knock knock let me in

[yellow door]

First post for the yellow door.

Very new to the game but have just completed an intensive 4 week apprenticeship on Docklands Bream. I was getting some work done on the boat and couldnt sit still so i decided to give the bream a go. Its been a month since I've used the boat. Longest stretch off the water in 3 years.

Landed some thumpers and lost some down cracks that were no place for a begginer. Have banged my head on rafters in the dark, ripped my daks on rusty bolts, played hide and seek with the boys in the white utes and I'm loving every minute of it.

Problem is - none of the fish I've caught have been on soft plastics. I get the feeling that If I'm to contiue my membership here i better get on to em pretty quick.

I think I'm half way there as my bait presentations and constant moving about share more in common with soft plastics than standard bait drowning. Also share same ethics on catch and release as the S.P bream brigade. So now all I need to do is replace the bait with plastic and I'm there

Very interested in land based soft plastic techniques. I've got some idea but there are a couple of queries that will have to be answered before i even attempt working the pylons

Looking forward to exploring the site. Might have a sniff around before I ask too many obvious questions.

[Bear]

Don't be shy YD, ask away. No time like the present. Too many fish to chase and not enough time :D

Welcome aboard.

[Dave W]

Welcome aboard Yellow Door :D

Being a New South Welshman, I've only hit the Docklands about 6 times, all from a boat :)

Most of my fishing was done with plastics, and the best for me were the Atomic 2" Grubs in natural colours (Amber, Motor Oil Gold, Brown Crawdad, Avocado Gold) and the Ecogear Mini-Tanks (a dead ringer for a small crab ;)) - in hardbodies the Attack in BreamMaster Stealth colour was pretty sweet :D

There was a great post from Adam Royter here:

http://www.breammaster.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=601&highlight=adam+royter

And an article over at Sportsfish as well:

http://www.sportsfish.com.au/library/fishing-stories/docklands-black-bream.html

All the lures are available at the online store, if you want a look just click the link at the top of the page :)

Cheers,

[yellow door]

Thanks for the welcome Bear and Dave.

I had a good sniff around, taken a page full of notes and have come up with some fledgling theories on how to get my first bream on soft plastics.

I'd appreciate your opinions on the effectivenes of vertically working the pylons and which lures would suit. Most of my presentations dont go more than 2 pylons under the dock (i mainly fish standing on top and casting between my legs). Bust ups on 4kg mono are frequent enough on the first pylon. Majority of fishing done at night.

Thanks again.

[dantheman]

G day
i fish the docklands quite alot , and can say their is some huge bream their but seeing them is one thing and to catch them on a lure is another ball game all together.
if you can get some bass yabbies, fish these on dusk on the small poontoon, out the front of the dock, its not very big its fairly new its on the left hand side if you look at the bridge,,
try and cast up the pylons, their is good fishing to be had good luck.. if you have any questions just ask,,
cheers dan..

[yellow door]

Thanks Dan

I know of a few floating pontoons in the area. The one I'm thinking of is half way up on the left hand side of shed 14 where the weird looking "tram" boat is moored at night. Might hit it tomorrow morning.

Dusk not an option for saturday as Im being lured away by the green metalic lures made Carlton and United Breweries

[yellow door]

Had a ball in the city on Saturday morning. Got down there at 8am (bit late), the water was so clear and the bream were hungry. It really gets the adrenilin going watching them come out from under the docks and take the bait. Saw a little mulloway but he wouldnt take the bait I was bouncing infront of its nose.

It was weird watching big bream charge out and then stop dead inches from the bait while others would slowly cruise in and take it at first sniff. Going to have to get some flourocarbon leaders to turn the lookers into takers.Got busted up heaps and had to give half my 4kg line to a mate who was fishing 2kg. He dropped 3 beasts in a row before I couldnt take it anymore and made him re-spool.

Fished till midday and would have seen 200 bream. About 60 of these were in the one loose school but they wouldnt take a bait.

Found some new spots and got a thumper near the Bolte bridge.

This bream fishing is unreal.

Do they bight this well in summer?

Whats does MIM stand for?

[Mim]

Whats does MIM stand for As far as I am aware it is my name, well actually it is short for Miriam. Also short for Mount Isa Mine.

Is this what you were asking for? or was it something someone else used somewhere?

Cheers

Mim

[george]

Yellow Door, hehehe, is this the "secret yellow door" i wonder? ;)

Good to hear you did alright on Sat morning, i got there around 1pm 'ish and found the going quite tough. Fished the floating pontoon near the tramboat and it was quiet apart from a few littlies down deep. Didn't see any cruisers right under though.

As you mentioned they are there in droves and quite easily tempted with unweighted crabs, yabbies mussels and the like...getting them on an artificial lure though is a real challenge but can be done.

