fishingworld.com.au | September 2019 | 13LEF T: The old my th of
topwater only working
around dawn and dusk
doesn’t apply anymore.
RIGHT: Kev looks happy
with this stonker bream.
A
ny time you add the element of “sight”
to fishing, the adrenaline factor ramps
up. You need only ask a marlin guru
who has his eyes peeled for hours
waiting for a beak to appear in the spread.
Hours of nothing instantly transformed into
moments of heart-pounding excitement as the
fish dances from lure to lure deciding which
one it’ll eat. Guys catching GTs or doggies on
surface say the “take” on surface is more
addictive than the fight.
I reckon if you asked the bream gurus they
would say the same thing. Seeing a big blue-
nosed brawler come hunting up behind the back
of their topwater lure is every bit as exciting as
the big game targets. Most competent bream
anglers would say it’s their preferred method for
catching bream when the conditions suit. I can’t
argue with that.
I’m no expert on fishing topwater for bream;
it’s been one of my biggest learning curves over
the past few years. However, if you’re serious
about catching bream consistently it’s every bit
as deadly as plastics or hardbodies. It’s a
technique any budding competition angler will
need to master and the right time to use them is
probably one of the hottest debated theories in
the sport. It can be confusing though knowing
where to start, what to tie on and where best to
cast your line. There are a few key things to
consider and once you got the basics down it’s
all fun and games from there.
SURFACE & SUBSURFACE LURES
Broadly speaking, topwater lures for bream can
be catergorised into two main sections – surface
or subsurface lures.
In the early days as the technique was taking
shape, predominantly the lure of choice were
surface lures like poppers and the early Rebel
Pop Rs and Bushy’s Stiffy Poppers were
accounting for many fish over the f lats in
summer. They also bagged their fair share of
whiting, too.
As the technique was adopted and honed, more
subtle presentations were employed such as
walk-the-dog surface lures like Luckycraft Sammy
65s or Bassday Sugapens. Since, there has literally
been an explosion of topwater lures to tempt the
humble bream which can be a minefield unless
you know what you’re looking for.
The latest evolution are lures that will dive and
dart subsurface such as OSP Bent Minnows which,
to be fair, are probably the most widely used bream
surface lure on the market with a massive cult
following. These things are deadly. Please note,
when we say subsurface, we are talking inches of
depth so catergorising them as surface lures, unlike
a diving baits, is more accurate.
The trick in knowing what type of lure to use
is to make a quick assessment of what the fish
are doing and how they are responding. I tend
not to go into a session on surface bream with a
pre-conceived idea of what lure I’m going to
throw all day. Usually I’ll start with an OSPBent Minnow and work it moderately fast, get
it dancing around with intermittent pauses and
see how the bream react. The OSP can be
twitched across the surface more like a
walk-the-dog lure or if twitched right, get the
lure diving and darting subsurface. What this
allows me to do is put one foot in each camp to
see what the bream are doing. If they’re
committing to the lure on the pause, how long
does the pause need to be to induce the strike?
If they’re hitting it straight away, they’re on the
bite and noisier lures that displace water like
poppers might attract more attention. If bream
follow the lure and not committing then I’ll
move to a more subtle lure. It’s trying to
understand what the bream are telling you and
adapting to the conditions.
Other elements that come into consideration
in lure choice is colour and profile. I’m not
usually a massive believer in lure colours, I tend
to stick with natural hues for most lures I use,
however with sight fishing it’s a little different.
Bream rely on sight when looking up to feed and
matching what they expect to see is important.
A good example is during summer. When the
cicadas are in full noise, any black lure that
vaguely resembles a cicada in shape will get
destroyed. As autumn rolls around and the
cicadas stop singing, black surface lures tend to
go off the bite.
What I’ve found however is the best
all-round colours is clear or white. These seem