Your Favourite Bream Flys:)

[Fisherman Josh]

Hi Guys,
Noticing a drop off of fly fishing info getting swapped so i will put it to you all. What is your favourite bream Flys ??? And any pics to go with of bream or flys would be good lets get the ball rolling guys.

[Ol' slab sides]

Black Crazy Charlies at night... Slab

[getchoo]

for bream
bms olive, white, black
thanks to one muz wilson and one chris dunham....
specially after catching my first bream over 25cm on fly in the swan this afternoon (31cm)

:D :D :D

ohhhh and the arthur dent.....
I'll post a picture of it when i get them developed

ohhh and a smller version of the flats fly
green/red or yellow/red

[Thurls]

G'Day Josh,

Sounds pretty obvious but it's not very often I tie on anything but a Meldrum Clouser first up, they catch fish. We have been tieing different versions of this fly, trying to replicate some of our more successful lures.

If the water is real clear or the fish are spooky (ie on the flats) I'll try a BMS, pink arsed olive.

Cheers,

Cole

[Stuie_02]

Hi Everyone

Most times i use Crazy charlies or its various incarnations jelly belles and so on.But the BMS has been a eye opener over the last 18months has constantly produces the goods for me.

Loads of good patterns coming on to the market and new materials in the last 2 years.

Cheers
Stuie

[Bream_Spinner]

Well I think the best flies in any color for Bream are worms, Baited Breath and Crazy Charlie's
Tight Lines
Bream_Spinner

[Duncan M]

My first choice is usually the "meldrum" clouser, it had accounted for my PB bream as well as heaps of other fish, flathead like it too (whether that is a good thing or not is up to you hehe). In real dirty water/early morning/low light I will usually go to a meldrum variant with flashabou/mirrorflash/microflash topping, this has given me the advantage a few times. In clear or shallow water first choice is a bead head BMS, esp black or olive.
Like Cole said, we've been playing around with a few other things lately, so far we've had some ok results (well I have anyway haha!!), bit early to claim reinvention of the wheel though.
Interesting that a lot of eastern states guys like charlies, they aren't used that much over here. I've found that quite often a change to a bigger fly will result in a bream, whereas the opposite is usually true with lures. I know a lot of big bream over here have whacked 4/0 clousers aimed at mulloway.

Cheers
Duncan

[Fisherman Josh]

Hey guys,
It seems to me with every one ive asked that generally the meldrum fly has its spot in any bream fisho's box. I personnaly have done my best with it so i am very happy to tie it on. Thanks for the replys.
Josh

[Chris Dunham]

Wow, there are so many good bream flies it's hard to narrow down the best.

For clear salty estuary work with 5 and 6 weights on bright days would probably start with a PA Estuary BMS in White or Olive. Right at the estuary mouth, a weighted Crazy Charlie tied with a multi mix krystal flash wing and a diamond braid body in pearl.

At night on same estuary a Black BMS or Black Bream Reaper.

In deep nasty snags a Hammerhead or USD Merri Minnow in Black & Chartreuse or Black & Rust (75% black).

Along reed beads wading uper estuary, Olive or Grey BMS. At night a Black Shadow or Craigs Nighttime tied on a #4 stainless hook. A small (size #8) salmon pink marabou crazy charlie.

During winter when the river goes "tea" coloured a black Bream Reaper with bead chain eyes and small dumbell eyes.

Don't use Bob Clousers Deep Minnows much but they have their place in the fly box and get pulled out from time to time.


Short answer - PA Estuary BMS, Rusty USD Merri Minnow and Bream Reaper.


Cheers,

Chris.

[Justin]

Gday Guys,

This maybe a silly question - but what is a "Meldrum Clouser"?

Also, do most people prefer a floating line for all round bream work - or would you suggest an intermediate would be the way to go - with the flies mentioned above?

Cheers

Justin

[Stuie_02]

GDay Chris

i saw on your website a very nice pattern a crazy charlie with two lead bead eyes and a bend in the hook. From the looks of it is crawls along the ground with the hook point sittting nearly vertical. Very Nice.

Justin,
I use a full intermediate but a floater is a good option if your starting out or the sink tips are a nice option as well. If your just starting out a floater is probably easier to get back out of the water than a full intermediate.

I personally use a full intermedate and i have a second spool with running line and various shooting heads (Floaters, Intermediates and a Sink IV). I use the shooting heads as you can change fairly quickly between the lines and go deep or go shallow relatively quickly. Also the distance of a shooting head is alot better than a full Wf line. I know the shooting head is very inaccurate but it can get close to bream country, and generally. I switch over to a full line like my WF intermediate when im casting close (20-30ft).

Cheers
Stuie

[jimi]

Justin, the meldrum clouser is just a local name given to a very flashy green clouser that seems to catch a lot of things in the swan. It was originally shown to the world in Western Angler magazine about 2.5 years ago and in that article it was called a meldrum after the guy that first started tying them (Kim Meldrum - a gun local fly fisherman).

It's really just a standard clouser, but instead of using bucktail or some other natural material, it is totally tied from flashy green (actually chartreuse) material such as shimmer flash and sparkle flash. There are a million variations of it, and it ends up looking like a christmas decoration, but seems to work a treat on dirty water fish.

