Topwater Bream Fishing .....again & Now Again!

[arpie]

Hi guys & gals

A yakking buddy from Newcastle way, Mark & his family arrived at Forster late on Fri afternoon & was keen to hit the water first thing on Sat - I had to wait for Keith to come home so he could drop me off & keep the ute .......

I was on the water after 7.30am, for a high tide about 11am! Mark & his son Tom were already on the water from 6.30am, so an early start for them

Not long after, this happened. We were fishing some shallows in The Paddock, fishing my brand new Jazlure Zappa 55. The water in front of me EXPLODED & this ballistic fish jumped into the air, tossing & turning - this was no pike or long tom - it was too deep in the body, shiney silver in colour & seemed quite long! The drag on my reel wasn't done up too hard .....but it was firm. The line was being pulled from the reel whilst the fish was airborn then PING! The braid breaks & a Giant Herring takes off with my Zappa 55 as extra facial decoration! My Zappa 55 was GORN! I have lost my 3rd lure in 3 outings!

The water was looking so nice that I took out my 1lb braid outfit & started tossing the smallest of my poppers around - I wound up to do a giant cast ...... and something happened - the lure only went about 3m ..... I looked skyward, to my 'loomis combo' that a buddy had given me & I'd made it into a nice 7ft rod (loomis at the top & cheap & nasty at the bottom) to see the tip of the rod hanging down to the lure! My 1lb braid lure had caught the Loomis lure & snapped the top 3" of the rod clean off! This was not a good start to the day! I'd had 2 stuffups already today - was there going to be another?? I HOPE NOT! I re-tied the lure & cast with the broken rod & it wasn't all that bad - with the sammy on, I could still get reasonable casts, less so on the smaller lures.

Shortly after this, a small whiting & bream come on board, and then I land a nicer one

and a nicer one againand again!! These fish were all in top condition & fought well above their weight! I really should have measured these last two - even weighed them, they were so fat.

Once again, I was using my favourite colour - Ghost Minnow, in a Bevy Pencil this time! I didn't want to use any NW52s after losing my previous one to a nasty pike! The Bevy Pencil is 60mm long - the size in between the Sammy & the NW52. It doesn't throw as far as the Sammy, so I think the Sammy will remain my favourite - but the Bevy Pencil did the trick today, tho no 'real big ones' jumped on board ..... apart from one fish which will appear later!

We were targetting all the poles we could find & I hooked up to another fish

At this point in time, Mark & I were playing 'follow me' - we would both drift down past a set of poles, about 5m apart, casting at poles, then the bottom person would chuck a Uie & go up the top again, following the other person, tossing at the poles again .... when suddenly, I WAS ONTO A BIGGIE!! I was using the broken rod & this fish was staying deep, with big headshakes & I thought 'BIG BREAM'!! It did a circle around the yak, so I had to lift the rod tip (what was left of it) high to go over the other 2 rods & flag - it was still taking line & I was trying to get out into the middle of the channel to play it away from the poles. The line wrapped around the broken tip & I had to keep twisting the rod to make sure it was thru the runners, not twisted - I didn't want to lose it thru stupidity! It kept trying to get to the poles but I out-pedalled it & slowly, I began to 'see colour' & it was very silver - I called to Mark - I think it is a Mother of a Bream!! He was watching excitedly as I played this fish ...... it came closer & I grabbed the net & saw that it was a TREVALLY!!! Another PB - I'd never caught a Trevally in Wallis Lake before!! it went about 38-39cm. Boy, they can fight!

We slowly worked our way back down the channel when I was on again! Pretty quickly, I realised it was a giant Pike, which had done its best to swallow my Bevy Pencil - you can see how easily the smaller lures ie NW52 would have just disappeared down THAT mouth!

Believe it or not, I got 2 in a row!! They had both taken the lure down so far, it was impossible to get the tail treble out without ripping their throat apart, so I chopped their heads off to retrieve both lures 'backwards'!

Another couple of bream on the way back to the vehicle and my day was done.

