How to Catch Australia favourite Saltwater Fish

Hard Bodied Lures For Bream

Many anglers first introduction to catching bream lure was on the small, yellow French 'Floppy'. This was thought to be an aberration and when the French Floppy was no longer available, interest in this endeavor seemed to wane. However, in the ensuring Years, a number of anglers, in widely separate locations, In fact some anglers take good size caught bream on lures consistently.

Lure presentations then involved casting or trolling. Small bibbed minnows like those made by Rapala in the 3 to 7 cm range are excellent in small water locations where casting requirements are not extreme. Alternatives include Rapala Mini Fat Rap, Deception Nipper and Palaemon, RMG Scorpion 35STD, Baby Merlin, Micro Min, Lively Mini Micro, Bream Special and Rebel Crawdad. Of course there are many others.

Nowadays there are literally hundreds of lures available to the Australian bream angler. Along with locally designed and produced lures we have seen a great increase in specialty lures being brought in form Japan, America, China and Korea. Many of these international specialised "Australian colors" to their range to increase sales Down Under ( Rapala Countdown Minnow CD3, CD5, CD7, Rapala Mini Fat Rap ).
Hard Bodied Lure Tactics

During the day, bream lure may be tempted from heavy cover by accurately casting and retrieving bibbed lures. Of course becoming snagged is a frequent occurrence, and retrieving the lure from a snag, if that is possible, may spook the fish you are seeking. Like any fishing endeavor, casting and retrieving lures in relatively heavy cover is a skill that takes time to develop.

Bream are to be found around oyster racks and the angler prepared to risk his lure by casting as close to the rack as possible is likely to get a strike. But remember, getting a strike-or even a solid hook-up in such circumstances does not guarantee a fish, far from it. When the rising tide covers the rack, bream can sometimes be seen feeding above the rack, either in small pods or singly. A ( Deception Nipper, Palaemon, Halco RMG Scorpion 35STD, Bennett Lures Baby Merlin, Predatek Micro-Min, Lively Mini Micro ) lure presented within the strike zone is likely to be taken. However, initiating a retrieve in such circumstances is likely to result in the lure being caught on the rack.

At night, when bream frequently move into extremely show water, anglers may take them by sight fishing to disturbed water or visible bow waves. Bibbed minnows are very limited in this application because even the shallow running varieties will catch on the bottom under these conditions. Lures do need to be selected carefully for such exercises, and sometimes "tuned" to produce a specific performance. Fishing lure for sale for bream is easiest from a boat for fairly obvious reasons. Trolling is an option for one thing, either using lures prefer to cast and retrieve lures in likely locations, either from a drifting boat, or from the bank, even the most committed lure-caster will resort to trolling when bream are proving difficult to find.

You will find bream feeding in the shallows only to spook them by approaching too quickly or too closely. To avoid this happening use an electric motor to position upwind ( that's if there is any ) so that you can get that extra long cast in with a hard body. If there is fair bit of wind about I will shoot the lure up into the air and allow the wind to pick it up and take it that bit further. The rod that i use for this is between 2.1 to 2.4 meters in length and the reel spooled up with Berkley 20 or 4 pound Trilene straight through.
Fishing Soft Plastics Lure For Bream

There are literally thousands of soft plastics options for bream fishing lure for sale. Most involve the use of a simple lead jig, but some anglers do employ the use of variety of other hooking options. Of the vast array of plastics some of the popular styles include Curl Tail Grubs, Worms, Shads, Stickbaits, Jerkbaits, Prawns, and T-Tail grubs.
Curl Tail Grubs

The First ever curl tailed grub that most anglers would have used was the Mister Twister for targeting dusky flathead lure. During those early years, while chasing flathead there were plenty of bream taken on curled tailed grubs-many anglers thought that these bream were an old bycatch. Once we started to experiment a fair bit ( cutting the plastics down in size and trimming the tails ) we realised that you can in fact target bream on soft plastics.

Now there are heaps of curl tailed grubs or as some companies call them 'Wigglers' on the market. What is really good about this type of soft plastic is that it has a built in action through the tail. The next time you put onto a jig head try pulling it slowly through the water and you will see that it doesn't take much for the tail to start moving- making it a good lure to try when starting out.

One favourite curled tailed grub is the gulp 1 and 2 inch Fat Tailed Grub rigged on a 1/16 oz jig head. What i like about this soft plastic is that you can skip it over the top of the water ( just like skipping a stone ) to get it under over hanging trees or into those little corners that you find in and around floating pontoons. The plastic has a bit of weight to it, which helps when casting and you can also trim down the tail to give it a tighter action.
Soft Plastic Worms

Soft plastic worms come in a variety of lengths. They range from 1 to 6 inch and i Have at least one of each of these sizes in my bream bag, but the main one that i use is the Gulp 6 inch Camo Worm that I cut in half and use on a variety of jig head sizes and weights. This is a very good soft plastic to use when casting up against weed beds and boat hulls.

It is the type of lure that can be cast and allowed to sit on the bottom for longer than many other soft plastics. While Using them this way many a bream just pick up the worm and take off with it. If you are finding that the bream is just mouthing the soft plastic lure try using a string hook.
Shads

Due to the shape of the shad i find that i can work these soft plastics quicker over a sand or weedy bottom in a hopping action. Much like a frog hopping. Most of the shads that i use have a bit more weight to them, so this also helps in getting that extra distance in my cast. I like to use these by casting towards a rocky shoreline and then slowly hopping and swimming them down the face of the rock wall.

On the occasions I will work these soft plastic over the "Flats" by casting out as far as i can and just slow rolling them back towards the boat. If i get a strike from a fish and doesn't hook up i Will stop the retrieve, allow it to sink then give it a couple of small hops.
Stick or Jerk Baits

A traditional stick or jerk bait is generally designed to work across the surface. One of the first used when chasing bream with soft plastics was and still in the 3 inch Bass Lure ( Minnow ). The 3 inch Sluggo was the first of many to follow. Many a bream competition has been won by anglers using a stick or jerk baits because they are such a versatile soft plastic lure, they can be worked just about anywhere-down rock walls, over the flats, across the surface, under pontoons and boats, over and under oyster racks and more. They can be rigged on unweighted and weighted jig heads.
Prawns

One of my favourite baits ( dead or alive ) when targeting bream is the humble prawn. Plenty of Bream get caught on baits, but when it comes to using soft plastics the prawn rates highly in any anglers arsenal of soft plastics. They can be skipped, twitched, jerked, allowed to slow sink, left on the bottom or anything else you can think of trying. I might be wrong, but i don't think there would be a competition bream angler without one in the tackle box. One that comes to mind is the gulp Banana Prawn.
T-Tail Grub

The T-Tail Grub is a short plastic worm with a flat, circular, oval or tapered tail section which is attached to a tapering body. They are also called paddle tails. When retrieved through the water or left to sink, this paddle tail will work its magic and hopefully entice the bream to strike. They usually have a ribbed body and this allows for plenty of scent to be added to the Lure.

More information about the soft plastics to use, when targeting bream and the other species mentioned on the other article "Fishing with Soft Plastics".