DAIWA FISHING TIPS: Targeting Bream Around Man Made Structure by Darren Weda

If bream are one of the species you like to target, then I have no doubt that at some stage or another you have managed to catch or at least seen Bream hanging around or feeding off man made structure of some sort.

Man made structure will provide some of the best cover a bream will ever find especially in our more suburban estuaries or those systems that lack any natural snags and timber.

Just like natural structure, man made structure can provide bream with good over head cover, current breaks, home for bait and crustaceans, barnacles /oyster growth etc. No wonder they love it so much!

I like to class man made structure into 2 categories, horizontal and vertical, and I like to target these both in different ways. By doing this I am making the most of each type of structure and keeping my lure of choice as close to the structure and in the zone for as long as possible.

Horizontal structure consists of floating and fixed jetties, pontoons, boat hulls, and oyster racks, to name a few. Generally bream are holding tight up under or alongside this type of structure, but occasionally holding mid water or on the bottom also. Targeting this type of structure can be done by either running a suspending hardbody lure or very slow sinking lure along the length of the structure but as close as you can. Use the wind and tide to your advantage to try help get your lure as close to or even under the structure. Depending how deep the structure goes into the water may dictate what depth running lure to use.

The other technique is to cast as close to the side of the structure and use a sinking style lure, either stick minnow, crab, soft plastic to then entice the fish to hit it on the drop, or follow it down and eat if off the bottom.

Vertical structure consists of pylons, concrete and rock walls, and bridges. Again these places create everything bream love and you will often see them milling around or chewing on the sides of pylons. Fishing vertical structure is best done with sinking style lures, stickbaits, crabs, soft plastics, small vibes etc. The trick is getting the lure as close as possible to the structure and then let it sink on a slack line so that it does not pendulum away from the structure. Watch for any movement on your line or the line stopping before it should, with no harm in giving a test strike incase there is a big angry bream on the end of your line ready to try and bury you in the structure!

Hooking bream in the structure is generally the easier part of the equation, its trying to wrangle them out of the cover that makes your heart skip a beat and get the adrenalin flowing! And its that excitable style of fishing that keeps us going back for more even after losing lure after lure after lure on some days!

I prefer to use my slightly heavier bream outfits for this style of fishing, my 2-4kg Gen black itchy twitchy or my Black Label 701LXS with 6-8lb j-braid and leader size that is dictated by water clarity, but I generally try not to go lighter than 6lb fluorocarbon for obvious reasons!

All our metro estuaries have plenty of man made structure that hold bream and it’s generally a great way to get out on the water for a few hours, hone your casting skills and get your blood pumping. This style of fishing for bream is also accessible to everyone, be it in a boat, kayak or even land based all around the country.