Episode 318: Eurobodalla Bream With Justine Tominey

Justine’s Top South Coast Bream Fishing Tips

• Bream tend to be associated with structure, so it never hurts to start by looking around sunken timber, weed beds, bridge pylons, oyster racks, boat hulls, rock bars or other hard structure.
• During low light periods the fish will often come onto the flats and shallow weed beds to feed. As the sun rises they’ll head for deeper water and/or the cover of structure. Once the sun is up, focus your efforts on areas where there are shadows.
• If you find waterbirds sitting on overhanging branches it’s worth putting a cast or two underneath them. Bream are often below feeding on the droppings.
• Do plenty of research before you leave home. Google Earth is great for finding bridges, boat moorings, oyster racks and other areas where bream congregate. It’s also good to talk to local tackle stores and find out what’s been going on.
• Wind is your friend. Do some research and find out if the wind has been blowing consistently from one direction in the days before you fish. Exposed banks, flats and weed beds that cop the wind will be holding plenty of bream.
• Bream can be caught on any tide, it’s just a case of changing locations/structures and adjusting your techniques to suit the conditions. Justine finds the fishing is often tough during the daytime around the full moon.
• If the fishing is tough – don’t give up, keep casting. Take a look around and see what the bream are feeding on, then try to match the hatch with lures of similar profile, size, action and colour. Keep changing lures and retrieves until you find success.

Justine’s Preferred Bream Fishing Tackle

• A 3-8lb Atomic Arrows Bream Surface rod, or a 2-6lb Samurai Reactions/Infinite rod is a good choice. Coupled with a 2000-2500 size spin reel and 14lb Majorcraft Dangan braid, Justine finds this covers her bream needs and has the ability to be crossover for bass, too. A good rod length of 4lb Unitika FC leader completes the setup.

Justine’s Best Bream Fishing Lures

• Atomic Plazos 4” Skinny Grub in Motor Oil colour rigged on Atomic Seaker Jig Heads ranging from 1/24 to 1/11 oz, depending on water depth and conditions. Justine typically fishes this lure by allowing it to sink to bottom and then hopping it back with short rod lifts, winding in to just stay in contact with the lure between hops. Typically a slow, subtle retrieve will do the damage, but you might need to vary it up to see what works on the day.
• Atomic Hardz Jerk Minnow 65mm. This is a suspending hard body that’s great in structure and around edges in water to 1m or so in depth. Fish it slowly with plenty of twitches and pauses to keep it in the zone, bream often strike a stationary lure.
• Atomic Metalz Blades (40mm). A great, long casting lure that sinks quickly and pumps out plenty of vibration to stir up action. This lure is best fished in deeper areas around bridge pylons and similar structure and should be used with short rod lifts, winding to stay in contact with the lure as it sinks back down. Once again, be prepared to mix the retrieve up to find what’s working.
• Atomic Hardz Cicada. During the warmer months when you’re hearing the roar of cicadas it can be worth casting one of these under overhanging branches and areas where cicadas can fall into the water. Once the lure lands, let it sit stationary until the ripples dissipate, then shake the rod tip a few times to make it vibrate on the spot before pausing again. If this doesn’t get the bite, slow roll the lure in short bursts with a pause in between.