I fished that area the whole of last summer and found them to be there and quite receptive pretty much the whole way through

Cheers,

George

[Geoff R]

Were you from the Isa Mim?????, all i ever saw come out of that place was Golf Stars and Australian/American Cowboy wannabees:D all wearing ten gallon hats and chaps:D

[SWANK-E]

i have never had much luck at night with breaming on lures.

but my advice would be to leave the bait at home and stick with the lures and don't be tempted to go back to it if you want to crack the bream on lures thing.

and oh, try it day time.

so i take it you fish at the yellow door.

[Mim]

Were you from the Isa Mim?????, all i ever saw come out of that place was Golf Stars and Australian/American Cowboy wannabees all wearing ten gallon hats and chaps Proud to say I am a Sandgroper all the way, and I wouldn't know one end of a golf stick from another. LOL

Cheers

Mim

[yellow door]

Originally posted by SWANK-E
i have never had much luck at night with breaming on lures.
.

Gday Swank-e, I might have to search for glowing plastics or flouro dyes that could be applied. Did find some excellent casting options on the weekend so I'll be sure to give the plastics a run when the sun is shining.

Yellow Door is the nick name of my uncles punt that I caught my first bream on in Nelson all those years ago. He used to take me to all his secret spots on it:D

[yellow door]

Originally posted by george


Fished the floating pontoon near the tramboat and it was quiet apart from a few littlies down deep. Didn't see any cruisers right under though.



Thats big school I mentioned was in the same general area as the tramboat. The fish definately got harder to hook as the day went on. The morning was ridiculously easy to set the hooks - getting them in was another story.

[yellow door]

Originally posted by MimboNo5
As far as I am aware it is my name, well actually it is short for Miriam.


Sorry Mim, Your name was popping up everywhere and I thought it was a reference to some sort of soft plastic technique.

[SWANK-E]

yellow door, i have tried glow in the dark stuff too.. but it's just that i find the bream seem to be a lot lot less agressive when you are targetting them on lures at night.

others might proof my wrong but that's my experience

[yellow door]

Thanks Swank-e, It seems I'm destined to continue with bait on week-nights and save the plastic for my days off.

Ps. Whats your favourite retrieve with the single tail plastics. This new spot I found gives access to 5 pylons deep so I'm going to have to get alot done over a short distance.

[george]

I have tried plastics at night in the Yarra and have found the darker coloured ones to work best. I think the silhouette of their action against the dark backdrop is what may make them work.

Cheers,

George

[Mim]

Sorry Mim, Your name was popping up everywhere and I thought it was a reference to some sort of soft plastic technique. Maybe it is!!! A techmigue that is all my own. LOL

Dunno if it works though, but the guys I have fished with in the comps reckon I bring them good luck, as they do pretty well with me on the boat. Just ask Ira about day two in the Albany comp. He threw a hard body over the side at a snag and left it there whilst he put the electric motor down. All of a sudden, bang, his hard body took off with a bream on the end of it.

So maybe Mim is a technique used in the comps to catch a few bream

Cheers

Mim

[yellow door]

What ever your doing seems to be working - that bream in your photo is a beauty!

Thanks for clearing up the confusion.

[yellow door]

Originally posted by george
I have tried plastics at night in the Yarra and have found the darker coloured ones to work best.

Had a go with a big old black double tailed mr Twister the other night but either the size of the lure or my technique let me down.

Was walking down the pier like a geriatric bride, jigging the plastic up and then letting it drop between strides. No hits from the bream but the little tailor must have taken pity on me. They couldnt find the hook though. Probably laughing to hard. Those tailor will chase anything!

[SWANK-E]

sounds like you might be jigging too fast for a tailor to like a piece of soft plastic

[yellow door]

Originally posted by SWANK-E
sounds like you might be jigging too fast for a tailor to like a piece of soft plastic



I was jigging under a flood light so could see the little buggers hitting it and they seemed to prefer whacking the tail (too far away from the hook for these little fish). The style of their hits was very messy. I didnt have any smaller plastics so I rigged up a short shank size 12 with a split shot ahead of it. Instead of a plastic tail i used 3 maggots which soon turned the tables in my favour as i picked up a few on the retrieve. Seem to ignore the maggots unless they were moving like a fish


The tailor were only 15cm long and are much better hiting a bait on the surface than in midwater (plenty of silver flashes but not as many hookup as on the surface). Started skimming the bait to leave a "V" on the water and had a couple of fish clear the water to take the bait. Very agressive little fella's but it must take a couple of seasons to get the accuracy.

Actually saw one take a free swimming crustacean of some sort right at my feet. Looked like a very immature bass yabbie crossed with a sand flea. It was travelling quite slowy and the tailor had no trouble hitting it on the first attempt.

No idea what the crustacean was but it swam off a pylon in the docklands - possibly a shrimp but it was white and chunkier for its length. Moved alot like a shrimp going forward.