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When do you guys go after them hard and what are your techniques? I have never fished for bream outside of their spawn which is usually the first full moon in May when they are on the beds. Easy to catch 'em, just hard finding some big enough to keep.
I fish for them year round. They're too much fun to catch to just focus on the spawning times. Because of my work schedule, I don't get to start serious bluegilling until late April, though.
Early and late in the day, a dry fly or popper is fun. At other times, a maggot under a float is my bread-and-butter technique. If they're not spawning, I look for them in the 8-15 foot depths near their spawning grounds.
Like Kevin, I fish bream year round. I'm usually fishing for bream with the fly rod while I have a mono spinning line and float out with a jig or minnow trolling for Specks from my boat. I like to use #8 surface and subsurface flies rather than smaller ones because I tend to get larger size bream (9 inches or better keepers) and it cuts down on the runts. I work surface and subsurface structure like weedbeds, lilypads, docks, bridge pilings, and so on. I can get enough large bream year round on the fly rod usually without having to resort to using lures or live worms and crickets. During the heat of summer though (the off-season here), I have to fish shade or deep areas to do any good.
The really big bream I've caught (2.75lb. & 2.25lb.) were on live worms fished one or two inches below a splitshot (no float) with a mono spincast outfit. Watching the rod tip for any slight movement while bank fishing. I caught them in a creek hole, not in a lake.
I start fishing for spawning fish as early as April. I usually try to hit the full moon every month after that. I find that I catch larger fish during an earlier spawn. Like the other guys I fish for them year around, just deeper. happy fish'n... bumpers...
To get bigger ones , find the smaller ones and back up into deeper water.I always find the bigger spawners in slightly deeper water , but in the same locale.They spook a lot easier , and often when bank fishing you have already spooked the bigger fish trying to get at the banks.I like a sloooowww steady retrieve across bottom with red worm or night crawler niblet.I'll fan the deeper water leading to the bank and probe for beds like this.If you get even close to the beds they will attack quickly.Quote:
Originally Posted by gabowman