Tackle Tactics » Tips-Techniques » Saltwater-Estuary » Bream Around the Leases
Bream Around the Leases
By Owen McPaul
Bream would have to be one of the most commonly caught fish Australia wide. Most anglers will have memories of their first capture off a jetty, bridge or sand bank, fishing with a grandfather, father or a couple of mates after school during daylight savings. A bag of prawns and small tackle tray filled with sinkers and half rusted hooks and sinkers. It's amazing how things have evolved since I was a kid, riding my bike down the local pier and testing my luck when there wasn't much else to do; nine times out of ten coming home empty handed, smelling like the local co-op.
To a full blown lure fishing addict, who will jump at any chance to launch the boat in the river and go target a bream on plastics, it's amazing how things have changed in that time, from the elderly teaching the young the arts of bait fishing, to a generation where the young are teaching the old the art of lure fishing.
There's a tonne of different ways of fishing for bream on lures, but if you ask me personally, there's not many better ways than the white knuckle action of a locked reel drag around the oyster leases. On this battlefield every fish, whether big or small, is a challenge and each fish extracted from the razor sharp oyster shells and barnacle encrusted pylons that hold the oyster leases in position is rewarding. There is a great?rush of adrenaline with every hook up and for that reason, leases are my favourite place to be when in any river system that contains them.
Here I hope to share a little of my experience when targeting bream around the oyster leases, from lures to jighead sizes, tides and a technique I use successfully,?that hopefully can be of some benefit to you when targeting leases for the first time, those who are looking for a different edge or those who may have been unsuccessful in the past.
Before you even tackle the racks I highly recommend a stiffer rod with a bit of poke about it. Select?8lb to 10lb braid and between 8lb and 14lb fluorocarbon leader as oyster leases are unforgiving. You really need to take every advantage possible to give yourself the upper hand because the instant a bream hits, you have merely a split second between standing a chance of winning the battle and sitting down for a few minutes retying leaders and replacing lures.
When fishing oyster leases I personally favour the incoming tide, about two hours in, right through to about two hours to the run out. I look for a fair bit of flow, as generally when the tide is moving there is also bait moving and oyster rack fish become very active during this period. Another reason I choose to fish during the fuller parts of the tide is that, depending on the depth around the leases, when the water level starts to fall the fish can often move out with the tide and?into the security of the deeper flats around the leases.
When targeting leases there is also a few?things I try to use to my advantage. First on the list is a precision cast. You really want your lure to land within centimetres of the sides of the oyster trays - the closer the cast, the better the chance of a hook up. Secondly, if I'm able to use the tide to my advantage, I will attempt to use the tide to wash my lure under the trays. This will position the lure so that it gives me a better chance of being right in the face of a bream that are looking for an easy meal. Third on the list is shadows. If the sun is in a position that offers me a shaded side, I will cast at this side nine times out of ten as I find bream favour the security of the shade. By taking these three things into consideration, I am giving myself a little more chance of encountering a hook up.
When it comes to lure and jighead selection when fishing for bream I'm a pretty firm believer in fishing as light and small as possible, especially when targeting the?leases. I'm generally known to only cast a 1/20 to 1/12oz TT Lures HeadlockZ Finesse?jighead matched with a ZMan 2.5" GrubZ. I try to use them in the most natural colours, like Bloodworm, Gudgeon and Watermelon Red, but depending on the water clarity I will mix that up at times, throwing something that stands out a little more like Copper Penny and Violet Sparkle.
There are four main reasons I choose to fish light heads. Firstly, I favour the middle section of the water column, as I am trying to avoid the bottom where I might pick up by-catch of flathead. Secondly,?when a bream decides it wants my lure I don't want it feeling an unnatural amount of weight that may deter a second solid enquiry if I am unlucky enough to not to sink the hook on the first go. The third reason is that I have found the lighter weight gives the GrubZ a nice, gradual drop with the tail action working the whole time it descends. With the 'controlled slack' technique I use I'm able to suspend the plastic during movements, giving a bream more time to slam the plastic before my next movement. When I say controlled slack, it means fishing with a small belly of line that I can watch for the slightest twitch and then strike, rather than depending solely on feel.
The fourth reason for keeping things light is that I often see bream over the top of the racks feeding, often referred to as 'tailing' and at times they can have their whole back out of the water. With a light presentation I am able to cast past that fish, on top of the oyster trays, without fear of snagging up and work the plastic in a way that imitates a prawn fleeing, encouraging the tailing fish to taking the lure. The reason I cast past the fish is because I don't want to land right on top of them as they can be very spooky when feeding inside the top of trays. By casting past the fish I limit the chance of spooking the fish and allow the fish to sense the lure moving towards them, hopefully triggering the fish into chasing the lure down.
There are many exciting ways to target bream around the leases but this is by far my preferred approach and a technique that I use 90% of the time. Hopefully for those that try it you have the same amount of success.