East Coast
VIC
Astronomical numbers of bream GIPPSLAND LAKES
Brett Geddes b.geddes@bigpond.com
Bream fishing does not get any better than this! Get ready for some crazy tallies and sizes this month. As a result, the fishing effort for nearly all other species has been put on the back burner for now. The whole lakes system is filling with salty, clean water and pushing right up into Lake Wellington and the Latrobe River. When this happened about six years ago, the whole area fished
of a huge lake. Two days later I did a solo trip in the same area, and my first two bream went 45cm then 43cm. I thought I had found the motherlode of trucks. Sadly, the rest of the bream were all 35cm or under for the rest of the day, but I did land around 40 of them, and once again it was fantastic hardbody sport in the skinny waters of Lake Vic. The real champions of this stunning lake action are Barry Martin and Gordon Fraser. I watched them for hours one morning, and boy did they pull some cracker
Gordon Fraser and Barry Martin with a couple of 41cm bream. On that day they stacked over 70 bream to 46.5cm in shallow water in Lake Victoria. incredibly well. I think the next few months ahead will provide some very exciting sport. IN THE SHALLOWS The big talk around lure fishing is the incredible size and numbers of bream being caught on hardbody lures in about a metre of water, or even less. This should last for at least the month ahead before they move up the rivers towards late winter. Some of the best fishing has occurred between Loch Sport and Hollands out in Lake Victoria, with some of us releasing up to 50 bream a session. My best outing with good buddy Havo saw us throwing hardbodies all day, and we stacked 91 bream between us. My best were around 40cm, and Havo got two nice ones at 42cm and 43cm. Most of the bream were smaller, averaging around 30-34cm, but it was so much fun hooking so many fish in clean, shallow water with hardly a ripple on the surface out in the middle 82 MAY 2023
bream from the boat. While close by in my kayak, I landed just a few modest bream of around 38cm, but the boys were hooking big fish with nearly every cast, and it was incredible to watch. They netted quite a few around 40cm at first, and then 42 and 43cm fish started attacking their hardbody and blade lures. Gordon then wrestled a much bigger fish across the shallows. These larger bream fight so hard in the skinny water, screaming off sideways to the boat. Gordon eventually held up a brand new PB fish at 46.5cm, and that is a really nice trophy for any lure angler. The boys went on to release over 70 bream that day, and it’s fair to say they left them biting flat out. On a few occasions we had triple hook-ups on this impressive school of bream, and what a joy it was to see the Gippy Lakes holding such prodigious numbers of healthy, feisty solid bream. Barry mentioned that quite a few males were in spawn mode, and I backed him up on that as I also saw a few dripping, ready to breed. I have never seen this in April before, but keep in mind they also started spawning super early last winter so that means they have been reproducing for nearly nine months now! It goes to show that bream take full advantage of favourable conditions when needed. BREAM ON PRAWN BAIT Bait anglers are also cleaning up on the bream, and plain old prawn seems to be by far the best. A special mention goes to Graeme Beams who knows the area
Anthony Havers with another bream caught on a hardbody lure in the shallows of Lake Victoria.
from Hollands and the whole of Lake Wellington better than anyone. Each trip he has been writing down the length of each and every bream as soon as he releases them, and it’s so impressive to see what he has caught for the day. He has given me his score sheets and all I can say is he has been a very busy angler. The stand out fish are truck bream around 44cm, along with plenty from 38-42cm. Some bream are down to 25cm, and there’s even the odd big eel in the mix. I counted Graeme’s tallies, and often he gets over 20 bream in four or five hours on the water. One bream he caught twice within the same hour – he was removing the hook from a 34cm fish when he noticed another one of his hooks deeply imbedded from an earlier bust-off. That indicates that bream happily survive when released with hooks attached, so it can be better to leave a hook in than attempt to extract the hook and cause harm or death to the fish. THE JETTIES Once again, when I talk about bream and landing thumping fish, this name needs a mention. I should call Justin Kohte the Prince of Paynesville, as he continues to send me pics and reports that challenge any belief or logic for a land-based angler.
Graeme Beams is a local fishing legend, and has been returning up to 30 bream a session in Lake Wellington, all caught on frozen prawn. I keep seeing him with bream between 44 and 47cm along with cracker flathead around 70cm or even bigger. The real interesting thing is that he uses such a wide range of lures, from Hurricane hardbodies, crabs, soft plastics and the Muss lure, which imitates a mussel. YELLOWFIN BREAM A quick mention about the yellas down at Lakes Entrance. Justin Dingwall landed four or five real
trucks to 45cm recently, and they are a challenging beast. They live in fast-flowing, salty water right near the ocean outlet, and often tight around rock groynes and other structure. They are well known to fight and pull much harder than black bream of the same size. As a consequence, they provide a real challenge for even the best of lure anglers, and Dinga mentioned how he also bust quite a few off.
Change tactics in the cold LAKES ENTRANCE
Steven Pryke
The Gippsland is an everchanging fishery, and as autumn blends into winter, we get cool, crisp evenings and a drop in water temperature. Let’s look at what’s happening this month. LAKES ENTRANCE Lakes Entrance is a truly diverse fishery, and anglers have a wide selection of species to target within the lake and offshore. King George whiting are a staple of our fishery, and many anglers come to our costal town just to target them these days. From Lakes Entrance to Paynesville, the many weed beds produce great whiting fishing. Fresh baits such as pipi and mussel are always the best for success. Australian salmon are a common catch throughout the lakes and on our surf beaches. These great fighting fish are brilliant targets on lures, with small metal slices being ideal offerings for them. Besides being great fun to catch, especially on light tackle, salmon make fantastic bait for the likes of gummy sharks and snapper.
Ricky from Lakes Entrance charter with a solid gummy shark. The offshore fishing has really fired up lately, with anglers getting great results on gummy sharks and solid snapper. Angler have mostly fished the outer reefs such as the 6-mile and 8-mile reef for snapper. The traditional bottom bashing methods are highly productive, with baits such as pilchard and squid being very effective. Closer to shore in
18-20m of water, anglers have good success fishing for gummy sharks, with the odd flathead mixed in. Baits such as squid, whiting and salmon have all been great options, and it’s just matter of mixing it up and finding what’s working best on the day. LAKE TYERS With winter looming, the lake’s temperature
