How to Catch Bream on Lures: A Beginner's Guide for Aussie Anglers

Bream are the smartest fish you can target in an Australian estuary. They are fussy, leader-shy, and they will tap a lure ten times before they finally eat it. They are also the fish that teaches you to fish properly. Learn to catch bream and you can catch almost anything.

This guide is written for anyone who has thrown a lure for bream a few times, missed a lot of bites, and wants to know what they are doing wrong. Or for anyone starting from zero. Every term that might trip you up is explained the first time it appears.

What is a bream?

"Bream" in Australia means one of two main species, depending on where you live.

  • Yellowfin bream (Acanthopagrus australis). The classic east-coast estuary bream. Silver body, yellow fins. Found from Townsville in north Queensland down to the Gippsland Lakes in Victoria. Grows to about 50cm but a 35cm fish is a very good catch.
  • Black bream (Acanthopagrus butcheri). The southern estuary species. Darker, more bronze coloured, lives in landlocked or barely-tidal estuaries. Found from Mallacoota in Victoria along the southern coast through SA, Tasmania, and into southern WA. Same size profile as yellowfin.

Both species behave similarly, eat the same lures, and live in the same kinds of structure. The techniques in this guide work for either.

Bream are not big fish by Australian standards. A 30cm bream is a perfectly respectable catch. A 35cm fish is good. A 40cm fish is excellent. A 45cm+ fish is a proper trophy and many serious anglers fish for years without one. The fun is not in the size, it is in the difficulty.

Where to find bream

Bream live in structure. Almost without exception. If you can see a piece of structure in an estuary, there is probably a bream sitting next to it. Cast there.

The five structures that hold bream:

  1. Oyster racks and oyster leases. Probably the single most productive bream structure on the east coast. Cast tight to the racks, count to two, slowly retrieve.
  2. Mangrove root edges. At high tide, bream cruise the mangrove edge picking off crabs and shrimp. Drop a lure right against the roots.
  3. Pontoons, jetties, and boat moorings. Bream live underneath. Skip a lure or a soft plastic into the shade and let it sink.
  4. Bridge pylons and retaining walls. Same as pontoons. Bream sit in the shade and ambush bait passing by.
  5. Rocky shorelines and weed edges. Especially where rock meets sand. Walk and cast.

State-by-state starting spots

Yellowfin bream (NSW + QLD)

  • Sydney Harbour. World-class bream water. Cast at the rocks at Bradleys Head, the pontoons of Mosman, the wharves of the Lower Harbour. Bream tournaments are won here every year.
  • Port Hacking, Botany Bay, Georges River. Southern Sydney classic. Oyster racks and mangrove edges.
  • Lake Macquarie, Forster, Wallis Lake. The NSW mid-coast lake system. Big bream water with miles of structure.
  • Gold Coast Broadwater (QLD). Canal bream paradise. The "Goldie" is one of the best bream fisheries in Australia.
  • Brisbane River and Moreton Bay. Estuary bream in the city.

Black bream (VIC, SA, TAS, WA)

  • Gippsland Lakes (VIC). The Mecca of black bream fishing. Lakes Wellington, King, Victoria. Trees, snags, weed edges, sand banks.
  • Mallacoota Inlet (VIC far east).
  • Hopkins River, Glenelg River (VIC south-west).
  • Onkaparinga, Coorong, Port River (SA).
  • Swan River, Walpole, Wilson Inlet (WA).
  • Tamar River, Pittwater (TAS).

The same advice as every species guide: pick one estuary near you and fish it across a season. Bream move predictably with the tide, the temperature, and the time of year. Knowing one piece of water is worth more than visiting ten.

When to fish for bream

Bream are around year-round. The best window in most estuaries is autumn and winter (March through August in southern Australia). This is when the big breeding "blue-nose" bream school up and become aggressive. Counter-intuitive but true.

Summer is still good but the bigger fish move offshore to spawn. You will catch smaller estuary fish in numbers but trophy fish are harder.

Within the day, the last hour of the run-out tide and the first two hours of the run-in tide are usually the most productive windows. Dead-low and slack-high are the slowest parts of the day.

Overcast or drizzly days fish much better than bluebird days. Bream are visual feeders and bright sun makes them spooky.

