Tough time breaming by Jamie Robley

Any species of fish may be easy to catch 1 day and frustratingly difficult the next. Sometimes it's just about impossible to figure out why this is so, although there are usually specific reasons -- some obvious, some not so obvious.

Casting lures for bream may not be the most difficult thing in the world, but fooling them into biting lures with a reasonable degree of consistency does become challenging. As we move further into winter, bream may end up being a very tough adversary, even though they're still in our waterways and have to eat to survive.

IT'S COLD!

The biggest individual reason bream are harder to catch on lures through the second half of winter is simply because the water is freezing cold! Bream are a cold-blooded creature and they can't just put on extra clothes or switch the heater on. Sure, they can move around, possibly into slightly warmer water, but they're generally swimming around in a freezer, so they're not exactly full of energy and eager to smash any lure that lands near them.

Secondly, a large slice of our yellowfin bream population head out to sea through the cooler months for spawning purposes. In some estuaries, only a small percentage of bream may do this, while fish from other systems head out in large numbers. Consequently, there may be less fish to target, which certainly isn't going to help the scorecard.

Aside from these 2 very important factors, plenty of other things may adversely affect bream fishing. Westerly winds can be strong and persistent at this time of year, and bream, along with some other species, tend to go quiet when the westerlies blow. This is much worse with a nor' westerly than a sou' westerly, so that's always worth keeping in mind when planning an outing.

The good old wrong side of the full moon can be another influence. Over the years I've seen this way too many times to ignore. The days leading up to a full moon may be perfectly fine for bream fishing, providing other factors are favourable. Once we reach the full moon though, things can start to go bung. The first few mornings after a bright full moon is blazing in a clear sky can be very demanding, if not terrible for bream. At this time it's often better to chase them through the middle of the day or during the afternoon. As we move away from the full moon, the fishing slowly picks back up again.

These factors influence bream behaviour through the summer months as well, but when combined with winter's cold water, the impact is multiplied somewhat.