Episode 565: Jamie Mckeown and Andrew Death On All Things Bream Fishing

What’s In Jamie’s Lure Box?

The following is a quick rundown of Jamie’s competition lures from around 2012 when he first started lure fishing.

• Ecogear Bream Prawns in Salt and Pepper.
• Gulp Shrimps
• Atomic crank 38’s in Ghost Gill Brown
• Jackall Chubby Ghost Gill

Jamie’s Bream Tournament Winning Tips

• Jamie likes to fish the front of a system because the extra water movement tends to hold a higher quality of fish. Fishing deep, faster flowing water takes a little practice and figuring out, but it’s very rewarding once you get it figured out.
• Cowan creek, Jamie was able to catch 3 fish on topwater lures, with the OSP Bent Minnow in colour P74 or “peach face” being a favourite.
• Hawkesbury River, Jamie was able to pull a bag of over 4kg using Cranka Crabs in deep fast flowing water using a technique of positioning the boat with the electric motor, casting upstream and letting the crab hit bottom before hopping it with gentle rod lifts. Opening the bail arm occasionally allows the lure to sink back to the bottom.
• Fishing the Sow and Pigs Reef (Sydney Harbour) Jamie used 12lb straight though fluorocarbon with a locked up drag.
• Pittwater/Hawkesbury River, Jamie used every plastic he had before landing on a Daiwa Bait Junkie grub in motor oil on a 1/6 jig head.

Jamie’s Specialist Breaming Techniques

• Cranka Crabs. In the fast flowing water around Spencer on the Hawkesbury Jamie fishes deep water off rock walls amongst the boulders on the bottom. He pitches the crab 2m in front of the boat. He then uses the electric motor to keep the boat in the correct spot while drifting back with the lure. He uses the boat more than the rod and tries to keep in contact with the lure without winding in. During this process he might push forwards or backwards with the electric and sometimes he will also open the bail arm. Using this technique he sacrifices a few lures, but if the crab is not hitting the rocks he doesn’t get bites. Jamie also mentions that some people use blades and plastics in a similar fashion.
• Daiwa Bait Junkie Grub. In the car park (a large expanse of weed and sand covered flats at the mouth) in Pittwater, Jamie cycled through nearly every plastic on his boat. Jamie finally used a Motor Oil Grub and caught a 36 fork length bream. He had started with a 1/12 jig head he found that the wind was holding the lure off the bottom and went to a 1/6 jig head to get the lure to the bottom. With the electric on spot lock and fishing from the back of the boat he was able to make long wind assisted casts from his position 3m deep out to the deeper water. He worked the lure by slowly raising the rod up to a vertical position and then winding in the slack line. When he saw a tick in the line he would load up and wind the fish on.