New to fishing, sunshine coast! Need tips

[fenner]

Hey bream masters!

I'm new to fishing and whilst I'm not specifically targeting Bream, this forum seems like its filled with a bunch of cool folk so I thought i'd ask here for a bit of advice

It's been about a month since I started fishing, since we moved to Twin Waters our deck goes straight on to water, so thought I would give it a try. After just using Prawns on a kiddies rod and not having much knowledge about fishing, I caught two 36cm bream straight after each other and thought that fishing was going to be easy! But since then, almost 3 weeks ago now I've had absolutely no luck at all after reading a lot more about fishing too. After those 2 huge bream I've been out on the boat all around the Maroochy River, casting from land in various locations but can't get any action at all.

So I have quite a lot of questions.

First of all, since I was reading a lot, I read a lot about SX 40's and I also heard that the TT Switchblade is a great lure too. Since I got these Lure's I haven't even had a nibble, the Prawns did so much better. I went around casting the TT Switch blade the Maroochy River for 7 hours and got nothing. I used a method of slowly retrieving it and twitching it up so it jumped off the bottom and made a lot of good vibration. At the 7th hour I casted up against a bridge pylon and got it snagged, $15 lure without even nibble on it before losing it

Should I not be casting a lure that goes to the bottom around snaggy areas? Or how do I stop a lure that hits the bottom from getting snagged on those areas? Should I just use the SX40 in those areas since it stays closer to the surface therefore less chance of getting snagged?

Why am I no longer getting any action? Even off the back of my deck where I got those two 36cm bream I haven't had any action at all. So where have the fish gone? Or I guess the best question to ask is what factors should I take into account to find the fish, because they just don't seem to be around wherever I'm going anymore.

Is it worth investing into a good rod, reel and braided line if I'm going to be using hardbody lures?

I guess I just got a really lucky start with fishing!

With hardbody lures, do I want to strike as soon as I feel a nibble so that it hooks them, or will they run with it a bit first?

Thanks for the tips guys, if there is anything specific to Twin Waters/Maroochy River that would be appreciated. Also what are some other good Hardbody lures to check out?

[CJ BRIBIE]

I'll see if I can help you out, but I by no means claim to be a pro at the bream on lures scene.
Those lures do have a good name and have caught plenty of fish so I think you made a good choice there. In terms of the gear, if you plan on starting to do more lure fishing I would definitely look into upgrading from the kiddies rod and reel. That said you don't need gear worth a thousand dollars either. If you wanted a good value for money rod without breaking the bank I'd suggest you look at the daiwa generation black range of rods which fall in at about $140-150. From what I've read they are superb rods and have plenty of different models. You should go about picking the rod to suit a reel, so if upgrading your reel purchase this before or with the rod.

I am a shimano fan personally, so these would be my suggestions for a reel: my minimum would be a shimano symetre, a sturdy and robust reel for the price. In saying that if you are looking into fishing more i would invest in a reel around the $200 mark. It will serve you longer than the symetre and will feel smoother, lighter and nicer to use too. I have a 2500 size shimano rarenium which I use for everything from bream to small trevally and mackerel, handles it all fine and is an amazing reel. They go for about $230 if you shop around or haggle. This would be my first choice. Second option would be a shimano Stradic CI4, followed by a Stradic FJ. If using it solely for bream or light luring then a 2000-2500 size reel is what you need.

I use 6lb line, which I find a good rating but guys use as low as 2lb. As a start I'd go with 6lb braid and 4 or 6lb Flurocarbon leader.
Any questions just ask and I'll check back later.

In terms of your fish predicament, it could be the tides or time of day which see the fish in your area move into a feeding mode, my best advice would be to ask the guy at the local tackleshop what works best for those. It may also be where you are fishing or casting. As a general rule the fish will move into deeper water during the day when the sun is high and will be closer to the surface during dawn and dusk. However in canals the fish will also sit right up under pontoons and boats. Bream can be finicky, so casting in close to the structure (pontoons, boats etc) can be essential a lot of the time.