It was terrific fishing with Mark as he loves topwater fishing & needed no assistance. I looked forward to being out with him again in the morning, before they had to pack up & head home. He had caught some fish & enjoyed himself, so I will leave it for him to fill in the details!

Part 2 following

Edited February 17, 2010 by Roberta

[arpie]

I was up early (for me) and heading down to the lake, arriving about 7am - Mark was quite tired from the long day before, and we'd agreed to have a 'sleep in' ........ but he had beaten me to it again, already on the water, fishing the lower part of the Breck Channel.

We fished around the boatsheds & moored boats for a few hits but not many fish, then I suggested we try the flats in front of the bridge and the first island, as it gets VERY shallow at low tide & we couldn't fish it later. Mark had to be back at camp by 8.30am, so we headed over there for some very shallow water fun!

I had put a replacement tip on the busted rod and hoped it would perform well.

Pretty well the first cast & I am onto a bream, with a couple of small ones after that!

Mark gets his first bream on the flats

Some of the fish fought well above their weight again, & we thought they would be bigger! Well fed every day on fresh prawns!

Mark got a very nice flattie over by the weedbeds & after a short casting session in the current, I returned back to the slow flowing flats. I got another whiting & some more small bream & then it was time for Mark to head back to the Marina. I followed him down & whilst he was pulling his yak out, i cast around the boat ramp & was rewarded with some hits!! After Mark had left, i remained in the Marina & fished around the Marina boats. You could see the bream hiding under the hulls but they were very wary of any of my offerings! I got a blade out & dropped it to the bottom in front of me, hoping for an aggression hit ..... and I could actually see the lure going up & down on my fish finder!! This was mad!

I cast to the edge of one of the boats & was rewarded with a small bream. then I could see some topwater disturbance, so cast there & hooked a mackerel! I know it is not a frigate mackerel - but similar in shape & speed, just different colours. It prompty threw up on me, lots of little white bait!

Nice set of teeth, too!!

I returned to the flats behind the Breck channel & caught another small whiting and another little bream

All up, a fantastic couple of days on the water & totally different to what Mark is used to fishing down his way, where the water tends to be quite dirty (where Michelle, who fished with me last weekend,) fishes also) and I know he is keen to get back & explore a bit more of Wallis Lake shallows!! We had only touched about 1% of the Lake!!

Cheerio & tight lines

Roberta

We didn't get any of the horrible weather that was battering the south coast! On Monday (yesterday) it drizzled most of the day, but beautiful sunny day again tomorrow ..... when they'd predicted doom & gloom!!

Edited February 16, 2010 by Roberta

[Hodgey]

God that's depressing.

You're having the time of your life and I'm stuck with water the color and consistency of milo! :074:

Great report Roberta. Gee you were lucky to get your lure back from that fanged marauder! Next time the bream are playing hard to get under the hulls, an un-weighted (or ultra-light hidden weight) plastic might sort the little buggers out.

Keep the reports coming, as that's as close to fishin' as I'll get for a while

Cheers

Ian

[Jewhunter]

Yet another great report & pics Roberta.

Ouch! That broken loomis must have hurt!

It looks like the fishing has reallly fired up in Forster now.

It must be so nice to fish there whenever you want to!

Well done on a couple of top sessions with a wonderful variety of species.

Cheers,

Grant.

[Guest]

Nice report Roberta,that fish with teeth is a bonito

Cheers Stewy

[Blood Knot]

Great report Roberta Sounds like the fishing is hot up your way atm. Those Giant Herring sure like to get airborne, remember having one jump up to my head height when fishing of the beach at the end of Dunk Island a few years ago.

Cheers

Blood Knot

[cut_loose]

Well done again.

Heeps of different fishys there

[mako1]

Great report Roberta

Unlucky about the lure and the rod.

I did the same thing last weekend when I made

a cast. The lure caught on my other rod in the holder

but luckily it didn't do any damage.

