Made a last minute decision to head out to the lake despite the wind. Spent the first part of the afternoon just hiding from the wind in a cove and decided to try and catch some bream for bait. Wasnt too confident it was going to work but I had wanted to try bream for some time.
Once the winds died a little I headed out and managed one short fish on a small bream to start. Moved spots and proceeded to have stripers kill the rest of my bream without a single hookup. Some of the fish seemed to have some good size to them especially on some of the larger bream.
This brings up a question. Do any of yall ever run a stinger rig to help short strikes or increase hook ups? I usually use circle hooks when Im live baiting and the ones I use may have been too small for the bream. Id appreciate any recommendations. Thanks.
That’s interesting about the bream. If they work well I would rather use them over herring. First of all they’re free. Secondly I’m sure they hold up better in the live bait well and require less maintenance than herring.
Anyone else have any experience using bream for stripers? Any input would be appreciated.
Taz - I had the bream hooked through the nose but I think the stripers werent swallowing them enough. I think taking off the dorsal is good idea, i could see that keeping a fish from holding on.
Crabjack - Those bream definetely hold up better than herring. I just kept them in my stock livewell on the boat that kills herring in about 10 min. Plus, those bream were holding up to 2 or 3 stripper hits, herring die if you look at em funny.
