Restoring the faith
Submitted by ca11um on Thu, 2012-08-09 18:11
For starters, lure fishing for Bream has to be one of the most frustrating but rewarding ways of fishing. Any body who hasn't tried fishing for Bream with lures should definitely give it a go, the rewards are awesome and getting consistent numbers of good fish or just nailing that one absolute stonker is an amazing feeling!!
Enjoy
Bream fishing has become a bit of a hopeless dream for me in recent months gone by. The prospects of getting that "one fish" were always there but reality always flooded back over me after the four-hundreth blowie or after the 1000th fishless cast for the day. After fruitless outings or sessions plagued with rats it started to irritate me. It was even worse knowing that there are fish there.
After seeing pictures of big fat blue-lips being thrown around the forums like they were the easiest fish in the world to catch just made me so frustrated!! I studied every single thing i could find on the humble Bream and made some adjustments here and there so i could maybe stick a hook in a big boy. Surely they cant resist this i thought to myself as i rigged dozens of lures and every single time i thought i was in at a shot, my plan was flawed or it only got me rats. I kept going though, always hoping for just one big fat sucker to come smooching up to my lure and wallop it down!!
I had many close calls along the way though, some were so close it hurt!!! I dropped big fish at my feet, got busted off to many times to count and watched as a bruiser would sit motionlessly in front of my lure and it would just sink past and they would move on like nothing happened!!! Not to mention the time and money i wasted..... but for some reason its this sense of loss you could call it, that drives us back for more. The one that got away, constantly relaying in the back of our minds. Its Bream fishing.
So today i decided i was due a session out on the water to target the elusive Black Bream. As per usual, i had another plan on my hand. Fishing winter seems to be the time of long pauses and sinking lures. So i chucked a ZMan 2.5" Grub in Watermelon Red and started plugging away. I had a few taps and pulled in the first fish for the day, a little rat. It was a start but a very small one. The longer pauses were really working and i pulled in a few more. I came to a nice pontoon adjacent to a pylon and a jetty and i flicked my plastic right up hard against it. It plopped just on the edge and i watched in the fairly clear water as it sunk. Thats when i saw it.
Two beautiful Black Bream cruised past and slowly eyed the lure off. I watched the whole spectacle unfold. The Grub was doing its thing, providing scent and the seductive tail wag to provoke the bigger of the two to pause right in front of it, within 4 metres of me, and suck it right in!!! I automatically flinched and set the hooks. It shook its head like crazy and i tried to get as much line as possible before it took a run. The fish did a big arc and as it came back around the jetty underneath me I wound like crazy and stuck my rod tip under the water to keep him from gaining his freedom. He swung back around and took a short run for a pylon but i turned him and he bolted underneath the pontoon. I stuck the majority of my rod under water so it would touch the sharp barnacles underneath. I started pumping some more line in and brought him back out where he admitted defeat on the surface. I leapt from the jetty onto the pontoon and plucked him out of the water, nursing it like a baby. Once he was on the jetty that feeling of victory came over me!! I got some measurements and a few photos from an old lady. It pulled the tape back to 39 ttt and 36ttf, measuring more than my Fish ruler!!! I was just bursting with excitement and i was shaking all over when we took the pictures!!
The fish had walloped the lure down and really had a good go at it!!
After the thousand or so photos i took i pulled the hooks out, only for the clip swivel to fall out like nothing, it had been crunched and bent by the bream :O
It was that fish that i had been waiting for so long, the fish that restored my faith in Breaming.
Cheers for reading,
Callum
Troy Summers
Posts: 408
Date Joined: 14/08/11
Great fish, great read!! but
Great fish, great read!! but now ya gotta change ya PB in ya signature.. well done mate!!
Reminds me of my first breakthrough on on fly
Troy
trymyluck
Posts: 908
Date Joined: 06/05/12
Well done buddy,I see the
Well done buddy,I see the sense the satisfaction in your story,bnothing like it when a plan all comes together. Even more rewarding when the going is tough. I would lose the lure snap myself ... for more fish, it only takes a minute to retie...well done.
chrisp
Posts: 1217
Date Joined: 24/05/08
Good work there mate, solid
Good work there mate, solid fish. I know what you mean about fishless trips, life can be hard when your a landbased fisher at times.
sea-kem
Posts: 15021
Date Joined: 30/11/09
Well done champ. They are
Well done champ. They are good photos too.
Love the West!
ca11um
Posts: 335
Date Joined: 25/12/11
Cheers guys!! Yeah plastics
Cheers guys!! Yeah plastics and snaps dont go good. It was fairly worn out the snap so i should have just chucked it out and tied a loop knot.
Callum
Lamby
Posts: 3145
Date Joined: 04/08/09
Cool write up young bloke,
Cool write up young bloke, congrats on the elusive fat BB too!
ca11um
Posts: 335
Date Joined: 25/12/11
haha, thanks mate :)
haha, thanks mate :)
WADRay
Posts: 301
Date Joined: 20/12/09
Well written...Almost makes
Well written...
Almost makes me think about getting an bream set up again..then I realise what a pain in the arse they are and forget it.....dhuies are easier to catch and have so much nicer flesh ;)
Good catch mate. Keep the articles coming and you might get one or two in a mag, really are that good a read.
Andy_b
Posts: 633
Date Joined: 19/10/11
mate that is killa well done,
mate that is killa well done, u need to wright for fishing western australia! u had me hook line and sinker reading it till the end
well done
ca11um
Posts: 335
Date Joined: 25/12/11
I would love to write for
I would love to write for fishing western australia!! Writing stories is like reliving the whole experience once again, it completes the experience ;)
Knot Big Enuff
Posts: 395
Date Joined: 17/05/11
Even your replies are piece
Even your replies are piece of art mate! I guess someone is gonna pick this up soon, I mean to publish an article or two for you.
So the post title, the photos, post body and replies .... all from a talented guy
Well sone there, and nice photos too
Cheers,
Hesh
PGFC Member
ca11um
Posts: 335
Date Joined: 25/12/11
I would love to be able to
I would love to be able to publish some of my story's!! That would be a dream come true :D
Thank you so much for the kind words guys, much appreciated :)
gumnut
Posts: 108
Date Joined: 30/09/10
awesome bro
well written. good tale - you have inspired me to get back on the chase for the elusive decent sized black bream! only caught little ones up til now...well done!
Zoggy84
Posts: 234
Date Joined: 24/06/12
Nice tale, well spoken and
Nice tale, well spoken and beautiful fish mate!
The name is Zoe.
If any1 but the wife asks im fishing, if she asks im at work.
ca11um
Posts: 335
Date Joined: 25/12/11
Thanks for the kind words
Thanks for the kind words guys :)much appreciated
TheJettyRat
Posts: 733
Date Joined: 02/03/12
Nice one mate well worth the
Nice one mate well worth the w8 and the frustration.
Try Norman Speed Clips next time you head to the tackle store, They are a O-ring clip and stand up to it a fair bit better than the traditional clips. Also they are made in the U.S.A so you get the quality.
ca11um
Posts: 335
Date Joined: 25/12/11
Yeah definitely worth it all
Yeah definitely worth it all mate!! Just bought a new reel for this type of fishing, Daiwa Exist 2004 :D
I will check them out mate, thanks for kind words and about those clips!!
Callum