The Bream Fishing Project

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.

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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

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The Lure Fishing Project heads north for the 2026 Daiwa Bream Series Atomic Gladstone Round, held on September 19–20.

Gladstone proved to be one of the most unique stops on the calendar. Small neap tides, huge tidal variation, mangroves, bridge pylons, rock walls, shallow reefs and deep drop-offs all played a part — and almost every angler interviewed talked about just how much fun the fishery was.

In this episode we speak with the top three anglers from both the non-boater and boater divisions and break down exactly how they caught their fish.

NON-BOATERS

3rd – Allan Lavell

Allan relied heavily on plastics, particularly Hurricane Sprats, while also finding fish on deep-running Chubbies. After pre-fishing with Jon Fitzgibbon, Allan was paired with Jamie McKeown on day one and Brett Crowe on day two.

He talks through fishing rock walls, drop-offs and mangrove edges, keeping jig heads light and adjusting to the aggressive pikey bream.

2nd – Michael Maas

Michael was paired with Marc Saric on Saturday and Wade Walker on Sunday.

He found an unusual pattern slow-rolling Z-Man Grubs around bridge pylons before changing completely on day two and catching numbers of pikey bream on heavy Cranka Crabs worked slowly down a steep rocky bank.

1st – Mitch Vane

Mitch travelled across from Western Australia and adapted quickly to a completely different fishery.

Fishing with David Yuill on day one and James Graham on day two, Mitch used Gulp presentations around bridges before sight-casting prawn-style lures to bream pushing onto mangrove edges.

A big day-one bag gave him the advantage he needed before bridge pylons became critical on Sunday.

BOATERS

3rd – Jamie McKeown

Jamie mixed deep-running Chubbies, topwater and crab presentations while exploring the huge Gladstone system.

Fishing with Allan Lavell on Saturday and Gordon Pullin on Sunday, Jamie’s approach was heavily influenced by tide height, reef timing and constantly moving until he found active fish.

A strong day-two bag pushed him onto the podium.

2nd – Steve Morgan

Steve draws on years of Gladstone experience and explains the importance of bridge fishing, shallow reef patterns and understanding exactly how tide, wind and water level change the behaviour of Gladstone bream.

The difference between being on a location at the right tide height — or just a little too early or late — proved critical throughout the event.

1st – Peter Cashman

Peter went through the entire Friday pre-fish without catching a bream, but rather than abandon the area, he backed his plan.

Deep Z-Man plastics, forward-facing sonar and a willingness to stick with what he believed in ultimately produced the tournament win.

And make sure you stay to the end — there’s a great post-event story from Peter that’s well worth hearing.

Gladstone might not produce the biggest bream bags in Australia, but this episode shows why it remains one of the most interesting and entertaining tournament fisheries on the calendar.

Thanks for listening to The Lure Fishing Project.

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The Atomic New South Wales Tournament Series headed south to Mallacoota for Round 5 — and as usual, Mallacoota produced plenty of fish and some seriously interesting bream fishing.

Across the weekend, the top teams found bream everywhere from shallow flats and snags to deeper edges, with some fish sitting so high in the water column they were almost on the surface.

First up, Luke West and Dean Henry-Smith from Flick Wits break down a huge weekend that saw them catch more than 150 bream across pre-fish and the two competition days.

Using LiveScope, Hurricane Sprats, Hybrid Shrimp and lightly weighted plastics, they found schools of black bream suspended incredibly high in the water column and finished third with 10 fish for 7.91kg.

Then Josh Jeffrey and Connor Jackson from Team Zero Technique talk through a very different tournament.

After a slow Saturday morning, they adapted with lightly weighted plastics and deeper presentations to put together 4.11kg, before a change in conditions on Sunday saw the bite improve dramatically. They backed it up with 4.41kg to finish second with 8.52kg.

Finally, Jason Mayberry joins the show after another victory for Team Shimano.

Jason explains why the Hurricane Sprat in Cleaver became the standout lure of the weekend, how he used LiveScope to locate moving and mudding fish, and why he was confident fishing just 2lb line at Mallacoota.

He also breaks down his unusual Sprat retrieve — skipping the lure across the surface like a fleeing prawn before allowing it to settle — along with an incredible session where yellowfin bream were feeding from just under the surface right through to the bottom.

Team Shimano finished with 4.42kg on Saturday and 4.34kg on Sunday for 8.76kg and the win.

IN THIS EPISODE:

• Mallacoota black and yellowfin bream
• More than 150 fish across three days for Flick Wits
• Bream feeding just below the surface
• Forward-facing sonar and LiveScope
• Hurricane Sprat in Cleaver
• Hybrid Shrimp
• Lightly weighted plastics
• 1/40oz, 1/28oz and other ultra-light jighead presentations
• Fishing 2lb, 5lb and 6lb line and leader
• Sight casting to big black bream
• Adjusting presentations as fish become pressured
• Skipping plastics across the surface like prawns
• Tournament bite periods and decision-making
• Jason Mayberry's Team Shimano victory

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Joseph Gardner has become one of Australia’s most consistent tournament bream anglers — Australian Champion, Angler of the Year winner, and an angler capable of producing results on completely different waterways around the country.

So what is behind that consistency?

In this episode of The Lure Fishing Project, Joseph sits down with Andrew during the Hobie round at Wallaga Lake and breaks down the surprisingly simple approach he uses to catch bream around Australia.

Joseph started tournament fishing in 2014 — and donutted his very first competition. Just a year later he recorded his first win, and from there began a journey that would eventually take him to the top level of Australian tournament fishing.

One of the biggest lessons from this conversation is just how small Joseph's lure rotation really is.

Rather than constantly changing lures, Joseph relies on a handful of presentations he knows extremely well and concentrates on putting them in the right places.

We go deep into three of his key bream presentations:

🎣 Z-Man StreakZ — from shallow weed beds and timber to Gold Coast pontoons, including jighead weights, retrieves, colours and the violent twitching action Joseph uses to make the lure dart.

🎣 50mm Ecogear Aqua Bream Prawn — including Joseph's incredibly simple worm-hook retrieve, how he watches his coloured braid rather than the lure, and why he believes in setting the hook hard.

🎣 Blue Lip Baits Pygmy Mussel — a lure Joseph helped create, including how he fishes it around structure, bridges and sand flats and why tiny movements can be so effective.

But perhaps the most important part of the episode is Joseph's approach to casting accuracy.

He explains how he used to take a bucket to the park and practise casting into it over and over again — and why he believes that work has made one of the biggest differences to his tournament results.

As Joseph puts it, you can make ten casts to a dock in the wrong place and catch nothing, while the next angler can make one accurate cast and catch the fish.

We also cover:

• How Joseph researches a completely new waterway before arriving
• Why he can travel across Australia and still rely on the same core techniques
• How he plans a pre-fish and eliminates unproductive water
• Why he prefers fishing away from crowds
• Why using identical rods and reels helps his casting accuracy
• His unusual approach to changing lures — or not changing them
• Why an extra 100 casts can matter more than constantly trying new presentations
• Fishing tough tournament days without losing confidence
• His Lowrance electronics setup in the kayak and boat
• A memorable 49cm black bream from Denmark
• The tiny bream that started his obsession with lure fishing
• Joseph's three biggest tips for improving as an angler

Joseph's final three pieces of advice are beautifully simple:

Casting accuracy. Confidence. Time on the water.

This is a detailed conversation with one of Australia's best tournament bream anglers and an episode packed with practical information you can take straight onto the water.

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