Bream Bait Fishing Tactics

[SkipperGary]

Decided to fish Paradise Point (Coomera River) yacht mooring area yesterday afternnon hoping for a feed of winter Bream. Low tide 5:30pm - expected Bream to come on the bite between 6.00 and 7.30 when the moon would be up and tide would be running in again. Wind was SW and went around W before dying off to less than 2knts by 8.00pm. Seemed like a perfect night for bream fishing.
Fished (quietly without lights) at anchor with burley in close to some great structure in about 11ft of water. Bait was live yabbies and herring fillets. 6lb main line with single hook with running 00 sinker straight onto hook.
Result: 2 just legal bream immediately prior to the bottom of the tide and then absolutely nothing. Couldn't lose a bait for 2.5hrs! Not even a "dinner plate" was caught. Moved a couple of times and tried drifting but to no avail.
My question to all the bream experts out there is: what am I doing wrong. I usually fish the first 2 hrs of the run-in tide and if this coincides with dusk even better and do really well on 30cm + bream in other spots closer to entrances. My thought is that maybe the bream are further down towards the entrances on the first of the run-in tide and move up where Paradise Point is later in the tide or is the water there just not good for them at present. it was a little cloudy with a lot of canal dredging going on at present.
There was a fair bit of bait around in the shallows after dark so the food is there. Any thoughts?
Gary

[BrettyJ]

I just don't think the winter bream have arrived in full force yet. A mate that I fish with went to our normal winter spot down the seaway this morning and only managed 13 legal between 2 of them, this place is normally good for 30+ legal fish in a session.

[sandbankmagnet]

agree with Gary, We hit a gun spot where between 2 people we can land 50 in a night (surf) but only got 7.

[Gold_Coast_Chaser]

Hey Skipper Gary,

I disagree, I think the bream are out in force at the moment, you just have to find them my last few trips in Nerang have bought me at least 10 Legal Bream each trip. I think there slowly gettin bigger aswell.

My rig is quite different to yours. You say "6lb main line with single hook with running 00 sinker straight onto hook", theres nothing wrong with the line, i tend to use a bit heavier then that but that doesnt matter. The difference is , i use main line to a relatively small sinker/swivel with a 1-2m long trace seperating them from a small hook. Ive started using this longer trace and they seem to love it. I think small hooks are better, and dont worry, you can catch big fish on small hooks, not sure of exact size but it is only 2cm long and 1cm gap (friend got a 68cm flatty on this size hook ). I think maybe you could of tried other baits aswell, i prefer prawns (and the bream seem to aswell).

Hope This helps!

[killitfillit]

we use medium sized whole pillys on 3 x 3/0s unweighted and catch big and small bream,squire,taylor,cod,flathead etc. while other s fishing next to us go untouched.this morning i landed two nice taylor and a 2.2 kilo squire on this rig.i really like the gangsta hooks by owner even though the eye needs straightening a little and the top hook eye completely straight with a swivel attached.even small bream attack so agressively they hook themselves

[PinHead]

water temp is still around the 21 mark..needs to drop a bit more yet to attract the breeders. I use a metre long trace..small sinker on top of swivel..No 2 hook..mono line..and chook gut.

[SkipperGary]

Thanks for the valued input everyone. I will try some new tactics next trip.
Cheers,
Gary

[Freeeedom]

If you couldn't give away live yabbies then the fish were not present in that location. Nothing wrong with your rig for quiet water - that's similar to what I use, just varying the sinker size so that your bait can reach the bottom. I agree with BrettyJ and SandBankMagnet - the winter bream don't seem to have started in force yet. Shouldn't be far away and when they start they will hang around the entrances of the rivers and creeks, so target thoise areas. It was interesting that when I was at Iluka in April catching some stonker bream, they were mostly females that had already spawned. Maybe the drought or global warming is causing changes to 'normal' patterns - I guess we'll have to wait and see
Cheers Freeeedom

[kahla_creek]

Hi
I normally use peeled green prawns or a bit of chook fillet on an unweighted line and let it drift up near the mangroves on a rocky bank. Lose a bit of gear but usually a better quality fish. As per previous comments, I don't think the water is cold enough yet for the bigger fish.
Good Luck
Muddy