RLF bycatch...... BREAM!!!

Hey guys. A bit more from my exploits earlier this year here in Townsville. While floodwater runoff kept the river running and the weirs flowing, the action was nothing short of superb.

Barra were the mainstay of the runoff fishery, with a few nice jacks popping up every now and then. Based on previous runoffs though, I had an inkling that all the bait washed over, and congregating at the Aplins weir wall rocks, would attract a bit more. With flows subsiding one night I made my way out onto the rocks and rigged up my trusty Mira shad. casting across the flow, cranking it deep and twitching it back, I picked up a few barra. However, a couple of hits felt different, and when I hooked up to a mad headshaker that pulled loose, I knew something else was here to play ball.

Changing tactics, I cranked down and slow rolled this time, bumping the tops of the submerged rocks, only pausing slightly to swing the lure before a gentle twitch and another roll. This time the tap and pull felt more solid, and a quick snap of the wrist locked horns with another denizen of the deep. After an energetic fight in the flow, a 30+ yellowfin emerged into the light.

This was the cue to change tactics, as previous experience showed that these bream were picking off small herring dashed on the rocks as they washed over, and also the leftovers from messy feeding jacks, longtoms and other toothies. Drifted shad tailed placcies on light jigs, fished just over bottom had given me fish up to 32 cm fork, so it was with confidence that a 1/16th Gamakatsu #1 211 jighead took its place on the end of my 40 lb leader.

Yes, 40 lb........... there were meter barra in the same holding pattern, scoffing up leftovers too. Just ask Paul..... his beast came from the same spot, right in the back of the dissipating current. Plus when they are feeding hard and opportunistically like this, the better bream up here don't mind too much.

Cross current cast, sink her down, come tight. Drift....... lift to get the tail vibrating, BRRRRP!, drop, drift...... tap, set, BANG!!!! ZZZZZZZ!!!

Repeating this procedure brought another 3 plucky bream and a bunch of barra to hand before the action took its toll on my last pack on 2.5" Atomic Shads.... and then the camera crapped itself. Only this release shot came through unscathed.

With the water dropping and clearing slightly, conditions set up perfectly for a morning raid. Scempering over the rocks, the swirling water rippled with baitfish, and barra of all sizes were smashing into them against the rocks. Tilapia, jacks, barra, mini gt's all gathered for a brekky smorgasbord of shrimp, herring, hardyheads and little milkfish.

I came for bream.... funny that, ain't it? 12 lb and 20 lb leader, just in case the barra and jacks gatecrashed, which they did. Apologies from now: cellphone pics, as the camera was proving quite unreliable. The afternoon before, a quick stop-in at the Fishing Warehouse netted me more jigs and a special order of more baby Atomic shads. Pat and Troy also informed me that these were the last stock available, as Atomic in their infinite wisdom have discontinued this lure. 2 packs of blue baitfish coloured shads came home with me.

On went the 20 lb, and first cast I was in. Ensuing inquiries were met with taps, solid strikes, screaming runs, the odd unwanted toothy, and a couple of barra. Switched over to the 12 lb, and the strike rate went up. Didn't keep score, but here are a few of the ones landed. Didn't manage to get into any of the bigger ones.

Another morning was chosen to ignore barra, and focus on softies on the rocks for more bream.

Hahahaha, I lie...... the previous night had given up only rats, and things had slowed down immensely. Lost a lot of fish, including one that felt quite large. The late arvo smash and grab bite before dusk also saw me donate my rainbowfish mira shad to a rampaging fish that ripped me a new one as it crash tackled the lure and dove deep into the rocks. One of those ones where you hold tight, haul as hard as you can, even walking down the bank, but the fish manages to get a deeper bend in the rod than you ever imagined possible.

A few headshakes and lunges, and it's all over..... the 20 lb rub leader above the 40 lb bite piece comes back scuffed, shaved and generally in bad shape, over the entire metre and a half of fluoro. the 18" of 40 lb is goneskis, as is $13 worth of lure.

So back on the 12 lb, jig and placcie at the ready. Get to the spot, and commence work. Cast, sink, drift, jig, BRRRP, sink, tap, BANG!!! ZZZZZZT..... yes, they are still on, and we're still in the game.

After a short while the bream went quiet, but ringing the changes brought more action in the form of a couple of ferals that quickly met the knife. Good scrappers, similar to bream, and feeding exactly the same way, only closer to the rocks.

Changing to a gold squidgy wriggler got this one.

Yep, RLF...... only this time, the humiliation was all mine. 12 lb leader, rampaging jacks in current. Owen, who at this point had come down for a look see (more on that later, my newest aquarium resident happened to gobble a squidgy wriggler and I needed to borrow a bucket), decided to sledge me a little, asking where these bream were.

3 casts ensued, 3 hookups to heavy weight, strong rapid headshakes and powerful darting runs. Could only be one thing.... better bream. Not to be: monumental wipeout, straightened jighead and a bitten through loop knot saw all three remain unconverted.

3 more casts, all met with smashing strikes, sizzling powerful runs, then 2 more massive wipeouts and a massive bricking saw jacks crash the party to level the scores. Only a barra was needed to complete the wipeout slam, and 2 casts later the wriggler was inhaled by a 70+ fish, which immediately went airborne and busted the leader like spider silk.

WHAT WAS I THINKING!!!! AHAHAHHAHAAH!

Did manage to land a few. The atomic shads were worth their weight in gold, slow rolled across current brought a couple red devils to hand, as well as a nice spunky little barra.

Whoops!!! Forgot the pics.

My newest aquarium resident is a 14" Red Oscar, that swam past as I fished that morning. Obviously a discarded aquarium fish that had outgrown a tank and had been chucked in the river, then washed over the weir in the floods. Good thing (I think), I rescued him before the salt levels climbed back up.

Nontheless, the little salt bath had done him a world of good, great slime coat, vibrant colours and full fins and scales. Quite symmetrical markings too, a big, beautiful fish. Smashing baitfish along the wall, it was hard to miss a big bright orange smudge in the clearing water, so a quick cast was made as it swam past me.

On the money, one lift and he smashed it. Great scrap, big power dives and lunges, side-on pulling and shaking in the current. When he popped up and I realised what it was, I immediately looked around for a bucket. Luckily some lads nearby lent me theirs, and I scooted over to Owen's place to borrow a big one. I'll throw up a pic of Oscar Craplins in his new tank a bit later.

There are quite a few aquarium discards in the river these days, although after the flush they may be far and wide now. Have seen severums, red devils, tiger oscars and even goldfish. My big oscar's worth about $50, and a big red devil ain't cheap either. Pretty sure a red severum is a bit pricey, big tiger oscars not low budget... must be a few hundred bucks worth of fish in all funny spots. I can still see my mate Thommo's face when he found out how much a red severum was worth.... he caught a massive one a couple years back and binned it with the tilapia.

you are a machine mate catching or these fish:eek: