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Bottom bream bite bonanza
  |  First Published: June 2016



June is showing all indications of being a terrific month to fish the Glenelg River, and the lead up has seen all sections of the river producing some exceptional fishing.

bream

As expected through late April and into May, bream started to school up in large numbers. Although this makes them easier to find, it certainly doesn’t mean they are always easy to catch. In fact, they can tend to be very finicky while in this schooling and recruitment mode.

Even with the bream tending to be out wider off the edges, usually in around 2-4m depth, they still seem to feed more actively both early morning and just before dark. During the day the bite can become very tentative and I find it tends to be much more of a reaction bite rather than an outright feeding pattern.

Deep diving hardbodied lures and plastics fished as slowly as possible along or near to the bottom with plenty of long pauses will often draw the fishes’ attention. Usually the bite comes as the lure sits static on the bottom or as you first start to move the lure again.

Being a reaction bite, it’s not unusual to foul hook a few fish in chins, cheeks and even fins as they often swipe at the lure seemingly to scare it away. Having said that, when one of these schools decides to switch on and feed, the fishing can be fantastic, however those bites often switch on and off quite quickly.

Estuary Perch

Through June, estuary perch will continue their migration to the lower reaches of the river and this is a great month to find good numbers of them. In particular, the estuary itself attracts plenty of perch as they seek out the right salinity levels to begin spawning. Live baits and lures, and especially soft plastics and vibe or blade style lures will account for plenty of fish.

MUlloway

As we begin to see increased inflows due to rain and environmental releases down the Glenelg, thoughts will also turn to chasing some bigger mulloway. There has been no shortage of smaller fish spread right through the system and I know of legal size fish taken as high as Pritchards and Saunders in the preceding months.

However, the estuary will become the key target area in the wetter months with the larger fish congregating at the bottom end of the river. If we see either a natural or artificial opening of the mouth, there may also be more fish entering the system, and often this is when we get a run of very large fish turning up.

Colder weather and needing to be rugged up in the wet weather gear generally puts a few people off those early morning starts, but for those willing to get out and spend the time on the water, there is some great fishing to be had!

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