Black Bream

A Kilo and a half (1.4 kg weighed) Black Bream caught on a strip bait at the peak of the tide on Boxing day morning and some Pelicans share the rock shelf on the evening low. Ulladulla, NSW.

Rod and reel were just a cheap Shakespeare combo and 8 pound breaking strain line, size 4 suicide pattern hook, size 00 sinker. Bait was a fresh strip bait cut from a Sweep fillet. Sweep are a smaller estuarine species common around the inlets and in the surf zones and rock shelves which was caught for bait on a size 8 unweighted hook baited with bread.

Excellent eating fish, this bream ended baked with an Asian style sauce and enjoyed by the family for dinner. I would usually release a Bream of this size, but with all the extras staying with my parents for Christmas, this fish padded out the food stocks nicely.

Relatively common around the Southern part of Australia, these fish are one of the mainstays of the recreational fishing industry and are keenly sought by anglers. They are usually targeted with bait such as prawns, muscles, pipis, oyster, octopus, squid and fish (strips, chunks or whole whitebait) but can also be taken on bread, worms and sweet corn, particularly in the estuaries.

The pelicans seen in the lower photo are the Australian Black and Whites, the pelis that should have appeared in Nemo, replaced in that movie by the American shaggy brown birds. These fellas get really big and are a magnificent sight as they cruise the thermals or float upon the swell, watching for schools of bait fish and prawns which end up in the bucket mouth. One of my favourite birds and great companions to fish with!