Added: 11/16/2005 |
Sea bream ? how to identify and why to catchThe bream species, many of us are familiar with, is actually called black sea bream, even though it can be quite silvery with distinctive yellow anal fins.
How to identify the sea bream: The black sea bream is rather variable in appearance. A deep body with long dorsal and anal fins is a common characteristic to these species; however, some individuals have a deeper body than the others. Young fish has silvery flanks with numerous pale broken lines along it and a wide dark band on the tail. Adult fish can be silvery, dark blue grey, or black, and may have alternative dark and silver vertical lines on the sides. The size of adults is usually thirty five to forty five cms. long, or sometimes even more.
This species feeds on smaller fish and crustaceans, small sea animals and algae, and usually inhabits around rocky areas and wrecks.
In Britain, the sea bream breeds regularly at the eastern end of the English Channel; the male digs a depression in a sandy sea bottom and the female lays eggs into it. The eggs stick to the base of the nest and the male guards them fiercely until they hatch.
However, the sea bream species is found as summer migrants around much of Britain. Hence, sea bream is highly migrating fish. The fishing journals constantly report new areas, where sea bream is found. The other bream species include the pikey bream, found mostly round the tropical north, and the silver or southern bream, which inhabits the cooler southern waters of the continent.
The West Australian bream, although very similar to the common black bream, is in fact a different species, called tarwhine. The tarwhine's habitat extends from the southern Queensland right round to Western Australia. The differences between the two is that the tarwhine has a larger head than the bream, and when cut open for cleaning, the tarwhine has a black lining to its stomach, whereas the bream has a clean white cavity.
The color of the bream species varies according to the location. The surf bream is shiny silver with very prominent yellow anal fins. The estuary bream is of more bronze-silver color, deepening the further up the river you go.
Bream is extremely popular among anglers, but it is not usually abundant for commercial fishing. It is often the first catch of young inexperienced anglers. Professional bream fishermen even contest in bream fishing and set the records. The record for the bream is around the four kg mark (nine lbs) caught, on the N.S.W. mid coast.
Selecting the bream species as a fishing target is both a beneficial and adventurous activity, for if to apply the right tactics to bream fishing, the catch will be abundant. The adventure of bream fishing is evident, as you should be skillful and witty enough to trick this fish over. Moreover, bream fishing is often a night or early morning activity, when you can entirely enjoy the beauty of the peaceful sleeping nature, a starry sky and isolation from the so much disturbing city noise and buss.
You can easily learn what equipment and knowledge bream fishing requires from fishing textbooks or internet resources (many professional fishermen describe their experiences) and start for your fishing with confidence.
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