queensland Fair Pine Bream Session 13/2/16

[curranboy99]

Hello all

A report for my last fishing session targeting bream on bait.

I left home at 7.00am on the way to deep water bend chasing a 7.35am Low tide which from memory was going to be 0.5m. I got to deep water bend at 7.15am and walked out onto the boardwalk I cut some FRESH mullet fillets I bought the day before into strips 4cm x 1cm to try and get a bigger fish as I was testing the theory for myself "bigger bait = bigger fish". The rig I had choose to use was: 3lb braid main-line -> 9' 4lb fluoro leader, tied to main-line by Albright knot -> sz0 ball sinker -> free running gamakatsu sz2 octopus hook -> gamakatsu sz2 octopus hook, tied to leader by personally modified blood knot.

My first cast I had a quick tap, tap, tap go thru the rod then the rod pulled towards the water and as it got pulled I lifted the rod and had a fish on which didn't take long to land and it was a 20cm bream which got released of course I keep fishing and 10 minutes later I had another fish on which was a touch bigger 23cm which also got released. I got a lot of snags after the 23cm bream and decided to size-down my rig by only using 1 hook and cutting the mullet into cubes 2cm x 2cm. And after a bit of a wait I got hooked up again and this fish put up more of a fight and once the fish tired I had the problem how to land it so I used a bit of brain power and steered the fish around the boardwalk and lifted it up the rockwall as it was not as high as the boardwalk and I had landed a 27cm bream which I was happy about and it got its throat slit, head snapped back, then put on ice for eating purposes.

I keep fishing and fishing and found once the tide had left the slack stage and had started to run in hardish the fish go off the bite, but I keep persisting and managed another 2 bream both under-sized. So therefore I walked down to the cleaning tables and filleted my fish and left at 10.45am.    

So the summary 5 bream, 4 of them were just under-sized and 1 legal that was 27cm so in my view it was a fair session  

[the biggest bream of the morning, 27cm]

 

[Luvit]

looks like you found a glove

Good session for land base for sure.

[curranboy99]

10 minutes ago, Luvit said:

looks like you found a glove

Good session for land base for sure.

thanks @Luvit 

Its a great glove that one, got it as a gift off my uncle. makes handling fish (bream mostly) insanely easy and it doesn't rub the slime off the fish, better than a wet rag.    

[samsteele115]

Well done on a good session, you are definitely starting to report with more success!!

Eventually you won't find it necessary to wear a glove when you get a bit more confident handling them. 

If you hold them like this you aren't really wiping any slime off and it makes for a better photo as well because you see more of the fish instead of your hand, more importantly not showing a glove that is covering the fish in the photo. Not that it matters and I am not trying to be critical, but if you wanted to make your photos look a bit better that's how  

Not that this is a bream, but it was the first photo I found to show what I am trying to explain. This isn't a great photo either but you get the point!  

[curranboy99]

thanks for the tips a lot Sam .

I'll try handling bream like you showed in your trev photo, thinking I am going get quite few hand punctures learning though from the dorsal-spines but the reward in the end is worth it: better photos and the fish will be released in far-better condition.

Thanks again for effort of explaining it and finding a photo.

By the way the photo looks great, better than mine  

[samsteele115]

I haven't been spiked by a bream yet and I'm pretty unco. You can get a fairly firm grip on them with your thumb on top of their head and fingertips underneath (remembering to tuck your fingers under as much as you can for the photo). Just pick them up with confidence and you'll be fine

[curranboy99]

49 minutes ago, samsteele115 said:

I haven't been spiked by a bream yet

When you eventually get spiked it doesn't tickle as a while back I tried to grab a bream in the mid 20cm's like a whiting to de-hook it (grab and hold it tight around the top of the body, palm on back) and lets say I won't be doing that again .

But thanks a lot again for your advice  

 

[samsteele115]

I don't like bream very much, so if I get one as bycatch I usually just flick it off the lure straight away so getting spiked by one won't be likely  

[curranboy99]

15 minutes ago, samsteele115 said:

I don't like bream very much, so if I get one as bycatch I usually just flick it off the lure straight away so getting spiked by one won't be likely  

fair enough, but if you do handle one don't grab the dorsal fin with your palm that never ends well