2Dans Fishing - Radio show rundown 8th August 2010

2Dans Fishing – Radio SHow – Program 1 – Sunday 8th August 2010
By Dan Trotter

Fishy Fact File – Bream, Aconthopagrus sp.

There are many species of bream in Australian waters. Three however standout as the species most regularly encountered by recreational anglers, these species are; the eastern black bream or yellowfin bream Aconthopagrus australis, the southern black bream Aconthopagrus butcherii and the Pikey Bream Aconthopagrus berda.
Distribution/Range: The Eastern Black Bream is found from the Cairns/Townsville region down the east coast to approximately Lakes Entrance in Victoria, The eastern black bream inhabits a huge array of environments from brackish (almost fresh) headwaters of many estuaries and is also found along the ocean, beaches ocean rocks and near-shore reefs. The southern Black bream’s distribution overlaps that of the eastern, and is found from Merimbula in southern NSW around the bottom half of Australia and up to Geraldton in WA. This species if much more likely to be encountered in the estuaries and harbours as well as coastal lagoons, rather than offshore environs. It is however caught around the islands of the Bass Straight, as well as Tasmanian and Kangaroo Island estuaries and creeks. The Pikey Bream is found in Australia’s northern waters from Exmouth in WA around the top to about central northern QLD.
Size: The Australia record for bream is about 4kg, although fish of this size are few and far between, with any fish over 1kg considered a very respectable specimen. Most fish encountered are between 600gms and 1.2kgs
Age: Bream of all species are relatively slow growing and big bream are almost always quite old, respect this when catching bream for a feed, and release those you cannot consume fresh.
Tackle: The best tackle for fishing for bream should be light and sensitive. For most situations a 7foot high modulus graphite rod suited to fishing 2-4kg braided line across is going to be your best option. Select a spinning reel to match again small reel either in the 1000 to 2500 size from any of the quality manufacturers. Use 1-2kg (2-4lb) gel spun braid and a light monofilament leader from 4-10lb. If using bait select a 1 to 2/0 octopus style hook, use as little sinker weight as possible for the location you are fishing. If using lures there are many options, try small soft-plastics, hard-bodied lures, poppers or blades.
Fishing Techniques: For easiest and best results bait fishing is the way to catch a decent number of bream, highly experienced pro-anglers who are guru’s with lures may argue otherwise. For most of us, a fine consistent misty burley, a little bit of current, in conjunction with fresh baits of strips of yellowtail, slimie mackerel, mullet, tuna, squid or beach worms, pipi’s or saltwater yabbies is the best bet.
Eating qualities: Bream are rated highly on the dinner plate, personally I find the ones caught from estuaries can have a stronger oyster like taste. Whilst the eastern bream caught along the beaches, ocean rocks or nearshore reefs are pretty difficult to beat, with a clean, salty fresh taste, best cooked whole in a pan and served with lemon pepper and salt, or cooked in foil with Asian herbs, chilli, garlic and ginger and served with fresh vegies.

LINKS
www.ausbream.com/bream.asp
australianmuseum.net.au/Yellowfin-Bream-Acanthopagrus-australis-Owen-1853
www.sportsfish.com.au/pages/fishing/fish-saltwater/bream.html


On the Fishing Line – Mick from Sale in Victoria
Mick rang in and wanted to know how to catch more fish in Winter time.
There are a number of ways to improve your catches at anytime of the year and these apply to winter also. Start by doing some research into what species are biting and where. Always set out on a fishing trip with a target species in mind and go about the place you fish, the rigs you use, the baits you select with purpose. E.g.: If fishing for trout in winter time, head to the lakes and dams. (As the rivers and creeks are all closed as the trout will have spawned in the sand and gravel beds and fisheries management want to protect the eggs for hatching and future generations). When fishing the dams, and lakes in winter work the shallow areas of and the shorelines. The water is warmer here and the fish more active. If fly fishing walking the bank can be a great way to spot fish and then cast in front of them with a gentle presentation, wet flies are the way to go and small twitches seem to work well. If trolling use Tassie Devil lures and makes ure you are going super slow, work the shallow weed beds and rock bars for best results.
If fishing in the saltwater for a variety of species the use of berley is a great way to entice many fish species to get active and feeding. Due to the lower temperatures many species of fish will be less active due to a reduced metabolism, as a result using bait will help improve catches.