The basic setup, what to buy

Bream fishing is finesse fishing. Light line, small lures, gentle presentations. The kit is smaller and lighter than for any other species in this guide.

Rod

A 7-foot light spin rod, rated for 1 to 3kg or 2 to 4lb. Yes, that light. Bream rods are noticeably whippier than bass or flathead rods. The light tip lets a small lure work properly.

Reel

A 1000-size or 2500-size spinning reel. The 1000 is more bream-specific. Daiwa, Shimano, and Penn all make sub-$200 options.

Line

Braid in 4 to 6 lb breaking strain. Light line for light lures. Heavier braid will hurt your casting distance and your bite-detection.

Leader

Fluorocarbon leader in 4 to 6 lb. Bream are notoriously leader-shy, fluoro almost disappears in the water. Use heavier leader (6 lb) around oyster racks, lighter leader (4 lb) in clear open water. Tie about 1 metre of leader to your braid.

Lures

Four categories cover almost every bream scenario:

  1. Small hardbody minnows (40 to 55mm). Shallow-diving and suspending models. The bream-fishing standard.
  2. Surface lures (poppers and walkers, 40 to 60mm). For early-morning sessions over flats and around mangroves.
  3. Small soft plastics (2 to 3 inch grubs, minnows, or "crab" imitations) on 1/16 to 1/20 oz jigheads. The do-everything option.
  4. Blades and vibes (40 to 50mm). For deeper water and the cold months.

Four techniques that catch bream

1. The hardbody twitch and pause

The bread-and-butter bream technique. Cast a small hardbody minnow as tight as you can to structure (an oyster rack, a pontoon edge, a mangrove root). Let it sit for one or two seconds. Then twitch the rod tip down sharply once or twice. Pause. Twitch. Pause. Most bites come on the pause. If you feel a small "tap-tap", do not strike yet. Wait for the weight. Then lift the rod firmly but smoothly.

2. The slow-roll soft plastic

Rig a 2 to 3 inch soft plastic minnow on a 1/16 or 1/20 oz jighead. Cast at structure. Let it sink all the way to the bottom on a tight line. Then slow-roll it back along the bottom with a few subtle rod-tip lifts. Bream often hit on the drop, so watch your line, if it twitches or jumps, that is a bite.

3. The surface walker at dawn

On flat calm summer mornings, cast a small surface lure (like a Sugapen, Pop X, or Atomic K9 Walker) over a sand flat or along a mangrove edge. Walk the dog (twitch the rod tip rhythmically) so the lure dances side-to-side. The strikes look like little bream explosions. Wait for weight before you strike, surface bream often miss the lure on the first hit.

4. The blade in deep water

For colder months, when bream go deep, drop a blade lure (a small dense metal vibrating lure) over 3 to 6 metres of structure. Lift the rod tip up to about chest height to make the blade vibrate, then let it flutter back down on a tight line. Watch the rod tip on the drop, that is when the bite happens.

Rigging, the only knots you need

Tie your braid to your fluorocarbon leader using an FG knot or a double Uni knot. Bream leaders are light, so a thin, clean knot is critical. The FG is the slimmer of the two.

Tie your leader to the lure using a loop knot (such as a non-slip mono loop). Bream care about lure action more than most species, the loop knot lets the lure move freely. Do not use a snap clip on light bream gear, it adds visible hardware and changes the lure action.

Rules, slot limits, and looking after the fishery

Bream have minimum legal lengths and bag limits in every state. They also have specific spawning closures in some southern estuaries. The rules vary, check before you fish:

Most modern bream anglers release everything. Tournament bream fishing (run by ABT and others) is catch-and-release. The fishery is healthier than it was 20 years ago because of this culture, but the big breeders are still vulnerable. If you catch a 38cm+ fish, photo it and let it swim away.

You need a recreational fishing licence in NSW (saltwater), Victoria, and WA. Queensland does not require a tidal-water licence.

Now go fishing

Bream are the species that turns lure-fishing from a hobby into an obsession. You will get knocked back. A lot. You will also have moments where you outsmart a 35cm bream sitting under an oyster rack at sunrise on a glassy autumn morning, and you will understand why people fish for them their whole lives.

Pick an estuary. Find a piece of structure. Cast small. Be patient. The bite will come.

Captain Baker, Harson Outdoors