Jetty Bream Fishing?

[Keechie]

hi
i am looking for a new rod to use for fishing off jetty's using soft plastics and hardbodies targeting bream. i came across this problem when i stayed at tangalooma fishing the jetty i lost many fish due to lifting it straight up and nearly snapping my rod and it put too much pressure on my knots and it snapped losing about 4 bream around 30 - 35cm. i will use this rod quite regularly and my price range is up to about $200. i am thinking about a shimano rack raider in the 1 pce 2-4 kilograms or something like that but something that is strong enough to lift up decent sized bream.

rergards,
keechie

[Little grey men]

The raider will do the job easy mate, and it won't cost you the earth. I use one for bass and it performs beautifully. Perhaps you shouldn't lift the fish with the rod. Think of your rod as a shock absorber to fight fish under water not as a crane.You might be better to grab the line and heave them up over the edge...never stress your rod more than you have to.

[Flattie Assassin]

Yes most rods are going to handle a decent bream. The best bream rod i have had by far is the Shimano XL 2-4kg Tcurve. The fish just seem to inhale the bait. The action of the rod is medium, and the fishies seem to have ingested the bait before it even loads any pressure on them. It's the greatest rod in the world eva. !!!! lol.

[Noelm]

I guess if it is to be used from a Jetty, then almost any rod will do (but some will be better) and I think it would be a pretty weak old rod that could not lift a Bream! but in saying that, the Rods mentioned already will fit the bill nicely (especially the Tcurve) as will a host of others, do you intend the rod to be a "jetty only" or a "do all" type of setup?

[Keechie]

hi
yeah i must agree the t-curve rod is the best i have used and i already have one but i was looking for something not as whippy as the t-curve anyway i might add the rack raider to the collection i will wait and see what some other ausfishers think.

regards,
keechie

[imnotoriginal]

I use a strudwick sikstic off the same jetty (and will do again as of tomorrow!) and have had good success. I recommend you use a slightly longer rod (mine's 7 foot) so you can keep the little buggers away from the pylons a bit easier. Something with a bit of grunt in the butt can be useful, but you need some softness in the tip to get the best out of your sps. Haven't used the raider but it sounds the goods. What sps were you having your best luck with? I found the 2inch powerbaits and the cutdown turtlebacks worked well. They;re also great fun to target on bread!
Joel

[Keechie]

gday imnotoriginal
my mate used the 2 inch power minnows but i couldn't find anywhere to buy them but i caught a few on the berkley gulp 6 inch sandworms in natural, berkley gulp 3" minnows, real bloodworm squidgy flickbaits size one and small atomic paddle tails, i caught all my bream just slightly jigging the plastic near the ladder at the end of the jetty, under the jetty where you board the boat and by the pylons and on the flats near where you board. i also caught about 200 pike around 30-45cm the week i was there on anything but mostly 3 inch minnows in clear and pearl watermelon and squidgy bugs on a 1/16th of an ouce jighead off the end of the jetty. i used 1 grams to 2 grams the entire time i was there and i used a stinger in my sandworm but all the hook ups were on the jighead.

regards,
keechie

(p.s cant wait till i get back there hopefully over the school holidays)

[imnotoriginal]

Yeah mate, the pike are in plague proportions. I'm looking forward to trying the worms out over there as I think they may be very effective. I mainly target the pike at night to use as bait for bigger stuff, did you try any fishing there at night? The bread also brings up a real tough fight as you can sometimes hook a blue puller. They're just like a drummer and a real bugger to try and keep away from the pylons. I had one on the surface and the minute he got his head back underwater it was all over, just too much power for my light rod and small hook. If you're over there next week or from the 15th-22nd let me know as I'll be staying at the resort those weeks.
Joel

[Keechie]

hey mate
unfortunately i won't be there due to me fisnishing school in 2 weeks.
and unfortunately i didn't manage a night fish but i would of love to of had a night fish but i stayed in a house so it was like suicidal walking up 300 stairs in pitch black. what my mate and i did was we got a 3" gulp minnow and cut the head and tail off so it was about a 1.5" piece of plastic and put it on a small resin head and also bought a loaf of bread and we through little chunks in then our newly developed plastics so it would sink down slowly and we picked up some excellent bream and no pike so that was quite good. alsoo what we did we threw on a small pike onto his gamerod and let it just sit there in the water using the ladder at the end of the jetty as a rod holder and let it sit there ten minutes later the rod twitched a bit then all of a sudden all hell broke loose line was peeling of at a rapid rate well after 15 minutes fighting he brang him close to the jetty and took anothewr run and SNAP!!! there goes the line. With the berkley gulp worms what i found best was having a nitro 1/16th of an ounce jighead through the front and also a nitro hidden weight jihead threaded through once about 2 1/2 inches from the tail so it sunk slowly and just balance in the water calmly that was deadly on bream also be careful of the pike doing this becausethey come and attack it and cut through your leader and i also cut the worm down to 3 " or 4" and it caught alot of butter bream. i hope this helps.

regards,
keechie

[imnotoriginal]

I never throw livies out during the middle of the day, I'm amazed you didn't hook a cormorant. They usually nail anything live, especially pike, that's a feast to those buggers. Cheers for all the info mate, I'll post a report after the trip. Hopefully the weather stays good and I'll have a few fish to show.
Joel