Wheaton’s recent capture of an incredible
record breaking fish of over 12lb from the
Salcombe estuary (see page 34 for the story
of that one).
Seeing that fish was a major motivator
for me to get out there to try to suss it
out and, like all fishing, I knew the key to
success is to put more hours in. This fish
requires dedication to learn their patterns of
behaviour, choosing the right venue seems
to be key. The old saying ‘you can’t catch
what isn’t there’ rings particularly true with
this species and as I hadn’t had much luck
around my base in Plymouth, I decided to
focus a bit further afield on the creeks of
the rivers Fal and Helford where I know
these fish reside in numbers during the
summer months.EARLY STARTS CAN BE RELAXING
That’s no big secret though locating them
in these vast and daunting waterways still
proves to be the challenge as they move
around a lot and can very localised. It’s
generally thought that the most productive
time of day for the gilthead is at dawn, so
to make sure I was launching before it got
light I prepared all my gear the night before.
Everything, including the kayak, is loaded
into and onto the car in advance which
stops me forgetting anything when in my
zombified daze at 03:00am the following
morning. It’s so easy to misplace essential
items like bait elastic or a headtorch and that
can ruin the trip before you’ve even begun,
so I’m a massive advocate for organisation.
Conditions to look for when bream fishing
are an early morning low tide coupled withcalm and mild weather. Ironically, these are
the complete opposite to what I’d normally
look for when targeting fish like bass on
the open coast so it’s a bonus to be excited
about fishing when the weathers nice for
a change. Some early dawn launches in
flat calm estuaries are just stunning,
surrounded by wildlife; a very relaxing
way to spend a morning.BASIC TACTICS
My tactics for gilthead bream remain quite
basic. When bait fishing at anchor I use
running legers with small leads up to around
an ounce in weight. I use just enough lead
to hold bottom without anchoring it in place
as I like the bait to trundle around naturally.
I use a run ring system similar to the one I
use for pike fishing; the idea is the fish feels
no resistance when it picks up the bait and
as they have such toothy, bony mouths
you need to allow it a bit of time to chomp
on the bait before setting the hook so it’s
imperative they don’t feel any resistance.
At the business end of this is a 20lb
fluorocarbon trace of around two feet and
a strong chinu style hook with sizes varying
between a size 2 to 1/0 depending on the
bait I’m using.
One change I have had to make to my
rigs this season is to add an extra hook to
my trace. Crabs can be a real nuisance in the
creeks and can strip a hook bare in a matter
of minutes so having more baits in the water
does give you more chance of the hooks
having some bait on if a fish moves past.
Re-casting frequently is essential and
so is a good supply of fresh quality baitSaltwater Boat Angling 49
THE QUEST FOR GILTHEAD BREAM“SEEING THAT FISH WAS A MAJOR MOTIVATOR
FOR ME TO GET OUT THERE TO TRY TO SUSS IT
OUT AND, LIKE ALL FISHING, I KNEW THE KEY TO
SUCCESS IS TO PUT MORE HOURS IN”CRAB ATTACKAUTUMN KAYAKINGDec 2017 Gilthead_CJ_v2.indd 49 13/11/2017 12:47