Burswood Blue Lip! Part 1.

[echo1]

Its an overcast morning on the Swan. The water is the same color of the dirt I stand on. I arrive at the Burswood side of the Windan Bridge and bump into with a fellow breamer; Michael. A few words are exchanged. He continues, walking away from the bridge with his Shimano Fireblood combo. I see some likely looking submerged structure near the golf course, so off i go with Mojiko rod and Penn Applause 1000 reel in hand.

First cast and the 6lb Fireline zooms off toward the opposite bank with Halco Scorpion attached. I begin the retrieve. Wind, wind, pause, twitch, twitch... I continue this till its time for another cast. I flip the bail arm and prepare to send the lure skyward.
"YEEEEEHHAAAAAA!"
I walk toward the sound, finding Michael with a nice fish of almost 40cm. I offer to take a picture of the great fish and then it is released.

I see he has a River 2 Sea Baby Vibe 43 tied on so i tie on one of my own in the 35 size.
I send out a second cast and begin my retrieve. Small lift, small lift... drop. Again and again i work the little lure till it is at my feet. Another cast. This time I can feel small taps as bream hit the vibe on the drop. "Come on, Come on." I mutter, as though the fish can hear me.

I give the lure a little lift after it has hit the bottom. I feel a light hit and I strike.
WHACK!
"YES!" I shout.
I'm on and the fish is using its powerful, broad sides, trying to escape back to its underwater abode.
"This will be your first bream on a hard-bodied lure, don't lose him" I think.
The short yet exhilarating battle ends, with fish on the bank. A nice bream, smaller than Michael's first, yet a great first fish on a hard-bodied lure. After a few pictures it is released to fight again.

[echo1]

First Bream.

[wrasseman]

nice one, great report

[echo1]

Same Fish.

[echo1]

The action then slowed down for me with only a few hits. Michael however kept bringing in a fish every ten or so minutes. Every now an then he would give me some tips, mainly on casting. I felt it was time for a change and rummaged around in by tackle box for something suitable. This is when Michael handed me one of his Baby Vibes, identical to the one he was using.
It was a different color and slightly heavier so with the first cast I noticed the difference in casting distance. This seemed to be the key factor, as the bream were quite far from the shore.

I worked this lure for a little more improvement in the hit rate but without pulling in another fish. Then, just as I was about to call it a day, Michael jinxed me.
"I think its about time you caught a stonka." He said.
So with that I renewed my enthusiasm and concentrated on casting as far as I could with the light lure.

After a few casts my enthusiasm was again beginning to drop. I shot out yet another cast, which fell approximately in the right area. The lure hit the bottom and I began a slightly more aggressive retrieve. Lift, lift, lift, pause, twitch, twitch... pause.

I felt the lure stop mid-drop. I began lifting the rod to set the hook, however the fish beat me to it and drove the small Owner treble home by itself.
The fish took off on a run interspersed with head-shakes, peeling line from my reel, drag screeching.
The drag had been set for my previous fish and I had to screw it down to prevent the fish from running me through its snag. After the first run the fish turned its sides toward me and headed towards some snags to my right.
"Watch the snags mate!" Michael called.
I turned the fish's head and it began to swim to my left.
"Rocks mate, watch the rocks!"
Again i turned the fish away in time. The fish surfaced with a great flash of silver.
"Its a HUGE bream!" Yelled Michael.
I began bringing the bream straight toward me, tilting the rod tip upward to clear the line of the rocks. I carefully guided the fish past a few remaining rocks and onto the bank.
"Wooooooohooooo!"
This was easily one of the biggest bream i'd seen in real life and only my second fish on a hardbody lure. I'd beaten my PB twice in one session!
After a hi-five, lots of congratulations and some pictures, the 45cm Black Bream was released.

I continued fishing with shaking hands, however things had slowed down alot. I hooked one last average bream, but due to some tangles I lost it.

This however didn't tarnish the session and I left with a great experience, great photos and a PB that will be very hard to beat!

[echo1]

The Biggun.

[echo1]

Another of the same fish

[echo1]

last one of her.

[adidaspeteman]

Hey Erik, I like yah writing style mate. Good read and nice fish!

[Rob Pirie]

Nice scrib Erik straight out of a Zane Gray novel

Rob