Shorncliffe Bream Fishing Tips 2019

Shorncliffe is easily the most consistent producing locations for Bream around Brisbane. You wouldn't know if by looking at the (lack of) catches of people fishing there though!  Bream can be found there throughout the year, and at all stages of the tide. However, there are a number of factors that determine where they are, and how much difficulty you may have catching them. These include:
- Time of Day
- Tide
- Amount of Fresh Water (recent rains)
- Water Clarity
- Moon Phase
- Wind Direction & Strength

- Time of Year
- Noise

Bream love to hang around the jetty, either in around the structure of the jetty itself, or the nearby rocks to the North of the Jetty.

Time of Day

There are a lot of people that visit the Shorncliffe jetty especially on the weekends. The best time to fish the jetty is the evening as the sun sets, and at night. In the early evening if there are still quite a few people on the jetty and it's around high tide, your best bet is to work the rocks North of the jetty. Fish will come into the jetty structure for feeding as it gets darker and there is less noise from people moving around above them.

Tide

As the tide comes up, the bulk of the bream move shallow, though larger bream can still be found in deeper pockets. Generally at low tide you still don't need to fish any further down than the covered pagoda found 2/3 the way down the jetty. At high tide you can catch fish in the rocks about 10-20m down the jetty, and decent bream can hold in areas under the jetty as shallow as the first garbage can. High tide gives you more jetty to work to find fish, anywhere from the garbage can until about parallel to the end of the rock wall South of the jetty. There is little need to consider any deeper than that on most occasions.

Fresh Water

This is the one thing that can really cause a lack of bream in the area, and typically means you need to work significantly deeper water.

Water Clarity

When fishing at night, I find that working under the jetty is best when the water is dirtier. When the water gets clearer, especially if the moon is out, the bigger fish tend to forage out away from the structure. With clear water, the best bet is to work the rocks, casting out as far away from the lights of the jetty as you can.

Moon Phase

When there is a full-ish moon high in the night sky, bream will be out away from the structure and lights and foraging the shallows at high tide. Your best bet is to target the rocks and shallows rather than under the jetty. When the moon is new, or not present or concealed by cloud then target under the jetty.

Wind Direction/Strength

Ideal winds for Shorncliffe are from the South. North and West winds are ok, but don't bother when the winds are from the North East unless they are quite light. The jetty runs out to the North East so a cross-breeze will mean a higher swell and wind slack in the line which make it hard to get a reliable hookup. When targeting under the jetty you want the wind to your back. I find the North (dark) side of the jetty produces better, so Southern winds are ideal. Westerlies are Ok given Shorncliffe is relatively elevated so the jetty doesn't catch Westerlies.

Time of Year

Bream can be found at Shorncliffe year round. Summer tends to be fewer fish in/around the jetty, but you stand a chance at landing a larger one. (Provided you can find a spot free of crab pots!) Winter tends to hold more fish around the jetty, though typically smaller fish. 25-30cm are quite common.

Noise

If there is one pet peeve about Shorncliffe it would be it's popularity with families and groups. People making a lot of noise and vibration on the pier can put fish off the bite. Fortunately it is a long pier so you can move 10m or so up or down the jetty to a quieter spot and chances are the fish have moved along there as well. To stand the best chance of hooking up, it's best to have some quiet time without a stereo or loud chatting. The same would apply to people shining flood lights down into the water, tossing crab pots around, or cast nets. (Banned on the jetty, but you still see quite a few)

Rigging & Placement for Bream

Probably the biggest reason most people don't catch anything at Shorncliffe is due to poor rigging and bad placement. The majority of people I see there slap on a big 'ol sinker, walk out to the end of the jetty or the covered area, and cast it out with a prawn as far as they can throw it.  The trouble is that there is little to nothing out there, so it's somewhat dumb luck if something does come by to find the bait, but they the heavy sinker means they will just pick at it with you none the wiser.

Bream tend to stick around structure. They do forage around as well, but placing bait near where they congregate is a much more reliable way to get a bite. The important detail is to use as little weight as you can get away with. This means a size 0 pea sinker, or two of them if the wind is a bit stiff, nothing more. When cast out into the rocks this can move around a bit with the swell but a fish can pick it up and take off, where the rod will set the hook as they reach the end of the slack. Underneath you put it on the bottom and take up the slack so you can just feel it lightly bouncing on the bottom. When the fish grabs it they pull against the rod rather than slack line. If there is any slack due to wind or loose line they will feel the "jerk" rather than a steady pull and they will spit it out.

The jetty at Shorncliffe runs pillars down roughly under each light, and one row between each light. (just short of each light)  As you can see here. Some of the original wooden pillars had concrete casements which had many decades worth of mussels etc. which were removed and attached to the new concrete pylons when the jetty was rebuilt. Much of the debris from the old jetty's shark barrier (iron rods) are still lying around under the jetty leaving a lot of structure for fish and snags. The best places to set up are roughly around the middle of the gaps between pillars. To position I go based on the sections of railing counting left or right from the lights. Sections 3 & 4 before the light, and sections 2 & 3 after the lights put you around the middle of the gaps between pillars.

Knowing where to set up and check for Bream activity can be measured by benches, being the benches that are found on the North side of the bridge, along with the first garbage can. At high tide in calm water, the place to be working the rocks is between the first bench and the garbage can.  Working underneath the jetty, just shallow of the garbage can right out to the light after the 3rd bench is the sweet spot run to check. 3rd bench is my typical haunt to set up, but I work the shallow run regularly.

The danger area for snags is from the light after the 3rd bench until just before the 4th bench.  I would hazard you could catch some nice bream under here, but the risk of snags is huge. That said, the 3-4 section before the light at the 4th bench is a great spot where I've caught my PB just last weekend.  You can work sections deeper than 4th bench when there is a lot of fresh water in the area, though I generally find 4th bench is deep enough. Personally I don't head out much after major rains given the winds are usually not favourable.

Bait

Personally I use a homemade dough mix for bream which I nickname "Cotton Candy" because if there are bream around they gobble it down. However, contrary to trying to catch them on lures, bream are *not* at all fussy with bait, provided it's something that has some smell to it. Old beef, chicken, cheese, prawn, mullet gut, it all works. I use the dough because it's easy to make and keep in the freezer, and it completely covers the hook to reduce the risk of snags. If you use prawns, *don't* throw away the heads! You can rig up the body with one cast, then put a hook through the head for another cast. Bigger bream have no qualms about crushing a prawn head floating around.

Conclusion

In any case, whether you cast out or want to give fishing under the jetty a go, the biggest tip I can offer is go with as light a sinker as you can get away with, no sinker is preferred when using meat/prawns. Just let it sink naturally and move with the current.