From zero to hero: surf coast breamin'

[Bream_Seeker]

Well I thought I should finally post up some pics after lingering on the bream master forum for a while. (hoping pics work as im uploading using iphone). Originally a yellowfin fisho from Sydney, my partner and I made the move to the Victorian surf coast in October 2012. Having never fished for black bream I was absolutely pumped about getting a chance to finally catch a decent sized bream over 40cm. After making the move south I spent the first few days sussing out some potential fishing locations and before you know it I'm out fishing what looks to be a promising spot, only to be served with a big doughnut. yellowfin techniques didnt work so i did the walk of shame home thinking about my next attempt.

2nd attempt I decided to change location and use much lighter jigheads. Tied on a Z-man grub in bloodworm for the first time ever, 5 casts later and I was on to my first ever black bream. Heart was pumping as I knew it was a big fish, few minutes later I get a first look at my prized catch- this was bigger than any YF I had ever caught. Got the fish within 2 metres and the hooks pulled absolutely devastated. The next 2 fishing expeditions resulted in 2 more bream around 37-38cm having the hooks pulled at point blank range. I was still fish less even though I felt like I had successfully lured and battled with several black bream.

Eventually my time came. After changing over to TT jigheads I landed my first ever black bream. Not a monster at 32cm but I didn't care:


After getting the black bream monkey off my back I caught several more fish over the recent months using mainly Berkley sandworms;


Including my first 40cm encounter;


Few more using the sandworm. It was working so I couldn't stop using it





After a while i got sick of catching fish on the same scented plastic so I tried out a madeye Whippy worm which helped me land my biggest fish yet 42.5cm;




My luck on the Whippy worm faded so time for something different. zman grubs got a swim and have proven very handy where I eventually found a spot with a lure retrieve that would consistently catch fish all around the 35-37cm mark


Including my first EP (caught NSW)




Last few months has proved difficult so I have been back on the sandworms;



Few more fish have been caught on bloodworm zman grubs and recently on the bait breathe crabs. Hoping to use hard bodies more often in the future with more success, having only caught small rats with em so far.
Plenty more bigger bream I have yet to go toe-to-toe with, so hopefully I can post some more pics in the future

Cheers Al