Winter Bream Methods?

[RIX]

Hey all,

Just wondering do any of you blokes change your method for bream in the cooler months?

do bream change habits/tendencies through the cooler months?

Cheers Rick-

[spoonta66]

GULP worms or plastics with lots of scent, the breamo slow down lots in the winter months and I have a hard time getting any on hardbodies. I find very slow drop (unweighted) with lots of pauses then eratic twitches then slow drops again in and around structure will usually get them going if they are around. The scent seems to help alot as well.

[IceManDude]

Plastics (year round!!) vibes and blades...if a subtle action doesnt work then get aggressive especially with the vibes and blades

[Squidlipz]

During the winter i do tend to change my habits slighty.

In my local esturay during summer i know that the majority of large bream decide to make a move right up the system towards where there may be a bit more fresh water, i reckon they do this during the spawn. During this period i mainly work snaggy areas and shady sections of bank and where there may be deeper water. Maybe they are hiding from the suns DohDohDohDoh, who knows.

When things cool down abit more towards the winter time, i tend to shift my focus to the lower parts of the system where the exposed flats are submerged at high tides. I still fish structures, but structures in the lower parts. I do try to match high tides on late arvos and at last light.

So what im trying to say is i work the lower parts of the system in the winter time and the upper reaches during summer.

As for lures, well i reckon the plastics seem to work better than HB's during the cooler months.

Some people may disagree, but i find it works for me.

[Breamskin]

if your fishing HB's in my experience try and slow your retrieve right down. Try and step down your flurocarbon down to what you normally use. Try 2-4 lb, the water can get clear during the cold months. And yeah what the boys said, use scent. Also if your fishing flats, opt for an arvo fish. Bream will sit here as the water will be warmer from the days sun.

[Pisces]

As the cooler water makes the fish to slow down a lot u still can use both but in very slow retrieves with long breaks in between twitching .. suspending HB in this case are best .. and as in plastics the smaler the jighead the better .. closer to the banks due to more rain so worms and other bugs are washed down .. so obviously is what they feed on at that time .

[__MATT__]

-Jerkbaiting at night with loud suspending lures
-Vibes and blades
-Slow crankbaiting in deep water

Aside from those three a lot of the time I will just tie on a plastic anyway.

Something I really want to get into this winter is m rigging and using weight strips though. I reckon its a super realistic way of interpriting slow moving wounded bait crawling allong the bottom, puffing up bits of mud and sand... If i was a bream in open deep water I would eat that over a vibe hopping straight up and down anyway.

I also like the idea that it means i can get lures that would otherwise be neglected over winter down to where fish are holding (shallow chubbies, presso minnows etc).

Anyone keen to shed some light on this technique?

[Squidlipz]

I think before you start to twitch a lure this way or that way, first its better to find the fish.

In my opinion all methods stated below will catch fish in winter or summer. Some work on a particular day and not the next.

I dont think bream feeding habits change that much, just the bream feeding habitats.

laters

[isaac.chopper]

down south most of my fish in winter have come on vibes , letting sit on the bottom for up to 20 secs than a small hop.

[Cortinaboy]

What exactly is 'm rigging and using weight strips'. I'm assuming its weighting down the line in front of the lure ot hold it down so it can be skipped along the bottom? Am I close?

[__MATT__]

Yeah basically man,

Two main ways that it’s done from what I know (very little) is by using tungsten strips or putty on the underside of the lure, or using tungsten weights on the front tow point.

There’s a bit about how Steve Morgan was using it on the flats in the current abt mag.

It doesn’t necessarily have to be stuck to the bottom and dragged along, but can help keep get lures where they wouldn't normally be able to get.

I think the only main downsides are that smaller bibbed lures loose their action a fair bit. I'm keen to learn more about it, would make a whole bunch of lures usable over winter...

winter on the east coast sees the yearly mullet run and and heaps of sea run bream will mix in with them and head out to sea, so if you can find big schools of mullet around the lower reaches of a system fish around/underneath them with plastics for big bad ass bream, a guy from work let me onto this recently he would probly be pissed if he knew i posted this too!

[LBH13]

Hi all,


I am thirteen i have only just started fishing and i live in forster do you have any tips? Coz i don't seem to catch any fish

[jewiehaven]

Bait works too ya know... not always lures that get the fish, lol
Pick baits: mullet, slimey strips and chicken strips, beach worms and pippies, blood worms, then there's the humble old yabbies.

They all take fish just depends on whether you are a lure man or a biat man, the difference between them is personal preference- for me bait all the way

[LBH13]

thankyou for the tips, i will try some of the baits you mentioned

thanks