Part 1: The Bream Boat:

Certified bream maniacs fish at a very high level and to my mind about the only type of fishing that comes close in terms of technicalities and finesse would be fly fishing for trout. Sometimes this is a bad thing, especially if a person totally immersed in the finer points is trying to give some pointers to an absolute learner.

I want to come right back down to earth and take this opportunity to make things as easy as possible for someone wanting to change from bait fishing for bream to lure fishing for bream. If you already know a bit about fishing for bream on lures you might as well go and do something useful because this is going to be about as basic as it gets.

When you fish for bream on bait you have to present a bait bream will eat in a place where bream live. Once you set the bait, the fish will come to you so you have to be patient and wait for a bite. The first thing you have to learn about fishing for bream with lures is that patience is no longer your friend but your worst enemy. Fishing for bream with lures is generally about moving around and constantly throwing your lures into new spots. If you throw your lure next to a nice oyster covered boulder in a meter of water, a bream is very likely to eat your lure. If he doesn't eat your lure on the first cast then he probably wasn't there in the first place. Do not cast continuously at that boulder for the next ten minutes. All that will achieve is to waste an extra nine minutes and thirty seconds and make your arms tired. If my first cast into a hot looking bream spot lands within 25 Cm of where I want it to and it gets to a depth that allows any bream in residence to see it, I don't cast at that spot again. As I am winding the lure the last couple of meters before I make the next cast I am already looking for the next likely spot. Don't hurry, but don't waste time either - it's a case of see your spot, make your cast and retrieve your lure for another shot. If patience is bad - perseverance is good - keep casting, keep moving and eventually a bream will eat your lure.

Unfortunately moving the boat around isn't all that easy and it brings a lot of new lure fishers to grief. Many bait anglers are just way too noisy with their boat handling. The anchor rattles over the side of the tinny like the four horsemen of the apocalypse riding to doomsday in full battle armour. Tackle boxes and various other objects bang and crash. Eventually noise ceases and bream start to bite if you wait long enough.

If you want to catch NO bream on lures, do it like this - drive noisily up to a place you think a bream might live - stop the boat and throw the anchor over the side. Cast continuously for ten minutes at the same place. Swear a lot, suggest to your mates that lure fishing for bream doesn't work. Pull the anchor - drive to another spot - throw the anchor - cast at that spot for ten minutes and continue this tactic until you get really pissed off. Go home, throw your lures away as a bad joke and make sure you buy plenty of bait for next time. Does this sound familiar? I thought it might.

There is no good way to move a boat for catching bream except with an electric motor. Yeah, I know you can drift, you can row or you can paddle. These methods of moving a boat for bream fishing with lures are crap so don't bother unless you are some sort of masochist in which case go right ahead. I guess you could carve a set of golf clubs out of wood but most folks fork out the money for a reasonable set of clubs because golf is hard enough even with decent gear. Bream fishing is the same, and whatever anyone says, it isn't easy to consistently catch decent tallies of bream on lures. Now go out and buy a Minn Kota bow-mounted, cable-steered electric motor because you need one to do the job properly. I actually get sick of answering all the queries about the pro's and cons of the cable steered electric verses the auto pilot models so I won't do it here. If you are a guide, the auto pilot is great because you can give your clients first shot at the fish and if you like to troll, then the auto has advantages. If you want to cast lures for bream, cod, bass, trout and anything else - buy the cable steer. On the American bass tournament series where anglers cast lures for big bucks I have never seen anyone use an auto pilot electric motor. I am sure that if there was even one tiny advantage maybe just one of the pros would use one. I rest my case. I repeat - go out and buy the cable steered bow mounted electric because it is the piece of gear you most need to catch bream on lures. When you mount your new motor and try to drive it you will hate me because it will seem that only a combination of Chuck Yeager and Albert Einstein could make the thing go where it is supposed to. After three solid days on the water you will be driving like a pro without even thinking about it.

Now you have bolted that electric onto your boat things are going to get one hell of a lot easier. The boat now glides effortlessly along and you can steer and stop and start using only one foot - without ever having to look down. Now you can cast at all the hotspots without scaring the hell out of the fish.

These few tips look like they might get a bit out of hand for length so I will write a bit more as I get the chance.

TO BE CONTINUED..WATCH THIS SITE FOR MORE

See you soon - Bushy.