A quick dash for my 1st Legal SP Bream

[Scalem]

Hi All,

Occasionally it's nice to get an invite from another boater to spend time learning another dimension to fishing, which is what happened to me on Monday (public) holiday.

I was sitting at home pondering whether I should make a start on sanding back a repaired bung hole on my boat where water has been leaking in, or whether to join my 3 girls (wife and 2 kids) going shopping for new clothes, when the phone rang. The question was "what are you doing, and are you interested in joining me down the Nerang river canals to learn a bit about chasing bream around pontoons??"

Given my choices as mentioned above, what do you think my answer was??

The person asking me has become a great supplier of all manner of soft plastics, and he lives two streets away from me which has been fantastic. Besides the convenience for me, he is a top bloke willing to share his knowledge of fishing, in this case, for bream on soft plastics and hard body lures. Some of you will know him, but I can't advertise more than tell you his name is Kevin.

To the Nerang we went, launching from a well protected Budds beach from the prevailing SW or whatever direction it was coming from, but the fan was certainly blowing at full blast, which would have made it impossible for me in my boat, but I don't have an electric minkota!

The day could have been summed up as a shocker! We could not see many bream, which I am told is rarely the case, so we elected to have a soft plastic allowed to sink to the bottom, and Kevin working his favourite Ecogear SX40 hard body around the pontoons.

For a lot of the time my accuracy when casting certainly needed some improving, and I kept getting what is known as "wind knot." Sometimes I would cast, then think "what the!!" went wrong?? > Then I look down on the spool of the threadline to find an amazing mess of braid looking like a birds nest. Sorry Kevin, it was a waste of time helping me unravel it, but it was very difficult in windy conditions. Apparently, because the braid was new, didn't help matters either.

So after much coaching with this very foreign method of fishing for me, where I am used to casting soft plastics in any direction for snapper in the bay, my accuracy started to improve.

I lined up with a great looking pontoon as we approached, and splashed the plastic bass minnow so close to it, you could see the splash up the side of the rubber. As I turned to Kevin saying, "how's that for a cast" the line went tight, and in came my 1st legal bream on a plastic. Yep, the cast was right on the money, and all of the theory that I have read and Kevin taught me on the morning came to good. We didn't measure it, but estimates were about 28cm, and he is back there someplace to be caught again.

Pitty my boat isn't suited to mounting an electric motor like Kevins 4.5mtr sportfisher, but maybe I can get a few more trips in the future.

Scalem

[JT]

Congrats on your first legal SP caught bream. Sounds like you well and truely have the disease. You may try and cure it by buying all manner of plastics, jigs & hardbodies. I even went out and got a new boat (with an electric) and you know what, I now have the disease worse than when I started. . Won't be long now before you hear the calling and enter your first ABT comp.
A hint for you re: your casting accuracy. Get out in the back yard and practise hitting a bucket or something placed at different distances (watch out for the cat - make sure you adjust your drag accordingly as they go hard ). Throw different jig weights, it won't take long for you to see your accuracy improve out of sight. Remember the more casts you get in the strike zone, the more hits and fish you will get.

Cheers

John

[nabs12]

Hey
Well done with the first
Bream on SPs is very addictive! I also agree with John and casting in the backyard.. It doesnt take long at all and its really worth it! getting the SP right up against the pontoon everytime will definately increase your chances of getting a bream

Cheers

[Pritch39]

I got my first bream on SP's at the CB bridge last friday on 3" watermelon swimming mullet,

Great feeling

PS> will have to try casting in the back yard I hadnt thought of that

Cheers Pritch.

[gogecko]

Well done Brian, SP is addictive. I sort of ignored bream fishing after getting sick of catching them on bait, but Sp fishing for bream teaches you skills you will use on a lot of other species. Im now back into SPs a bit since I watched the boys in the ABT comp, so let me know if you want to drive down the coast for a fish.

We should catch up. Do you still have my email?

Andrew

[aquarius]

Good onya Mate...........always great to get a first of a new spiecies.
Hope it put up a good fight.
What line class were you using?
And what plastic did the damage?
Cheers Brent

[john_steward]

great story scalem, it is so good achieving a goal you have been working hard for. the bream bug is amazing, how such a common fish can get you so excited.

[charleville]

Goodonyer Scalem.

I am not sure whether I am impressed most by the bream or the fact that you went out in that wind.

Either way, well done!

[Scalem]

Andrew,

Yes yes!! Keen to catch up soon down the Nerang... I just finished talking to a mate on the phone who remembers some very good days fishing bait down there, and as he says "we killed 'em' bringing home a good feed. So by comparison, I still think I should stick to bait down the Nerang unless I can get on board other peoples boats with electric motors, which I don't have. My noisy 2 stroke would scare them away for sure.

Regardless, we should T something up, let me know what you are doing over the next few weeks.

Hi Brent!

The little Mitchel reel is spooled with 2KG bionic. Any heavier and I would only fit about 40 yards of line Same size leader flurocarbon.
The jighead was 1/8th oz with 3" Berkley Bass minow in a smoked transparent colour which might be called Pearl Blue, but don't bank on it because I tend to try conserve space in my S/P wallet by combining similar colours of the same brand in one packet if I used a few of each colour. (if that makes sense)

Brian

[Fishin_Dan]

Good on ya Brian! Well done mate!!! It's amazing how much harder they hit plastics than bait isn't it...

One tip for you though... If you are casting in the backyard, cut off the hook so it is flush with the top of the plastic. It won't get snagged up then, and the bend in the hook will stop the plastic falling off.

It also stops you hooking & wrecking that silk thing your wife/girlfriend/flatmate has hanging on the line!!! I found that one out the hard way!

[Poodroo]

Scalem said:"I just finished talking to a mate on the phone who remembers some very good days fishing bait down there, and as he says "we killed 'em' bringing home a good feed." Anyone I know? Sounds very familiar to me.
That was a nice Breambo. Getting keen to go out and chase them.

Poodroo