Finesse 2

This is a repeat of a lost posting.

I am still figuring out plastics v Bream.

I was under the impression that the bait had to be small for the small mouth of the Bream.

And to have movement. So I bought lots of 2 inch single tails.

Next I know the Bundaberg comp is being won on 3 or 4 inch products with no movement.

see Ian Sewells photo on http://www.breammaster.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=2939

for a very very respectable ( for Qld) catch on a 3 inch Slider worm.


Is this a seasonal thing? Or a new development in plastics?

They don't seem to be available on the shelf yet - or am I mistaken?

All advice welcomed !

[Mitch]

Hey Gary,

Here's roughly my opinion. Personally I have been using big plastics for a reasonably long time, and to put it simply - they work extremely well..in the right situation.

As with most other types of fishing, one has to adopt different techniques etc to suit the situation at hand. You can throw the idea that the lure has to be "small for the small mouth of the bream" since they are regularly caught on Scorpion 68s and other similar sized lures (which are obviously not classed as a small lure). Figuring out what type of plastic to use could depend on the type of area you are fishing, the depth, how finicky the fish are blah blah blah..you have to learn from your own experience I think.

I believe in the theory that the action of the lure (whether it be a hardbody or a soft plastic) is the key to its fish catching ability, remember that this 'movement' doesn't have to come from the actual lure itself. You may have to devolop the action yourself. I make a lot of hybrid (homemade) plastics (which often end up being up to 4inchs long), with little natural movement. When fishing them I have to physically jig them around etc to produce the 'movement/action' I'm after.

On the other side of the story: If you're new to it, or simply want to regularly catch more fish, I'd stick with the smaller Bassmaster, Slider, Atomic etc style plastics..or whatever works well in your area.

My thoughts - but don't quote me on this:
When using bigger plastics, you are more likely to pull bigger fish, but less fish.

When using smaller plastics, you are more likely to pull more fish, of ALL sizes, more often.


Hope some of this rambling helps mate..

Hi Gary, mate Mitch is spot on with everything he said, I have been lure fishing for 30 odd years and could not have explained it better:) . Well done Mitch:)

Cheers Samurai

[Angry]

Still learning the whole bream on lures thing. So there is not too much I can say from experiance.
But I do a have picture in an older book of a small bream (about 15cm) caught on a 12 cm lure. At very least it suggests that size is not the only determining factor for a fish to take a lure.

[pw-bream]

Go and have a look at the size of the Prawns in a decent brand of frozen prawns, they are big, easily 3" long and fat too.
Same goes for Sandworm a decent one of them fills a #2 hook with big loops hanging over everywhere.

And yet excellent Bream are caught on Shrimp which are sometimes only 1/2" long and thin like a grain of rice.

Clearly a range of sizes and shapes are acceptable as being good to eat by Bream.

Having said that the good old 2" single tail is a very versatile prospecting tool that is small enough to get small fish interested and hooked, but still capable of tempting the whoppers.

I completely agree with mitch in everything he says.
Come comp time that is going to be the basis of my approach.
Use the smaller placcies until I catch my bag of five, and after that...start using tried and true placcies and techniques to catch those bigger fish. This only works when you know you can catch a lot of fish on the day...but we can only wait and see.

Dave

[Bream Master]

I've just been talking to Tracy from Proangler about...GULP...4 inch Sliders....

And it doesn't stop there. Some of the lures I'm being sent by guys I met at the trade show are up to 5 inches long. And there's about five or so regular bream anglers already dabbling with big plackies. However, they're not ones readily available here in Australia. They are specialist plastics from the states which are being drip fed into Australia. So don't race out and just buy any 4 inch tails as they will probably be the wrong profile.

These big plastics are for use exactly as Mitch and others have confirmed. Don't think you'll just automatically catch bigger bream with these. Bigger plastics will decrease the number of fish willing to hit your lure significantly. Cut your teeth on 1-2.5 inch models and dabble with bigger plastics to upgrade your catch or when everything is shutdown.

Kim Bain is currently writing a guide for members of Bream Master on all bass plastic techniques and the variations on them. She will be personally adapting the different methods to breaming to make things easier to understand.

I would also read some of the USA bass sites for an intro to these methods, particularly bassdozer.com

...And just when you thought you understood plastics...LOL

Warren.

[Simon]

Hi Gary,

first up thankyou, and everyone from your cabin (and my boaters at the tourny for that matter) for making the tourny such an enjoyable one.

I to have been playing with nothing but jerk baits ever since Bundaberg. My flathead catches have trebled and I have caught them in all depths. Still catching the same number of bream, size is just as veriable although at this stage it seems the bigger bream have the softer takes and the smaller bream are belting them, Oh yes and the Bass off the same snags love them as well.
I am enjoying using them even more than the grubs and shads if that is possible. I feel it is easier to get a more life like action out of them and believe it is easier the work the watercolomn better than with your standard grubs, hence there success at Bundy when it was shutdown using two completely different techniques. It also looks to me that they do give off movement but it is more subtle and I think life like.

The hardest thing like you suggested is finding them let alone finding suitable baits. The availablity in the north brisbane areas is very poor, and many that are here seem to be too stiff (or expensive) for my liking (but what would I know at this early stage).

More as I learn it

Simon.

Cheers Simon

Bundaberg was certainly a more social event for me than Gold Coast - probably because we were all from out of town.

You are right about finding these plastics. In one brand I believe the importer has none - and any stock at retail must have been a direct import. As this is a rumour I will not name a brand.

I heard that the Slider stock is sold out at wholesale until the next shipment.

However I think Warren at this site has some or soon will have.

Can Warren let us know?

Gary