[jahajo]

Nice work,

You sure have these topwater tactics worked out

Great mixed bag of fish

[arpie]

Thanks for the comments, guys - it really is fun & I reckon you shouldall get out & do some topwater breambo fishing on the flats somewhere!! So visually exciting. Hope to get out today & get some video using lures without hooks, to encourage them more!

...that fish with teeth is a bonito..... Thanks, Stewy - another PB from the yak then!! It is years since I've caught a bonnie - & only outside, not in the lake!

...It must be so nice to fish there whenever you want to! ...... Sure is, Grant!!

...Next time the bream are playing hard to get under the hulls, an un-weighted (or ultra-light hidden weight) plastic might sort the little buggers out.... THanks for that Ian - it's the first time I've really had a go in the Marina (too much boating traffic normally on weekends to do it, but quiet last weekend!) Forgot to look in the hatch - I had hundreds of placcies there & TT 1/40th HWs! Hope that water clears up for you - don't forget to fish the clean/dirty line - big breambos hide there to ambush the incoming bait!!

Still can't believe that we've missed all the weather!!!

CHeerio & tight lines

Roberta

[james7]

WOW! Plenty of action Roberta!Fantastic report!

That bonito has the same markings as the ones we were getting at SWR.

Shame about the rod tip.

Love the photos.

Cheers

Peter

[arpie]

Ummmm, better make that 4 lures from 4 outings!! Got done by a big bream on the way back to the car - it busted the braid ........ then hid under the racks I'd hook him next to. THen I saw the braid floating ..... a buddy had 'retrieved' a bass by grabbing the busted floating braid .... and actually managed to land it by hand (and retrieve his lure!) I wish mine had a happy ending too ...... but it doesn't! As I reached down into the water to retrieve the braid (and hopefully the fish) I drifted towards the rack & the braid was slowly'disappearing' further under the racks! I hunted up & down the rack to see if I could see the braid anywhere - saw lots of bream & blackies, but no more braid! Another Sammy GORN!! And I thought I had it's measure too!! Had the drag done up, 14lb leader ..... but hadn't checked the braid for nicks!

A bit of drizzle today & a wind in the channel, so I pedalled around & found a nice spot in the lee of the wind - nice mirror smooth water, with bream-a-buzzin'!!! I got really game & was tossing the lure over racks & even dragged 2 bream over the top of 'empty racks' to clear water, to net them.

Had a great few hours in a new spot - lots of shallows to choose from here - and I got some much nicer fish than on the weekend. Most averaged 30cm+ today. All went back to grow bigger!

Here is a sample - all caught on the sammy (or should I say... ex sammy!)

This one is SOOOO silver

This one went just under 500g

I should have weighed this one, I think! Nice & fat

Amazing how dark this one was, compared to the others! A real tannin colour!

Looks like my rod saga will continue ..... The sammy works really well on the Loomis Combo and the smaller Bevy Pencil works really well on the Starlostix Pro Tournament ....... which had the ceramic insert in the tip of rod fall out today - so now I need 2 rod tips! May as well get 4 or 5 & have some spares!

Really enjoying this style of fishing - shame I hadn't cracked the code last year!!

Cheerio & tight lines

Roberta

[tide'n'knots]

nice one roberta great report as usual - sorry to hear about your rod and lures!!

pete.

[marcel haber]

Top report Roberta,

Good to see that the fish were on the bite and some good sized ones at that.

Well dne.

Twin 1

[Krispy !]

Great catch Roberta!

WD

[johnny doi]

great read as always roberta.some nice fish landed.& those bream look in top condition,very fat.your doin good with those pencils arent you,good work.im yet to try them yet but really wana get some when i have some extra money.

cherrs johnny.

p.s.can some1 tell me how to send a pm.iv tried a few times but they didnt send.i had to send emais instead of pm.thanx raiders.

[paul.kenny]

Roberta - great fishing. I love this time of year, there are soooo many choices from topwater bream and whiting, bass in the sweatwater and kingies, tailor and flatheads in the bay! I can't wait to get my boat back from the shop...hopefully I can get out next weekend.