Style Guide – Snapper on Soft Plastics
Fishing with soft-plastics has become very popular in the last ten years, once upon a time there were limited options like the Mister Twister soft-plastic lures, these days the choices are so numerous and the species you can catch on them so vast it can be very difficult to decide where to start when gearing up.
Targeting snapper on soft-plastics is one of the more recent style’s of soft-plastic fishing to become super popular and with good reason it works amazingly well, unfortunately for the snapper too well.
Ensure when you get out and start achieving success on the snapper using this technique that you are mindful of the fact that snapper grow quite slowly and that one 5kg fish apart from likely being 30 years old is enough for a fresh feed for a whole family. Always release fishwthat you know you won’t be able to eat fresh and keep in mind the fish stocks which are under heavy pressure already.
Tackle: Select a 7 to 8 foot graphite rod suited to fishing either 4-6kg or 6-8 kg braided line over. Select a high quality thread-line reel capable of holding up to 300metres of line and pushing up to 4kg’s of drag. The great thing about a snapper on soft-plastics outfit is that it can be used for a range of applications from fishing for Barramundi, to popping for kingfish in the harbours or spotted mackerel in the north. Leader material should be between 15 & 30lb and can be either monofilament or fluoro-carbon. Jig heads should have strong hooks in a 3/0 size and the jig head weights should be between 1/8 ounce to 1 ounce depending on the depth of water you are fishing and the current speed. A good place to start for most offshore snapper fishing is 3/8 ounce. Soft-plastics should be 3 to 7 inches long, and whilst a variety of styles and shapes will work, the most popular style of soft-plastic lure is a simple stick bait or flick bait style.
Fishing for snapper with soft-plastics is really a job done best from a boat, although a handful of dedicated land-based rock fisho’s have found places to catch quality fish from time to time. Most fishing for snapper is done offshore these days, although some estuearies and large harbours or bays do have great seasonal runs of quality fish. Start by fishing on the drift over rugged terrain with substantial variation of water depth, somewhere between 10-30 metres is a good place to start. Cast at a 45 degree angle from the direction you are drifting and allow the lure to fall through the water, try to stay in contact with the lure but do not impede its drop. Once you think it has reached the bottom twitch it up into mid water and allow it to sink again. Once the lure is under or behind the boat, wind it in and make a cast down drift again. The snapper seem to almost always hit the lure on the drop, so be ready for a bone rattling first run, good luck, enjoy, and remember: If you are catching plenty, release plenty and show care and respect for the oceans you love so much.
For more detailed info purchase our DVD "In Search Of Old Man Snapper" from our online store; 2dansfishing.com.au



Around the Grounds:
Spoke with Richie our WA connect his projection and report was enticing to say the least. For the fly fisho's- Exmouth bones on the flats, water temp is right. Some permit although summer months are better. In more northern waters from the Dampier archipelago to Broom the sailfish have begun to turn up, the season builds to a peak for the next few months with October being the best, talk of 30-40 fish up in a day. In the southern parts of WA there was a great run of tuna, amazingly with juvenile SBT and Longtail being caught in the same waters - Awesome. There's plenty of bream about and the XOS winter tailor are coming on the chew. The SBT continue to show up in good numbers off of South Australia and throughout offshore Victoria (try fishing from Portland, Port Fairy etc) and into the southern reaches of NSW around Merimbula, and Bermagui with some catches just south of Sydney out from JB and even Nowra. Winter fishing for gummy sharks is keeping anglers out well into the night in Western Port Bay, or head to Mallacoota and flick lures for flathead and jewfish (mulloway). Inland NSW the fishing for Murray Cod around Wagga Wagga is good at this time of year. The Australian Salmon are prolific during winter from South Australia, along the Victorian coastline and through out NSW, the beaches of the Central Coast and Gosford produce plenty of the sporty fish to those keen to wet a line. In Tassie, Victorian and NSW lakes it's trout polaroiding time. Scotty Thorington from Terrigal said with a new burst of cold currents coming through the whaler sharks and leatherjackets which have been harassing Jigging anglers have moved on, making for great days on the 100m+ grounds targeting yellowtail kingfish. Nathan from Townsville reports lots of wind has kept anglers from venturing far offshore, the closer waters however have been producing lots of grunter, the close shoals spanish mackerel, the weed and rock beds gray and spotted mackerel, whilst the blue and threadfin salmon are holding near the mouths of rivers, The barra have been a bit quiet. Whilst we're up north the NT always a great place to catch fish and an awesome place for an Australian winter escape. In northern NSW areas north of Coffs Harbour up to the Tweed are seeing decent cobia catches although the pick of species to target up there at this time of the year is the amazing Snapper. The Gold Coast has good winter jigging grounds, ample pelagic fish activity and a winter blue marlin fishery to boot.

Cheers from Dan and Dan.
Remember Catch Plenty Release plenty and take care of our Oceans