The Bream Fishing Project

Six podium anglers. Two days of competition. One extraordinary 10-gram finish.

The 2026 Daiwa BREAM Series headed to the Manning River at Taree, NSW, for the Lowrance-sponsored final qualifying round on 17–18 October.

After last year's event was cancelled following flooding, the Manning River returned in spectacular condition, with remarkably clear water, plenty of bream and some fascinating fishing.

In this episode of The Lure Fishing Project, Andrew Death catches up with the top three anglers from both the boater and non-boater divisions to discover exactly how they caught their fish.

And what a finish! Adam Kennedy snatched victory from Steve Morgan by just 10 grams, thanks to a crucial upgrade on his very last cast.

But there's much more to this tournament than the final scoreboard.

Across six interviews, we explore how changing tides, water clarity, lure presentation, fishing pressure and decisions made throughout the weekend influenced the results.

NON-BOATERS
🥉 3rd – Michael 'Mikey' Vukic | 2.620 kg

Mikey had a difficult Saturday fishing alongside Steve Morgan, watching bream respond to slowly retrieved vibes in deep water while struggling to convert bites on soft plastics.

Sunday brought a completely different approach. Fishing with Alan Lister, Mikey went back to techniques he felt confident using, working Daiwa Bait Junkie Grubs across flats and gravelly areas.

A quality 31 cm fork-length bream caught as the tide pushed across a shallow gravel area helped lift him from 13th overnight onto the podium.

Mikey also discusses learning to fish Ecogear Aqua prawns, controlling his retrieve and why sticking with familiar techniques made such a difference.

🥈 2nd – Stephen Cyster | 2.840 kg

Stephen had never fished the Manning River before and chose not to pre-fish, preferring to approach the tournament without preconceived expectations.

On Saturday, fishing with Brian Everingham, he found success crawling Cranka Crabs slowly along the edges as the tide changed.

Sunday was much tougher. Fishing with Brady White, he struggled through the morning before moving onto a flat and catching fish on a slowly retrieved Atomic Fat 37 Deep crankbait.

His third and final legal fish came with only a handful of casts remaining, securing second place.

Stephen shares some particularly interesting observations about tentative bites, lure movement, fishing light line and maintaining confidence when the fish aren't cooperating.

🥇 1st – Maksym Nestertsov | 2.990 kg

Originally from Ukraine, Maksym brings a fascinating international fishing background to Australian bream tournaments, having represented his country in competitive freshwater fishing.

He explains how his experience chasing European trout and predatory species translates to Australian bream fishing.

Fishing with Daniel Richardson on Saturday, Maksym discovered the importance of gravelly flats, tidal movement and crankbait selection. After watching Daniel enjoy significantly more success on a Daiwa Rolling Crank, Maksym visited the tackle shop and purchased the same lure for Sunday.

Fishing with David Yuill, that decision paid off.

Maksym found consistent fish on shallow gravel areas, gradually upgraded his bag and landed his biggest bream just minutes before returning to the weigh-in.

He also discusses the differences between braid and monofilament in exceptionally clear water and why he believes fishing as a non-boater offers an incredible opportunity to learn.

BOATERS
🥉 3rd – Chris Smith | 5.685 kg

Local knowledge proved valuable for Chris Smith, who made an outstanding start to the tournament.

After drawing boat number one, Chris headed straight to a highway bridge and found himself fishing it virtually alone while much of the field concentrated on another bridge.

Using a deep-running Spike 44 and Cranka Crabs, he quickly established a quality bag, including a 35 cm fork-length bream.

He then headed into the Lansdowne River, where Ecogear Aqua Prawns produced an incredible session with approximately 20 fish caught during the final two hours.

Unfortunately, Sunday's fishing didn't follow the same pattern, demonstrating just how quickly a successful tournament strategy can change.

And there's a brilliant bonus story involving an 89 cm flathead Chris caught on the morning of his wedding!

🥈 2nd – Steve Morgan | 5.830 kg

Steve Morgan continued an extraordinary season, finishing second by the narrowest of margins and securing the 2026 BREAM Boater Angler of the Year title.

His pre-fish suggested a strong surface bite, with bream responding to Bent Minnows around current-affected banks and oyster racks.

