question on bream fishing

[kevin1987316]

i always use cut or whole pilchard as bream bait but problem comes that i miss nearly 80% of the fish during hook sets.

the rod was M action,fast tip 1.8m so it cannot be a problem of a soft rod tip. the rig was simply a running sinker on the main line and one hook attached on the 30cm leader. the connection between main line and leader is a swivel.

usually, the fish has one or two strike and then take the bait, when the fish take the bait and go like 1m continously, i give a violent strike!

everything seems perfect but the fish was not hooked up!

i have tried 2 hooks on the leader and it increased my success a little bit. still, i miss 60% of the bites. i cannot imagine how a fish takes my bait and eat it without getting hooked?

anyone has similar problems with me?

[JEWIENEWIE]

just make sure that when you bait your hook it is not overcrowding it. Make sure there is plenty of barb showing. Half a pillie would be ample i feel.
Jewie

[BGG]

How big is the hook?

[kevin1987316]

the hook is the half the size of a pilly's head(is it too small?). and i am using halp a pilly or even one-third or smaller. i left the hook point uncovered but these all didn't work.
i have read that big bream love to swim with the bait for a while before swollowing it. it that the reason?

[kevin1987316]

and i only miss big ones, i mean, over 30. i seldom lose smaller species. but i believe small hook catches big fish too. i am thinking if i shoud use a tiny hook or a huge one similar the size of the bait i use.

[shaman]

Are u fishing surf, estuary or rock??
Are u experiencing the same with big and small baits??
What size hook are you using???
Where are the fish striking the bait, head or tail???

[kevin1987316]

i am fishing along the beach. smaller bait calls for smaller fish and the hook up rate increased a little bit. i cannot tell exactly how big the hook is but it is not a bit bigger than half the pilly's head.
as i usually cut the pilly into 2 pieces and place the hook at the end with more meat and that is where the fish usually bites.

[shaman]

Kev, using a larger bait doesn't always mean only bigger fish will touch it. Your problem may be that smaller bream are actually running with your bait and not hooking up because of bait and hook size, small bream can fool the most hardened bream fisho. The bigger fish when they do strike are hooking up but your getting harrassed by the smaller stuff hence the increased hook ups on smaller baits. Try a slightly smaller bait with a small set of gangs, that way you can have best of both worlds. Also you might want to try a brass ring on your sinker, tie a loop of heavy line around your sinker with a brass ring attached then thread your main line through the ring, it will ensure your line runs a lot more freely and the bream can run harder with less resistance. The surf action will bow your line so when the fish strikes it can pull the slack up cleanly and with less resistance the fish will be more willing to swallow the bait rather than spitting it. Hope it works for you..................

[kevin1987316]

thanks, shaman, those are great points, i will have a try.

[craig51063]

all good advise but also use chemically sharp hooks

[Mullet Musketeer]

I have always found that bigger bream will hook themselves - i.e I don't need to strike too violently - I also have caught my biggest surf Bream on worms on #4 hooks. The only problem is always that for every decent one you catch you first need to get about 20 undersize dart, whiting etc.

[nigelr]

Kevin, have you tried using flesh baits such as tailor, mullet, mac tuna etc?
These will give you a tougher bait than a pilchard, will stand up a bit better to the attacks of smaller bream, dart etc before being demolished.
Try using a Mustad Demon Finewire circle hook, say between size 2 - 1/0.
These are a very fine and sharp hook, the bream will hook themselves without your necessarily needing to strike.
Imagine the bait being the shape of a longish triangle, about 4.5 - 6cm long with a base say 2cm, insert the hook (once only) into the top corner from the flesh side through the skin.
The bait should hang naturally from the hook with the point exposed and the gape of the hook uncrowded by the bait.
Unfortunately I can't draw it for you as I an not very computer literate!
You may find your 1.8m rod a little short if the surf conditions are anything but smooth, I reckon the circles will overcome any disadvantages in this regard, to a degree at least, because they do not rely on striking to hook-up.
Cheers and good fishing.




Cheers and best of luck.

[kevin1987316]

i will try various kinds of hook and see which one works the best.
all of my hooks are chemically sharpened so as long as the fish gets it in the mouth, there is no way i will miss it.

[kingtin]

i will try various kinds of hook and see which one works the best.
all of my hooks are chemically sharpened so as long as the fish gets it in the mouth, there is no way i will miss it.

MMMMMMMMMMMMMmmmmmmmmmmm!

Just surprised that no-one has yet mentioned just how tough a bream's gob is. The only one's that I have ever caught without striking, have been gut hooked.

Kevin, a soft tipped rod, stretch in mono, slack, in line or leader, always conspire to prevent you hooking decent bream.

I've only just taken the advice of someone here.............I've always fished with a leader and running ledger stopped well up from the hook by a swivel and was experiencing the same as you. I was advised to fish my weight directly onto the hook (mainly to prevent snagging) which I did during my week long holiday at the Tweed last month. Doing this, It not only cut down on snagging, but also improved my hook-up rate and I experienced my best catches of bream ever.

Perhaps it had nothing to do with the method and maybe the NSW fish are as slow as their footy players?

Oh, and I use size 2/0 gamakatsu octopus hooks. If they can't get it in their gob, then they ain't worth catching.

kev

[shaman]

Good point Kev. when bream fishing I always fish with my sinker right on top of my hook, picked up from fishing Redland Bay for years (coffee rock) but do you think it would work in the surf?? I would have thought you would be hindering the movement of bait. I always thought that fish feeding in the surf rely on the washing motion to move food around. Would the bait get buried in the sand if it was anchored to the bottom? Just a thought.................. Billy