Nice afternoon but not a single fish!

[Gregori]

Just starting out trying to learn to fish again and get a feed. Use to go as a kid with my parents when we went on holidays only, and only ever caught a few (no boat)
Now my 13 yo son has expressed some interest, but its just 1 goose trying to teach another. Anyway we have just come back from a pleasant arvo fishing from the shore, near the airport on Botany Bay.

We chose the appropriate rig for catching bream, for which the book told me were one of the main species in the area.

Used fresh prawns, but should have taken the prawns home and cooked them in a nice pasta dish instead of feeding a half kilo to the fish!

Been reading the books,choosing the right bait on what i think is the right rig for bream, I even used one or two half hitch knots to try and make it a bit harder for the fish. (all this did was leave knots in my line)

I was getting good bites, usually within a minute or two of casting into the water,
but every single time, the fish got the feed and i didn't!!!!!>:(

What are the possible things I am doing wrong? Or are fish just brighter than me??:-/

Last week I managed to land two small but keepable bream in the exact same spot, however that also took about a half kilo of prawns before i landed those 2.

Your help would be appreciated

Regards
Greg

[mik01]

how are you hooking the prawn mate?
I usually hook the prawn through the first joint of the tail and thats it - makes the prawn hang in the water like its swimming around. the idea is that the fish will swallow the whole prawn head first and you will hook it.

i'm no expert, but perhaps the fish were too small to take your bait whole and were 'picking' your bait off? this will happen easily if the prawns aren't fresh too.
bream usually eat anything so have you tried other baits?

[Gregori]

Hi Mik01,

I've been hooking the prawns starting at the tail and threading it on, trying to get the tip of the hook sticking out somewhere just below the head, assuming the more of the prawn stuck on or held by the hook, the harder for it to come off.
But the little buggers are still just helping themselves.

So threading the prawn like you suggest, may make it easier for the fish to swallow the prawn whole, do you think? as opposed to how it has to pick at mine because its on too well???,.

Maybe you are right with the size of the fish having a feed, although I do seem to get a fairly strong bight. I know thats a bit hard to measure, but the few fish I have caught over the years suggest that the bites I am feeling would make the fish a similar size.

Have tried worms with similar results, once again the worm is threaded along the shank of the hook.

Do you think I should try experimenting with different size hooks ?

Regards
Greg

[joeT]

Smaller hooks are the go. Try something like a size 4 hook with half a peeled prawn. With bream, they might seem to bite hard, but when you pull them up they are often the pesty little buggers.

[oldboot]

Sounds like a dose of small fry syndrome.

these little buggers are clever than you think, & they'll pick, pick, pick.

When you consider that a legal bream is at least 2 years old, by that time they have learned a few things, particularly if they hang arround a popular land bassed spot.

You may not get any more legal bream but you might get the satisfaction of landing one of the pesky little suckers with some improved technique.

Smaller hook is a definite goer...... I also tend to use a quite small keeper hook free running above the main hook.
slip on a very much smaller hook than the main hook befor you tie on the main hook with the points facing each other.
Thread up your half peeled prawn in the usual manner then hook the keeper in the top of the bait and pull the trace tight.
this makes it harder for them to pull the bait off.

Often the anoying little fellas will get hooked on the keeper hook......they probly know what a hook looks like in a bait, but they werent looking for the keeper;D .

This works ona bigger scale too.

I tend to run a decent length trace a foot or two too. and little or no weight.

These small fry might not make a meal for you , but if you can land them without the loss of too much bait, you can catch bigger stuff ( well thats the theory).


cheers

[Little grey men]

As the previous posts have suggested, downsize your hooks, reduce the weight and possibly try various and cheaper baits. I fish with my little boy who mainly uses bait when we fish in the salt, I go for plastics and lures myself.
When ever my wife buys chicken, I always slice a bit off to keep in the freezer as bait...very effective on bream. If you want to get serious, soak the chicken pieces in tuna oil.
Another good bait is mullet ( skin on ) This stays on the hook very well and will attract a lot of fish, and it's cheap as chips:) Do a search here on bream baits and a tonne of valuable info will come your way, everything from mullet gut to hot chips and cheese ???
I quite often get fresh peeled banana prawns, one prawn will give my young bloke 4 baits. I always grab a half kilo, keep a few for bait and chuck the rest in the pan with some finely sliced garlic and soy...Hungry now.
You'll always have little fellas picking away at your bait, that's just fishing.
But inbetween these little pickers something good sized will come along and give you some real fun.
Good luck to you and your boy.