when fishing for bream with pilchards , what size gang hooks are the best ,

[leonardgid]

hi there , going fishing in a few days and i will be using block pilchards , targeting big bream....heheheh  wishful thinking   , and i will be using gang hooks , what is the best size  gang hook to use  with pilchards   in your experience ,  thank you for your advice .

 

[Steve-o]

I've heard of whitebait on two tiny gang hooks for bream but not whole pilchards on gang hooks.

[noelm]

No need for gangs to catch Bream, a single #1 hook will be plenty, light line and little weight is the go

[Green Hornet]

11 minutes ago, noelm said:

No need for gangs to catch Bream, a single #1 hook will be plenty, light line and little weight is the go

I agree with this, 1 or 1/0 suicide hook and half pilchard will give a far better hookup rate.

Bream just tend to bite the belly out of whole pilchards used for other species unless particularly hungry, but will take a half pilly every time.

[Jiggy]

Bream will definitely take pilchards but if you're fishing in an estuary my pick is fresh or live prawns or small crabs. If you want bigger size bream use crabs as the pickers can't take them off the hook. Next best would be worms which also means a good chance of whiting by catch...yum.

And if you can catch them fresh slimy, bonito or frigate strips the size of your thumb fished unweighted in a burley trail. But pilchards work too especially off the beach or rocks.

[Rebel]

Ganged hooks and pilchards are mainly for the beach. As the others have said, single hooks and prawns and worms. Also lures.

[savit]

I fish for bream and flatties with small gangs . It is definitely not mainstream however topic was raised regularly on aussie forums 10+ years ago. Gang consists of 2 hooks size 4. Gangs are custom made from baitholder hooks - with plenty of trials and errors. My usual bait for bream - chicken stripes, sometimes salted pilchards (1/2 to 1/6 depending on pilchard size).  Gangs allow longer (in terms of size and fishing time) presentation of the bait.  Rarely chewed any leader or swallowed hooks and as most (98%) of hooking bream and flatties in the corner of mouth.  I am not going back to single hooks incl circles for those species.

[leonardgid]

6 hours ago, noelm said:

No need for gangs to catch Bream, a single #1 hook will be plenty, light line and little weight is the go

there's a lot of tailor  also , but im mainly targeting the bream under the tailor , this is why i asked,

1 hour ago, savit said:

I fish for bream and flatties with small gangs . It is definitely not mainstream however topic was raised regularly on aussie forums 10+ years ago. Gang consists of 2 hooks size 4. Gangs are custom made from baitholder hooks - with plenty of trials and errors. My usual bait for bream - chicken stripes, sometimes salted pilchards (1/2 to 1/6 depending on pilchard size).  Gangs allow longer (in terms of size and fishing time) presentation of the bait.  Rarely chewed any leader or swallowed hooks and as most (98%) of hooking bream and flatties in the corner of mouth.  I am not going back to single hooks incl circles for those species.

very helpful , thank you for all of the tips .

2 hours ago, Rebel said:

Ganged hooks and pilchards are mainly for the beach. As the others have said, single hooks and prawns and worms. Also lures.

thank you , 

 

2 hours ago, Rebel said:

Ganged hooks and pilchards are mainly for the beach. As the others have said, single hooks and prawns and worms. Also lures.

theres plenty of tailor   taking everything , pilchards on gangs work best , but im not after the tailor  im after the bream  feeding with the tailor 

[bluefin]

I use Pillies off the beach with a twist, The pilly often becomes burley for Bream. So I tie a single hook to the eye of the top gang hook, and bait it with Beachworm. Magic !!!!