[JW]

Well....I went back to my new spot on the Port River ………..the same spot as my last report.

To set the scene…..all of the below happened literally 1m from the yak in 2-5 feet of crystal clear water (changed with tide). It is the best fun bream fishing I have ever had.........everything happens in plain view….even the bloody bust offs.

Luck wasn't really on my side this trip, losing the 4 biggest bream I hooked for the day (40cm + fish. can easily see how big they are when they take the lure), I think 2 were approaching 45cm....but I guess I will never know. I am going to use 10lb leader next time (was using 8lb).

The first 2 busted me off because the drag was set too tight; the next 2 took me into the snags because the drag was too light (must have been borderline snapping anyway on the heavy drag setting).

Cant really complain landing one 40cm bream, two 37cm, and 6 between 30 and 36cm. Smallest I caught for the day was about 30cm (because you can see everything you can pull the plastic away from the smaller fish). They were a bit more cautious this time with 60-70% having a look but not taking the lure, but there were that many fish going past it didn't really matter.

This spot has taken me a long, long long, long time to find.

 

[Davey G]

thats some good fishing JW.. and a great fish in the pic.

what did you catch them on??

 

[JW]

80mm squidge bloodworm wrigglers.......they are my favourite bream plastics by a long way.

 

[RedPhoenix]

Unfortunately, due to the change in ownership of this web site and the lack of response by the owners to my requests to remove my email address from all administrative-level notifications and functionality, I have decided to remove my posts on AKFF. Thank you for the great times, the fantastic learning experiences and the many many fish. If you are desperate for the old content of this particular post, it is available below base64 encoded and bzip2 compressed.

Red.

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[JW]

I don’t think the fish were spooked (if I stayed still) as they would approach the lure readily, some just wouldn’t eat it…….much to my frustration.

In the end I think it came down to the following:

· placement of the plastic….near snags rather then in open water

· jig choice… tried many with varying success (bloodworm wriggler was the best).

· How I moved the jig……last time they responded well to a midwater slow jig of about 10cm up and down….this time this didn’t work….tried lots of different things, but in the end what worked best was leaving the jig on the bottom, when fish were swimming past (approaching) I would lift it once about 30cm and let is sink back to the bottom to get their attention…..then they would come over and suck it up…..simple as that.

· Tide also makes a huge difference….only fish there in a 2 hour window….after that, no fish at all.

· Most important was staying perfectly still…..if I moved at all they bolted…..so I only used my wrist to jig, which I shielded with my body so the fish couldn’t see the motion of my wrist/arm.

 

[fisher]

wow - thats great fishing JW. I had a look at West Lakes on saturday - should probably have continued on to the port. Well done, it can't get much better than that can it - although I have read of 50cm plus fish coming out of the port.

 

[paffoh]

That technique you use to keep still sounds like a great way to fish, i cant imagine fishing for bream in those conditions... what weight jighead did you employ? Sounds like one with extreme finess but not too light!

 

[Peril]

Top fishing JW

 

[JW]

Used the lightest weight (I think number 4) squidge finesse hooks (darter style). They use a heavier gauge wire in the hook then regular jig heads, and don't straighten on heavier drag settings (however it is slightly harder to set the hooks). Not that that matters when the line snaps or they take you into snags, but I guess thems the joys of fishing in and around structure.

I am no expert….but I once read an article by Bushy on bream…he said something like: "it is the movement that spooks the bream, not always the dirty great boat sitting on top of em. You should time your cast for when the fish are looking away and stay still" (not a direct quote but that was the general gist). Since reading that article I have applied that principle with great success.

 

[Dodge]

JW you certainly had the answers mate, what great fish

 

[PoddyMullet]

That's a monster JW, well done. I've read on breammaster about some of the potential in SA for those fella's...keep em coming

 

[Gator]

JW: looks like you picked the right spot. Fisher and Scupper as well as Matt and I aimed for the Marino rocks; due to conditions - Fisher and Scupper went N to West Lakes and Matt and I went S to the Onka. Looks like we all went in the wrong direction, well Matt and I anyway.
Good catch mate - will have to get together on the Port sometime soon again.