Hope that helps.

[Stuie_02]

Hey Jimi

Is that fly the meldrum special have the green on the bottom and a white ontop? any extra flash such as kFlash in the beard?

Cheers
Stuie

[jimi]

Stuie, The ones I've seen are tied in what I call the "slack bastard" clouser style. That is, there is no material tied under the hook (like traditional clousers), just a wing on top. A very minimalist style.

I haven't seen one with white on top, just all green. The way to tied that was reported in Western Angler involved making most of the wing from green shimmerflash or sparkleflash and then topping it off with green krystal flash.

Hope that helps

James.

[Drew]

G'day bream frequent flier's

sorry bout that, these are my fav flies for bream in brisbane

[Drew]

another one

[Chris Dunham]

Justin,

I think depth control is critical for really efective bream fishing and to that end have 6 main lines that I use plus 2 mongrel concotions made from broken heads from heavier weight lines joined to running line sections. The fly should be delivered by the weight of line to whatever depth you intend to fish at rather than being overly influenced by heavily weighted patterns. This way you can fish a fly at any depth really slowly which as you know sucks bream in big time.

Like to wade a lot and usually start of with a floating line in most cases.

Cheers,

Chris.

http://www.flyworld.com.au

[Drew]

and my most successfull probably cause it looks kool and i tie it on most often......

[Drew]

i agree that www.flyworld.com is a great site and where i bought these flies form and tie my own..........

cheer's drew

[Justin]

Thanks for that guys.

What type of leader do you run when using an intermediate line?

I know that for heavier saltwater work, a lot of guys run say 1 metre of level leader with an intermediate line, to stop a belly forming etc, but I have found bream are too flighty to do this.

I have been using 4ft (20lb) 2ft (15lb) 3ft (8lb fluro) with an intermediate line - but dont know if this is too long/short etc.

This is on an 8wt stick, which I guess is too heavy for everyday bream work, but I dont yet have an intermediate line for my 6wt.

What weight rod do most guys/girls use for bream work?

Also, the Meldrum CLouser sounds like a ripper - does anyone know of any pictures anywhere or have any tying instructions?

[Chris Dunham]

Justin,

The leader type is really determined by the type of water and there is no one "do every where" leader.

For in and under deep structure a 1 metre leader of up to 30lb fluoro can be used with success. But only where light levels are low. This is also where Kim Meldrums version of the Bob Clouser Deep Minnow comes into it's own - low light or dirty water. But don't get hung up on that pattern or any other pattern for that matter as it most certainly won't do all situations.

For clear water on flats I use up to an 18 foot leader though this can be a real pain if the wind is agains you. A leader built from a taper leader of about 15lb is ideal and extend with a good quality fluoro like Umpqua, Orvis or Sufix. This type of leader set up has the advantage of having only one joiner knot to tangle if a cast goes a bit wonky.

Cheers,

Chris.

http://www.flyworld.com.au

[Chris Dunham]

Justin,

Forgot to answer the rod question.

I use a 4-weight, 6, 7 and 8-weight for bream but more often than not use either a 6 or 7. Have a few 6-weights that are different lengths and all have different character. For example, the TFO IM6 6-weight is ideal for wadeing around weed beds as it loads well and is a pleasure to cast and can be used all day. My boat 6-weight is made from half a sage RPL 590 and half a Lamiglas IM700, it's not a really pretty caster but has balls if you know what I mean.

Would like a 10' 6 weight next for wadeing and distance casting.

Cheers,

Chris.

http://www.flyworld.com.au

[Drew]

dear chris_Dunham

do u use an extra long rod say that 10'6 job to cast 18 foot of leader, i struggle with 10 foot, but 18 is going to be sumthing i need to learn to throw............can you give me any hints to cast that lenght as i do alot of flats work in clear water and see the need for the extra tipet ........i'm using a 9'foot sage rplxi 7#, with sciangler bonefish floating clear line.........will i need a longer rod or new fly line(wind master line) or just practice.......or all three....

cheer's drew :confused:

[Chris Dunham]

Drew,

Your equipment is fine, though overlineing by one line weight might help a little with your 7-weight as they are pretty fast which can make turning over long leaders a bit tricky.

Turning over 18' leaders is a big ask so don't be too put off if you find it hard to acheive. I put that in the post as an example of the extreame end of the leader set up and can only really be used for unweighted flies.

With weighted flies and long leaders theres just too much pendulum effect to deal with. When useing long leaders it's best not to be wadeing too deep as this is the same as reduceing your effective rod length. Strong winds obviously make turning over 18' ledaers near impossible. Light winds are fine though and try to use the light wind to help turn over you forward cast.

Fished the flats in the last two days at dusk with Black Hammerheads and Black & Rust USD Merri Minnows with a 9' 7-weight TFO and a 14' leader of 15lb tapered butt section tapered leader and extended with two sections of tippet with the final section being 6lb (25 bream which included about 8 Tarwine which pull really hard, great fishing :) )

This sort of set up and leader length (down to 9' on night fall) is more typical of flats for bream.

Cheers and good luck,

Chris.

http://www.flyworld.com.au