But competition day revealed something completely different.

Using forward-facing sonar, Steve located schools of bream suspended in deeper water and discovered that an incredibly slow retrieve with a vibe was significantly more effective than aggressive lure movements.

Steve explains what he could see on the sounder, how the fish reacted to different retrieves, and why even a small change in lure behaviour could switch them off.

There's also some excellent advice for anglers who don't have forward-facing sonar, including how to locate and target suspended fish using conventional electronics.

🥇 1st – Adam Kennedy | 5.840 kg

Adam Kennedy produced a remarkable tournament victory, catching his fish predominantly around highway bridge pylons using Cranka Crabs and small mussel-style lures.

Precision was absolutely critical.

Adam describes positioning his boat, casting within centimetres of the structure and using the current to carry his lure underneath the pylons.

Rather than constantly moving the lure, he relied on controlled presentations, dead-sticking and occasionally opening the bail arm to allow the lure to drift further into the strike zone.

After a strong Saturday, Adam returned to the bridges on Sunday and steadily built his bag.

Then, with almost no time remaining, he made one final move to a different set of pylons.

Two late upgrades followed, including a 50-gram improvement on his very last cast.

That final fish helped deliver victory by just 10 grams.

An incredible finish and a fascinating explanation of the precision, persistence and confidence required to win at this level.

WHAT WE LEARNED
Some of the most interesting lessons from this tournament include:

Why slower presentations were so effective when bream were reluctant to commit.

Dead-sticking crabs and mussels compared with slow-rolling crankbaits and vibes.

How bream behaved around bridge pylons under different current conditions.

Fish holding on shallow gravel flats versus suspended in deeper water.

The influence of changing tides on fish positioning and feeding activity.

Using forward-facing sonar to understand lure reactions.

Why fishing 4 lb line sometimes produced more bites than heavier alternatives.

Adapting your strategy when a successful day-one pattern stops working.

How casting accuracy and lure positioning can be more important than lure selection.

Why the final few casts of a tournament can change everything.

Six different anglers, a huge variety of techniques and plenty of practical information for anyone looking to improve their bream fishing.

🎣 GO DEEPER WITH THE LURE FISHING PROJECT COLLECTIVE
One of the most interesting things about these interviews is what happens when you start comparing them.

Different anglers fishing the same river, in the same conditions, sometimes using completely different techniques — yet describing surprisingly similar fish behaviour.

We're taking that analysis further inside The Lure Fishing Project Collective.

By cross-referencing tournament interviews, tides, bite periods, lure presentations and the decisions anglers made throughout the competition, we're looking for patterns and lessons that might otherwise be missed.

The idea is simple: go beyond what lure caught the winning fish and start understanding why, when and how different approaches worked.

If you've enjoyed these interviews and want to get more out of the information Australia's best tournament anglers are sharing, come and join us.

Collective members also receive access to our private Discord community, live Zoom sessions, fishing challenges, bonus content, replays and everything inside The Lure Fishing Project Vault.

Join The Collective:

https://lurefishingproject.supercast.com

TOURNAMENT RESULTS & INFORMATION
2026 Daiwa BREAM Series – Lowrance Manning River

17–18 October 2026 | Taree, NSW

Official ABT event information, weigh-ins and scoreboards:

https://abt.org.au/2026-daiwa-bream-series-lowrance-manning-river-17-18-oct-event-results-info/

SUPPORT THE SHOW
Steve Morgan's Live-Sonar Masterclass – My Fishing Coach

If you'd like to learn more about locating fish and understanding their reactions on forward-facing sonar, Steve Morgan's course covers sonar operation, settings, fish behaviour, lure presentations and targeting techniques.

https://www.myfishingcoach.com/courses/live-sonar-masterclass/

Use code LFP10 for 10% off.

ARK Genesis Lead-Free Jig Heads

https://arkgenesis.com.au/

Use code BFP for 15% off.

Using our promotional codes may earn The Lure Fishing Project a commission, helping support the production of more fishing content.

FOLLOW THE LURE FISHING PROJECT
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Podcast: https://andreww3.podbean.com/

A massive thank you to all six anglers for sharing their experiences and to Steve, Nicole and everyone involved with ABT for putting on another great tournament.

