Episode 594: Tournament Breaming With Grayson Fong

Grayson’s Tips For Bream Fishing

• Grayson’s bream fishing journey started with a trip where he lost a lot gear with not much being caught. On the same trip he watched Steve and Tim Morgan will the Queensland open, catching their bag with ease.. The event inspired him to get serious about fishing for bream with lures.
• For those who don’t own boats, entering a tournament will see you paired up randomly to compete with a boating angler. It’s an amazing way to meet and fish with some of the top anglers in the country.
• Being willing to keep an open mind, learn and adapt to the day’s conditions is critical, as is experimenting with different techniques and lures to find what works best.
• Grayson’s technique for hard body fishing bream involve a very slow retreieve with no twitches, just wind, stop. Wind, stop. He prefers a 4.8:1 ratio reel in a 2500 size, as it allows him to cast farther and retrieve the lure at a slower pace, maximising bites and minimising spooked fish.
• Rig several rods with lures that run at different depths lures of different depths. For example, a Spike 44 EXDR to cover deep water a Spike 44 mid-runner or deep rolling crank, plus a mid-rolling crank. This approach covers all the water columns and allows the angler to work lures up and over bottom structure and then down the other side.
• To cover more area when fishing, consider using deeper diving lures that cover the water column from shallow to deep. This approach allows you to cover more horizontal area and as a beginner, having one of each type of lure rigged up can help you work out what the fish are doing faster.
• There is always a debate about the ideal leader size, but Grayson has concluded that 6lb leader works best for his style of fishing. It may seem heavy, but the number of lost fish on four-pound leaders outweighs the additional bite received. An FG knot is the ultimate line and leader connector.
• When it comes to line J-Braid in eight pound is great, as is Saltiga EX braid. The latter is expensive but very durable and has a long life.
• If you’re having a tough day fishing, the weather conditions are your first sign of where to fish. On a calm day, fish structure, such as bridges or pylons, as they provide shade. On a windy day, pick a wind-swept bank or flat and make the longest casts you can with the wind. Casting with the wind is advantageous for covering a lot of water in a short time and getting away from the boat. A glass-out day is a tougher challenge, so it’s best to go to structure, such as bridges or jetties, where fish may be hiding.

Grayson’s Bream Lures

• The Cranka Crab is a must-have lure for anywhere near structure, but even on flats. Grayson prefers the UV colour and believes it is more effective than the olive colour he previously favoured.
• The Daiwa Infeet Spike 44 or 53  SP. The latter is a bigger lure for bream, and the profile is the same as the OSP Dunk, which has been a popular lure for years. It has a slow rise in saltwater when paused and a big bib that helps it get down fairly deep. The bib also acts as a bumper bar when rolling over rocks or rubbing on the bottom. Go to colours when using Daiwa Infeet Spikes are the brown suji shrimp and the matt prawn. The matt prawn is a solid, dark color with great silhouette in both clear and dirty water. Brown suji shrimp was made famous by the old Jackall Chubby.
• The Daiwa Infeet Rollin Crank is available in both mid-runner and deep-runner varieties. The mid-runner can dive down to about three feet. It’s best used on weed flats or rubble bottoms where fish may be feeding in packs. The deep-runner can be used in shallow or deep water and can be rolled through rocks or rubble bottoms, using the bib as a bumper bar. On weed flats it’s better to go back to the mid-runner.
• Bait Junkies Bloodworm Grub G Hit on a 1/16 oz jighead. A lighter jighead (1/20 oz) is great for fishing edges where a slower sink rate is required, whilst a 1/12^th oz head is perfect on the flats when slow rolling grubs. For a paddletail soft plastic, such as the two and a half inch Bait Junkie Minnow, a similar technique can be used, and the bream seem to love it.
• The Jackall Chubby is a favourite lure for bream fishing, and has a slow rise in saltwater if you pause, plus and a big bib to get the lure down quite deep.