A weekend of crankbaits! 5/2/22 - 6/2/22

[JamoDamo]

Hey guys! 

Haven't made a report in ages so thought i'd create another one to put up after my hiatus of not posting. 

Lately i've been focusing heavily on bream fishing and bit by bit i've become a much better bream fisherman day by day. Figured out the tides and the techniques needed to catch fish in my local. Been using crankbaits and soft plastics mainly as my techniques of choice to catch these fish and i've been cleaning up most sessions. 

Saturday didn't yield much in terms of fish catches with only a small flathead being caught on an atomic GGB 38mm Deep Diver crankbait. Had a couple hits but that was about it.

Sunday was a completely different day in terms of the fishing!!! My mate and me took out my mates rowboat punt onto our local bay and had a ball on the bream. There was another young bloke down at the spot with a plastics rod so we invited him to come out for a session too and we had lots of fun all three of us. We rolled cranks all over the bay amidst bucketing rain, 35kph winds and decent sized tides but we persisted! We rowed up onto a mangrove edge and proceeded to belt cranks parallel up against these edges. The other person we took out got a small one that didn't do much but still good to see him get something, my mate got a 28cm tip on a Daiwa infeet spike 52mm which went sort of hard and put in some good runs on the 8lb, it eventually gave up and started running to the mangroves to cut him off! He eventually got in it and how goods that! His first decent bream on a crankbait! 

After he got his bream I belted my crankbait up into an opening in the mangroves and kept my rod tip high as I rolled it through the strike zone, tap tap tap BOOM! I'm on! Even though its a small 25cm tip bream he still puts up a spirited fight on the 6lb on my new TD Tierra 1-2kg. Fixed my 2000D Exceler's line roller so it came back into the show to pull in some biggins. As i'm pulling him out he tries to rap me around mangroves and any structure he can find on the way out. I get him to the surface and lift him up into the boat, finally i'm off the donut! After this we end up rowing up to another edge and begin doing the same thing as before. Keeping the rod tip high I roll it past an edge where i've done well land based and boom! I'm on again! This fish feels a lot better compared to the last fish and is going for some runs and fighting dirty to get me structure once again. After him carrying on a bit with his fast head shakes and a couple nice runs I see the silver flash of a bream coming up from the depths. I pull him over the gunnel and there we go! Second fish done and dusted. Hooks out and hes back on his way back into the water.

I cast back into the same area the very cast after I roll my crank past the same edge and I get SLAMMED by a really really nice bream! Big head shakes pulsate through my rod really testing the 1-2kg rod and my angling skills. He ends up going for a big run out wide, I start to gain line back bringing him closer and closer to the boat, under the boat he goes! ZZZZZZZZZZZ the reel is screaming! I lean over the side to dunk my rod under the boat to stop it from high sticking my rod and to avoiding his cutting me off on the hull. I gain more like back onto the reel and pivot his head towards me, finally! I have his head turned and the fish tired! I could win this. I keep pumping and winding to keep him out of structure and there his is! A nice fat slab of bream! He measures in a 35cm tip but I wasn't able to get any good photos as it was raining and we were in a tiny crowded boat. 

After taking the boat back in and locking it up we ended up going for lunch and then straight back into the action! We went to another spot where i've gotten bream on crankbaits in the past. First hour and it wasn't looking good, the tide was dropping even further making it hard to fish any water, we only ended up with a small bream and flathead so far. Moving around the bay to another spot close by we started casting again, first couple casts in and I score a just legal 27cm whiting. He didn't release well so I snapped his neck for the dinner table. Another 20 minutes goes by and I hook up to another really nice bream on the crankbait again! The usual fast powerful head shakes start happening and it goes for a nice run, I start to gain line back on his and he goes for another run! I gain control back and start swiftly pumping and winding in. Another 20 seconds of his carrying on and I've beached him! My mate runs over ecstatic, finally another good fish! A few quick snaps and she's back in, one thing i've noticed recently is all the bream i've been catching have been very fat and well fed, maybe getting ready to spawn or just feeding hard because of the rain? Shortly after that my mate ends up getting a 29cm tip bream on a 60mm double clutch as he slow rolls it past the jetty we are fishing off. Also got my first off the top!

Just to top off the day we move to another spot and my mate falls in the water with his setup.. completely dunking his setup in saltwater... We wash in off with the water from my water bottle and immediately rush back to wash it in freshwater. 

Well thats the end of my weekend report! Good to put another one in after a long time. Hope you all enjoy reading it. 

Cheers. 

 

Edited March 23, 2022 by JamoDamo

[Green Hornet]

Great report mate. Those bream always go that bit harder up in the shallows.

[Little_Flatty]

Nice work Jamo, some nice bream there. The bream do like their hardbodies! I love a good bream fight on light gear. Very underrated sportfish I must say.

Was it you who scored a tackle shop job a while ago? If so, are you still working there? Would be curious to see how that affects your fishing in terms of spending more time around other fishos and being across the latest gear.

[Rebel]

Super report.

Well done.

Waiting for the next one.

[JamoDamo]

On 2/7/2022 at 12:47 PM, Little_Flatty said:

Was it you who scored a tackle shop job a while ago? If so, are you still working there? Would be curious to see how that affects your fishing in terms of spending more time around other fishos and being across the latest gear.

Yes that was me! Unfortunately as our last lockdown hit a while ago they couldn't keep me on, i'll definitely keep asking as I loved to work there but things happen. 

 

On 2/7/2022 at 1:42 PM, Rebel said:

Super report.

Well done.

Waiting for the next one.

Thank you as always!

[Isaac Ct]

Nice job @JamoDamo, congrats on the big one. A couple of different fish as well, sounds like a nice weekend.