Why Bream are such a good tourney fish

Author: josh

Category: Technique & strategies

Created on Monday, 02 August 2010 18:26

Written by Josh

There are several reasons why bream make such a good tournament fish. Some of them are obvious. Some of them aren't. Lets start with the most obvious: they typically congregate in rivers and esturine systems that are relatively safe boating and kayaking environments. Thats a big plus right there. Equally obvious is their proliferation. Black bream, for example, can be found all over the southern coast, from Eden NSW to Geralton WA. Yellowfin bream can be caught on the east coast from Mallacouta Vic right through to Townsville in far north QLD. And they are encountered just as commonly through our most densly populated areas as they are more remote esturine systems. Interestingly, they don't just exist in our densly populated areas, they thrive in them.

For example, take a walk along one of the bridges that cross the yarra river near the casino on a sunny day. Look down into the water... close to the banks. See all those silver flashes? There's hundreds of them... thousands even, (barely) visible through the yarras muddy water. All bream. Sure, they might be tricky to catch with a lure... but if you want to get a feel for how many bream there really are, resort to course fishing techniques. Try light line with a super-small hook dangling a couple of foot from a needle-float with a maggot on it. If you get it right, trust me, bream find this irresistable. And if you do get it right you'll very quickly realise that there are a whole lot more bream down there than you thought. A whole lot more.

Having travelled a good part of the east coast of Australia and spending some quality time yak fishing my way up and down I have been witness to jaw-dropping amounts of bream at numerous times in a variety of places. Mallacouta, anyone? The massive weed beds of St Georges Basin NSW must harbour millions of them. Foster... I mean, wow. Clarence river, just like the Noosa river, is chockas. Burrum Heads or Tin Can Bay... teeming with them. Even the pioneer river in Mackay has a healthy supply. And almost everywhere in between. The guys who run ABT tournaments are well aware of the healthy proliferation of bream as a species, which is exactly one of the main reasons that bream is Australia's primary tournament fish. Not only can they found in almost any coastal town and or estuary system, they can most often be found in good numbers.

Bream are also one of the hardiest species you will ever encounter and this is also a valuable trait for tourney target species. When a bream is returned to the water they rarely show signs of having just fought the angler, swimming off with a flick of the tail and darting out of sight immediately as if nothing ever happened. I've even seen them do it after being dehooked, fumbled, dropped onto rocks below and then bouncing back into the water. For a small species, they are remarkably resilient. Even those TV fishing show presenters who sometimes hold the fish out of water longer than they should (setting a terrible example in the process I might add) don't seem to be too much of a threat.

Bream are also pretty smart. This to, helps make them such a suitable fish for a tournament environment. Bream are much trickier to catch on lures than they are bait and tournaments only allow for the use of lures. That bream are a challenge to catch on lure ultimately means that those who consistantly manage to catch them are indeed employing skill rather than luck to do so. And after all, finding the best is what tournaments are really all about. No one flukes their way to a series win in an ABT event (although I did fluke my way into a final)!

On top of this, there appears to be circumstancial evidence to suggest that bream learn fairly quickly and often figure out that certain lure types are in fact lures. This creates an on-going challenge for the angler, to always try to stay ahead of the fish somehow, either with better presentation, or new and better lures. Once again, this greatly enhances the interest factor in a torunament scenario. If anything, the tournament scene actually perpetuates this phenomenon as tournaments such as ABT and KFT are catch and release only. By continually catching them and putting them back we're practically training the fish what not to bite on.

Its probably also good for the species that they aren't really considered the nicest eating fish in the world either, so a great many anglers who fish for them - tournament competitors or otherwise - put them back, regardless of their size. And these days most of us are using relatively environmentally friendly nets and have a reasonable understanding of how to handle fish so as to best increase their chances of survival. While there may be some extremely hungry (or greedy) fishoes that keep up to their bag limit of 20 every now and then, rest assured most don't do that. So their numbers don't appear to be under threat in any way, so it seems highly unlikely that the tournament fishing scene (which is catch & release only) is having any detrimental impact on their numbers.

No... the future is actually looking pretty bright for the humble bream. Event organisers couldn't ask for a better species with which to focus on for tournaments. Not only can they be found practically anywhere - especially in urban environments - and usually in good numbers, bream are a challenge to catch, they are extremely hardy and survive handling, livewell storage and shock a lot better than most and on top of all that, are blessed with a taste (or lackthereof) and aura that inspires most anglers to return them anyway. This trend continues to grow to, largely helped by the tournament culture (which is helping educate anglers about the species) that places big rewards on safely returned fish and heavy penalties for the contrary.