Best flies etc

[Flynut]

G'day all, I'm mad on flyfishing but to date it's mostly been freshwater - trout, bass and redfin. I've recently moved to Lake Macquarie and am dead keen to really start giving those bream some ;) .
I'd really appreciate any tips on what you all find are the best flies and method of stripping them, what sort of line is best for breaming- floating or sinking, what sort of structure/ features I should be targetting, etc etc.
I don't have a boat.......yet, so I'm land/ jetty based and am using an 8wt rod.
This is my first post and I look forward to hopefully being able to contribute some pearls of wisdom by the time I land my first biggun.

Cheers

[Christopher]

G'day, and welcome to the club.

In Starlo and Bushy's book (available on this site) there is a good section on fly fishing for bream, and there is also a chart of good bream flies. On this forum, if you go back a while, there are a few threads that outline the best flies etc.

Generally, smaller saltwater flies, around size 4 give or take are a good size. Patterns like crazy charlies, clousers, and other general baitfish and shrimp imitations all work well. The BMS is a popular bream fly, and there is a picture of this on a previous thread under the BMS??? title.

If you're looking to buy some bream flies to get going, check out www.flyworld.com.au , and look at the flies catalogued by species.

Intermediate lines work well for getting the fly down into shallower weed beds, etc.

Hope I've helped a little bit. All the best.

[Ol' slab sides]

G'day Flynut, welcome to the site

I'm up at swansea, fishin mainly on the "dropover" from my kayak...
Bream are a bit quiet at the moment but the pinkies have been on the chew, been using an intermediate line & Bream Bunnies...
Used to fish from the shore though, with a floater up in salts bay (max 5')...
Try some crazy charlies their a simply fly that works great...
Ya should be able to get a few fish down your way esp. at night...Go the pinkies!

[getchoo]

Gday mate
I've only just gotten into tying my own flies specifically for bream, having spent a lot of time chasing flathead and trout.

So far the most success i've had on flats in the late afternoon (on the Swan river) is on size 4/6 gotchas (looks like a crazy charlie but with a soft marabou tail).

colour patterns most popular seem to be
(Body/wing/tail)
(gold/black/orange)
(pearl green/black/red)
(pearl/white/sparkley)
(gold/tan/olive)

Before tying my own bream flies, BMS's from fly world in white and olive were excellent on the Moore River (a mate swears by black, although i've never caught one on that colour).

For the flats work, I've been using a floating line simply because i think the sinking line might spook fish in the skinny water.

If you're keen I can mail you a few flies to try if you like... They get destroyed after five or so fish, but just email me if you want say three or four.

cheerio
al

[Flynut]

Chris, Slab & Al - thanks for the feedback guys.
Plenty of weed beds where I am, Chris and it just so happens I have some of the flies you mention. Like Al I like to tie my own flies, however have only started to dabble in SW flies and a couple of clousers are all thats come off the vice so far. Old next door neighbour had one of those white hairy little mutts (that get under your feet all the time and could double as floor mops) which I got into with the scissors one day. Found it's fur has a reasonable action in water and thought it would be alright for clousers..... fish mustn't like the dog smell or something though, cause they aint got nuthin yet.:confused:
Slab, God's country around here isn't it!! Don't know where you're talking about when you mention the dropover as I'm fairly new to the area but I intend to get to know every fishing spot by name in a 50km radius. I've already had a couple of sessions with my young blokes up your way.... real fishy looking but as you say bream have been quiet - down our way too. I'll keep an eye out for you next time I'm having a sniff up that way...
Al, a bloke'd be mad not to take you up on your offer... cheers mate I'll email you.
Thanks again guys
Dave

[getchoo]

Mate

I'll tie up a bunch on Friday, as I've got a lot of uni stuff to do today.

Should get them sometime next week.
I'd love to see if they work over there....

cheerio
al

[Flynut]

Thanks Al

You'll be the first to know

Cheers
Dave:D

[faro]

flynut, i still cant go past the orange hammerhead bms, happens to be the only fly that has consistantly caught bream for me so far, also there's a trout pattern called a sparkler, my mate has been using this in gold to great success
cheers