[flycaster]

Hi Roberta

I'm a long time reader and a first time poster. I must admit that I am often amazed by your results. I'm an "older fisherman" and have spent decades chasing luderick around Sydney. Forster is a very special place and I will need to get up there some time to try topwater tactics. I have tried poppers around Sydney with no success at all and they seemed to be performing correctly. At the grand old age of 60 I took up flyfishing for trout and amazingly found that indicator nymphing was very similar to luderick fishing and I have had some very good success at TCD with many large rainbows and browns over the last few years. If you're in Sydney in the cooler months, I would be delighted to introduce you to the "gentle art".

Regards

Ross

[arpie]

Welcome to Fishraider, Ross!! :1welcomeani: You are never too old to learn new tricks - it took me a while to master, but I now get fairly consistent results with the pencils, even more so than on sps!! Much more visually exciting, too, a bit like seeing your float go down on a big blackfish!! They were a bit 'off' last year up here - we didn't get the big runs, so I stuck it out & went bream fishing instead! Helped me a lot!

Well done on taking up fly fishing, too!! Some of the 'mini fly poppers' would work a treat on bream too! Some of those indicators are pretty small tho!! I used to do a lot when I lived in NZ, less so over here!

Likewise, if you head up to Forster, we should be able to sort out your 'topwater' popper/pencil technique, too! I look forward to fishing Sydney blackies again, but don't get down there very often! Usually over Collaroy way when I do, so fish Narrabeen Lake or Mona Vale pool with Luderick59!

Hi FisherDoi - just click on the pm button of the member's post that you want to contact & it should take you to the PM/Personal conversation area. Just type in a heading, your message & hit submit. Should work! Get some pencils (Jazlure Zappa 55 are 1/2 the price of Sammys & should work well) and just stick with it - find some nice shallows!! Only take out poppers & pencils & success will come!

Hey Basscatcher ...... sounds like you do well with the bass!! I'm a beginner in that area, tho I did OK last year at Cania Dam in Qld. (more luck than technique, I think!)

Thanks guys - it really is a fun way to fish.

Cheerio

Roberta

[slinkymalinky]

Wow, quite a mixed bag Roberta. Would have loved for you to land the giant herring. That would have been a honker of a capture. Don't those stinky pike have some fangs??

Hope the lure to outing ratio improves for you soon.

Cheers, Slinky

[Daniel Frost]

G'Day Roberta ,

Looks like those bream have moved in from outside or are living around the clean water and sandy areas like the paddock , but one looks pretty dark must be from the weedbeds or one of the rivers. Don't worry about losing 1 lure a trip and feeling bad . Lake Mac on the past weekend I lost 4 zipbaits in 1 morning and my 2nd Lamiglass broke right in the middle of the blank on the 2nd cast of the day , I had to drive around at full noise for about 10 mins to let all the anger and stress out .

But anyway great to see you catching plenty and especially on surface , I remember the first time we met and we had a ball fishing for whiting .

Congrats Roberta great report .

Bubba

[ssymmetri]

awesome report!

you're slaying em with the topwater lures!

sadness for the rods and lost lures T_T

[arpie]

...Would have loved for you to land the giant herring... I would have loved to have landed it, Tony! They are still here, hiding in the shallows behind the Breck Channel!!

...Lake Mac on the past weekend I lost 4 zipbaits in 1 morning and my 2nd Lamiglass broke right in the middle of the blank on the 2nd cast of the day...... Shame, Bubba!! I can really feel the hurt there, from here!! Odd place for the Lamiglass to break - tips, I can understand ...... halfway down - most unusual!! Do they have a warranty of any kind? Yes - amazing the different colours of the fish! The 'resident' lake ones are really dark.

Can't wait for winter to see if they take the pencils more readily than the poppers? I know they 'go off' the poppers usually ....... it will be interesting to find out!

Hope to be out Fri, Sat & Sun whilst the ABT Yak comp is on -won't be competing this year tho - have shown quite a few competitors how to 'work the pencils' tho & will prefish with them tomorrow to try & hone their skills!!!

Cheerio

Roberta