If you enjoyed this episode, follow the show, leave a rating or review, and share it with another lure angler.

Thanks for listening.

Andrew Death
The Lure Fishing Project

Bremer Bay in Western Australia has delivered some extraordinary bream fishing, with an average fish weight of 778 grams across the Hobie Qualifier. Big bags, aggressive fish and a nail-biting finish made this one a tournament to remember.

In this episode of The Lure Fishing Project, Andrew Death catches up with the top three finishers to break down exactly how they caught their fish, the lures that worked and the decisions that made the difference.

🥇 Paul Burton — 1st Place | 5.735 kg

Paul arrived having never fished Bremer Bay before. After a challenging start, he discovered quality bream holding around windblown banks and rocky bombies. Using Sprats and S36 Pro hardbodies, he adapted to the changing conditions and produced a three-kilo bag on the final day to take the win.

🥈 Ben Oakes — 2nd Place | 5.645 kg

Ben used Baby Vibes to establish his bags before targeting bigger fish along shallow, hard-bottomed areas. He explains how smaller hooks improved his hookup rate, why the fish were holding around changes in depth and how Slim Swims helped him find those important upgrades.

🥉 Alex Griesdorf — 3rd Place | 5.600 kg

Alex targeted quality bream around the timber upriver using grubs, Sprats and Streaks. He also found an incredible shallow-water Chubby bite, catching a bag in just a few casts. Alex claimed Big Bream honours with a 1.18 kg fish.

In this episode:

Why Bremer Bay produced such impressive average fish weights

Fishing windblown banks, rocky bombies and submerged timber

Baby Vibes, Slim Swims, Sprats, Chubbies and S36 Pro hardbodies

How lure weight, leader strength and hook selection influenced the results

Finding bigger fish among large numbers of quality bream

Adjusting techniques as wind, water clarity and fishing pressure change

Three anglers, three different approaches and plenty of lessons you can take into your next bream session.

🎣 Join The Lure Fishing Project Collective

Get access to bonus episodes, extended fishing discussions, our private Discord community, member Zoom sessions and more.

https://lurefishingproject.supercast.com

Enjoy the episode, and thanks for supporting The Lure Fishing Project

In this episode of The Lure Fishing Project, we head back to the Action Fishing Tournaments round from 1 February 2026 and speak with the top three anglers from the event.

Third-placed Joshua Richards worked rocky edges with a two-inch Slim Swim before switching to crabs — and once he made the change, the bites came thick and fast. One of the big lessons from Joshua’s session was just how shallow the fish were sitting on the high tide, including multiple bream coming from the top of individual rocks. Pasted text Pasted text

Second-placed James Scott started with a Sprat 75 on a light hidden-weight presentation before changing to a Pro Lure Hybrid Shrimp as the bite changed. He also found an important difference in where the better fish were positioned — smaller fish tight to the mangroves, with the bigger bream sitting further off the edge. Pasted text Pasted text

Then we talk to winner James Tran, who put together a 115 cm bag topped by a 41.5 cm bream. James takes us through fishing mussel-style lures around bridge pylons, jetties and heavy structure, losing fish and lures early, changing tackle to cope with the structure, and using line movement on the drop to recognise bites. Pasted text Pasted text

There are some excellent practical lessons in this one around:

• Fishing rocky edges on high water
• Matching lure weight to shallow water
• Crabs, prawns, plastics and mussel-style lures
• Reading line movement on the drop
• Finding better-quality fish away from the obvious edge
• Fishing heavy structure with heavier leader and locked drag
• Changing presentations when a bite starts to fade
• Why sometimes the best tournament decision is simply fishing away from the crowd

Final podium:
🥇 James Tran — 115 cm
🥈 James Scott — 112.5 cm
🥉 Joshua Richards — 106.5 cm Pasted text Pasted text Pasted text

A quick note: these interviews were originally recorded when the show was still called The Bream Fishing Project, so you’ll hear the old name during the interviews. We’ve since become The Lure Fishing Project.

🎣 Join The Lure Fishing Project:
https://lurefishingproject.supercast.com

Members get access to bonus content, the Vault and, for Collective members, our Discord community, Zoom sessions, challenges and more.

If you enjoy the episode, follow the show and share it with another lure angler.