Experience and persistence will help you to catch fish consistently. Atomic crank hardbodies are great and catch a lot of fish for many people and are a great price. I find with hardbodies the fish will usually strike at the lure and your line will pull tight if they have taken it and run, in which case I'd lift your rod to gently but quickly up to a fighting position. If the fish are just swatting at the lure though they won't grab a hold of it straight away and so striking will only pull it away from the fish. It's all a lot of trial and error so get out there and have a go. Hope I've helped and post and other questions in here if you want. Sorry it's taken so long for anyone to reply but good luck with your fishing, CJ

[lukereneeseth]

I am somewhat an expert on the Maroochy River. So without going into whats taken me years of breaking codes, locations and times I will however help you out a little.

Better yet, scroll through the brag section and look for Sunshine Coast in a title.

The reason you picked up the 2 big bream on the prawn was because it was the last of the "beach" bream coming in and out of the river. I know this because that's about the time I started to use beach worms again for my Jew fishing and they are the only bream that touch the worms (90% of the time). River bred bream in Maroochy rarely ever touch a beach worm because they just don't see it as food. Whereas a few months back I had a little while off the worms to give live bait a crack, had no luck in successful hook-ups; took down 15 beach worms one night and every worm feel victim to the nice clean silver bream. So just over a month ago took 5 down to see if they were still hanging around, 1 river bream and 6 jewies. .. so the beach bream have cleared out and moved on.

next,

your neck of the woods is hard on fishing, very shallow low tides and very fast tidal movement to the highs. Most fish moving through there are on a mission to 1. Get down the river when the tides coming in or 2. Get out of the river when the tides going out. You will however find fish congregate around the weir on slack tides - whiting, bream, flathead and trevally.

The local fish so to speak know theres nothing for them between being level with cotton tree caravan park and swan boat hire because the bait move so quickly between there - so shallow, tidal flow and boat traffic. If your fishing these areas your best bet would be beach worms or live yabbies for the smaller fish or plastics in ever hole for a mid sized flatty or 2... If you like fishing off your deck get a cast net and throw some of those little silver fish out the 1st and last hour of the incoming tide or the 1st and last hour of the run out tide, that's what will get you the GT's.

A few years ago I fished the Maroochy a few times for hours and didn't get a single thing, gave up on it until I kept hearing from people they never catch anything so I made it my mission to find out why. Before out son was born I think I was fishing up to 5 times a week and still every now an then I will get up at 5am to go to work in Bris, come home by 4, get the gear read and do an all nighter; only to come home at 4, have a shower and head off to work again.

Maroochy River is hard to crack if you don't have the hours to put in. The most useful thing to have is what I did, put a calendar on the wall and every fish you catch put it in the date. Size, time, tide, moon, bait/lure, this is a massive key to the maroochy. They are all relevant, the last time I went mulloway fishing was only a few weeks ago. Right tide, moon and bait. I had a bloke 20 meters to the right of me, I caught 6 jewies in 2 hours and he caught nothing.

All my fish are caught land based, I have only half a dozen spots I fish at certain times with certain offering that have never failed weather it be for jewies, flathead or whiting. Though I still spend lots of time trying to find other spots, especially now I have a boat, it time to find the jacks.

If you want a little guidance on when and where or what to use (there is only 1 plastic I use in the river in the one colour but 2 different sizes for all my jewies and flathead) just pm me.

[lukereneeseth]

page 5 Brag section mate, see some of what the river holds

[4weightfanatic]

I agree with CJ Bribie in that you invest in a better quality rod and reel...but you don't need to spend those dollars to get a great outfit. You will find this forum has many gear freaks and each to their own if they want to spend $200 -400 dollars on an outfit that a $99 outfit will do just as well.......wait for it their up in arms already. I've said this before ...if you are after a great outfit (especially as an entry outfit) that can throw plastics, blades and hard bodied lures a Shimano combo like a 702 Catana rod and a Sienna 1000 or 2500 reel loaded with 4 or 6lb braid like Sunline Super PE will last you years. I'm clocking 10 years on my combo using the 1000 Sienna and have caught heaps of bream , bass , trevally and flatties locally on it. As far as using lures maybe start with soft plastics as they are cheaper , easy to use and you can vary the weight easily with different jig heads. Do some research i.e. on this forum into techniques and maybe target flatties for a while till you gain better skills like line management , tying good knots etc. The bream in Twin Waters are well fed and being a captive audience are educated so they are still there just choosey . The weir fishes well on tides above 1.8m both inside and out so maybe choose times to fish with lower light levels e.g. early morning (pre dawn) ,late arvo into night. Hope this helps. Cheers Pat.