to catch some bream (pikey) a few weeks back.
I was using my normal gear - 2-4kg T-curve and shimani twin power 2500 spooled with 10lb braid. 30lb fluoro leader as I know there are big tarpon and barra in this creek.
They fight alright, I reckon they outfought the jacks I was also catching unless the jacks were distinctly bigger.


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## Ranger (May 31, 2008)

grinner said:


> agree with most of the advice above esp light jig heads but the most important thing with bream fishing is this
> 
> BE QUIET no noise whatsoever, no tapping rods and jigs on the hull or fiddling with tackleboxes or sneezing or pedaling noisoly.
> 
> ...


Grinner, I don't wanna disagree with this statement, because you are correct, but I do want to elaborate on it a bit if that's ok!

NOISE itself isn't a problem at all! You'll often find bream around bridge pylons, wharves, slipways, etc with trains, cars, trucks, power tools, hammers and all manner of commotion going on. Strangely, this doesn't seem to worry them in the least.

Likewise, feel free to talk with ya mates, yell out to a friend, or make whatever noise you deem fit ON THE SURFACE!

What does create a big problem is noise transmitted through the water!!! And remember, noise travels through water much more easily than it does through air!

Drop a jighead, move ya foot, slide ya tacklebox, and you've blown it instantly!

Bream spook very very easily! They are one of the most timid and finicky fish you will find, so go away and try another area for awhile, and return later!

Likewise, let ya shadow fall on the water, or even rapid movement or a flash of colour, and they'll shut down! Keep ya shadow away from where you are fishing and move only your casting arm!

The GOOD thing about Bream, is that once spooked, they dont take too long to settle again! Give them 10-15 mins and they'll be back feeding normally again!

Another thing if you spook a school and they take off, is that they dont tend to move very far. So stay put, give em a little time to settle, but try casting 20m to each side of your position and you may well pick them up again!

The shade is an excellent tip! Bream love structure, they love shaded areas, they love changes in structure (ie: where sand meets rockwall). Cast as close to that structure as you can......in fact, HIT IT with your jighead, that's how close you need to put your lure to it!

Here's a coupla pics fishing underneath one of our busiest and noisiest expressways here in Adelaide! And keep in mind, our Southern Bream are even more timid than those you come across in the northern climes.


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## Ranger (May 31, 2008)

Junglefisher said:


> They fight alright, I reckon they outfought the jacks I was also catching unless the jacks were distinctly bigger.


Bream are brilliant bang for ya buck, and they are a very hard fighting fish for their weight. The problem is the fight is over all too quickly! Ya hook em in structure, turn their head to drag em out, then within seconds the fight is all over.

I can't comment in comparison to Jacks, but I have HEARD the fight is similar! Jacks are hooked in the structure, and they will attempt to get back in, so you need to fish with a tight drag, get them out into open water quickly, then you have a chance of playing them out, coz if you let them get back in to the structure they will do you every time!

Albeit Jack fishing is done on a much heavier gear than Bream fishing.

A lot of my friends from down South rave constantly about heading north for the Barra fishing during the run off. To be honest Barra dont really excite me as much as they do everyone else. I'd much rather come north sometime to try my hand at the Jacks instead. A species I've always wanted to target and cross of my "must catch" list. I guess I like to try my hand with the "brawlers" of the water (bream, Jacks, Snapper, Kingies, Trevally-the hooligans of the sea).

Then I can move on to the Black Bass in PNG.


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## grinner (May 15, 2008)

ranger, thanks for those tips, i agree you are right and it gives me more things to think about when pursuing them

cheers pete


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## Ranger (May 31, 2008)

Grinner, I noticed you also made mention of jighead weight being important, and that cannot be overstated!

One of the biggest problems people make is using too heavy a jighead, so the plastic just plummets down through the water column! It doesn't look at all natural and it doesn't hang in the strikezone! For most applications unweighted, 1/50, 1/24, is ample weight, just give it some time to sink!

Ya have to remember, this is "luring" and it's all about making things look as natural as possible to the fish! A very light weight will take it's time getting down, and that's what you want, coz you aren't in any rush anyway! Keep it hanging in front of the fishes nose, so they can have a good look at it, then one tiny little movement of the rod, and they'll pounce on it!

The other thing is retrieval speed. Everyone wants to crank it back in way too quickly! With bream, SLOW is the key, with lots of stops in the retrieve! Turn the handle 3 times, stop, light a ciggie, turn 3 times, stop, have a drink, turn 3 times, stop, pick ya nose, etc. Same deal, the plastic stops in front of them, one small twitch of the rod tip and BANG, they pounce!


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## Barrabundy (Sep 29, 2008)

Reading this thread with interest and one thing I haven't worked out yet is how do you fish with light jigheads in current? That's pretty much the only reason I put weight on, regardless of target species. In still water at the top and bottom of the tide its not a problem but, during the run, it's pretty hard to get the lure to where you want it before the current takes it away....or do you not fish in current?


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## Jon (Sep 21, 2007)

i've found with fishing in current is to cast up current or slightly up current and let the sp sink and float towards you. this will get your sp to the required depth.


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