Welcome to EP232 of The Lure Fishing Project — and our first dedicated Australian bass episode.

There probably couldn’t be a better guest to kick it off.

Steve Morgan joins me fresh from an incredible run, winning back-to-back ABT Bass qualifiers at Somerset and Wivenhoe — around 20 years after his first ABT Bass qualifier victory.

This conversation goes well beyond those two tournaments.

Steve takes us right back through the evolution of Australian tournament bass fishing, from the early days of spinnerbaits, Sliders, ice jigs, Fireline and basic sounders through to the modern era of forward-facing sonar, strolling and targeting individual fish.

We dig into what Steve learned at Somerset and Wivenhoe and why two neighbouring fisheries required very different approaches.

Steve explains how he finds roaming bass with live sonar, how he positions the lure above the fish, what he watches for when a fish reacts and why sometimes the best thing you can do is actually move the lure away from the fish rather than toward it.

We also cover Steve’s incredible Wivenhoe pre-fish session, matching lure size to the available bait, hook positioning in soft plastics, winter bass behaviour, finding fish without forward-facing sonar and the importance of being prepared to fail while learning something new.

There are plenty of numbers in this one too — including a Somerset winning bag of around 23.8 kg for ten bass, a 3.35 kg fish, and Steve’s remarkable turnaround at Wivenhoe from one small fish the previous year to 19.4 kg for ten fish this time around.

Perhaps the biggest lesson is that buying the technology isn't the same as learning how to use it. Steve has spent a huge amount of time watching fish, experimenting and understanding how bass respond to a lure.

STEVE MORGAN’S LIVE-SONAR COURSE

If you want to take the forward-facing sonar side of this episode further, Steve’s Live-Sonar Masterclass is available through My Fishing Coach:

https://www.myfishingcoach.com/courses/live-sonar-masterclass/

Use the code LFP10 for 10% off.

Using the code also helps support The Lure Fishing Project.

JOIN THE LURE FISHING PROJECT COLLECTIVE

Join the Collective for member content, Zoom catch-ups, fishing challenges, access to the Vault and the LFP community:

https://lurefishingproject.supercast.com

Thanks for listening to our first Australian bass episode.

Andrew
The Lure Fishing Project

Spring is warming up, the fish are starting to move, and this month there’s plenty to unpack.

Brett Geddes joins Andrew for another Lure Fishing Project Monthly Report, looking at what’s been happening on the water and what they’ve learned from it.

Nev Hayes kicks things off with an extraordinary estuary perch session, landing fish of 50, 54, 57 and 58cm in the one outing.

Brett has had a pretty memorable month himself, including a cracking 51.5cm bass, while continuing to pile up some remarkable perch and bream numbers.

Andrew has also been spending more time back in the Hobie, getting ready for the Grand Final at Woy Woy and experimenting with ActiveTarget. That leads to jewfish, snapper and some interesting lessons about how fish react to lures on forward-facing sonar.

There’s also plenty more in this episode:

The devastating bream fish kill at Little Swanport in Tasmania

Tony Pettie’s eventful journey to the China Open

The latest reports from Mallacoota

Spring bream pushing back onto the mangrove edges

Why short, sharp fishing sessions can sometimes be incredibly effective

Land-based estuary perch on weedless plastics

New lures heading to Mallacoota

Carl Dubois catching a metre mulloway on bream gear — without a rudder and with a net nowhere near big enough

A look through an old ABT Tournament Angler Guide and how much bream fishing has — and hasn’t — changed

The upcoming October tournament calendar

It’s another wide-ranging Monthly Report packed with fishing stories, techniques, observations and plenty of laughs.

SUPPORT THE SHOW

ARK Genesis Lead-Free Jig Heads
Use code BFP for 15% off. ARK Genesis

Steve Morgan’s Live-Sonar Masterclass — My Fishing Coach
Use code LFP10 for 10% off. The course covers how live sonar works, settings, locating and targeting fish, lure presentation and species-specific techniques. My Fishing Coach
Steve Morgan’s Live-Sonar Masterclass

Join The Lure Fishing Project
Members get access to extra content, the community, challenges, Zoom sessions and more.

https://lurefishingproject.supercast.com