Take your family fishing for Bream

Many anglers will tell you that the first fish they ever caught was a bream–making it a good bet that if you teach someone to fish, that may be the first thing they catch.  Not a bad thing, considering that members of the bream (sunfish) family are among the most widely distributed fish in Georgia. The bream family includes bluegills, redear sunfish (also called “shellcrackers”) and redbreast sunfish.

“This time of year is a great time to try bream fishing because these species move into shallow water and become more active and easier to catch,” say Georgia Wildlife Resources Division Chief of Fisheries Management Chuck Coomer.  “They also put up a good fight and even better, they are good on the dinner plate.”

Beginner bream anglers should start out with equipment that is simple and easy to use, such as light to medium rods with light spin-cast reels or medium size open-face spinning gear with 6-8 pound test line.  Cane or fiberglass poles with small hooks (size 8-10), small split shot and a float also work well.  Baits and lures to consider are small spinners, small 1/16 to 1/8 ounce jigs, beetle spins and live bait (crickets, meal worms and earth worms) fished under a small float.

For those who use fly rods, popping bugs, wet flies and small spinner-fly combinations are effective.  One especially effective fly rod lure is a small (size 10) sponge rubber spider with rubber band legs.  It is best to fish bait on the bottom for shellcrackers while bluegill prefer baits suspended off the bottom.

This time of year brings bream towards shallow waters (less than five feet deep) as they search for places to spawn.  This includes the backs of major creeks, downstream end of sandbars, small coves and points off the main lake.  Bream are attracted to natural shoreline cover (fallen trees, stumps, rocks and vegetation) and man-made cover (boat docks).  Look for bream beds–plate-sized, bowl-shaped depressions in shallow water where adult fish will stay for extended periods of time.

Good bream fishing can be found throughout Georgia, including the following hot spots: Rocky Mountain Recreation and Public Fishing Area (PFA), Lake Russell, Lake Rabun, Buford Hatchery Kids Pond, Clarks Hill Lake, McDuffie PFA, Lake Oliver, Goat Rock Lake, Big Lazer PFA, Charlie Elliott Wildlife Center, High Falls Lake, Lake Juliette, Lake Jackson, Hamburg State Park, Lake Blackshear, Lake Seminole, Hugh Gillis PFA and the Satilla, St. Mary’s, Altamaha and Ocmulgee rivers.