Top 10 Hardbody Lures for Bream Fishing
These days there are thousands of different lures on the market to target bream. Lure fishing for bream has taken off in a big way over the past 10 years, and where we as anglers used to only have a handful of brands from overseas companies that could be adapted to suit this finicky species, we now have a huge array of lures specifically designed for our target species in mind.
While this is a good guide to get you started, the reason these lures work for us is because we have confidence in them and they suit our style of fishing. Confidence in a lure can go a long way in fishing especially when times are tough. By no means is this an exhaustive list of the lures we use for bream, but these are our most successful and therefore the lures that give us the most confidence. Let us know what YOUR go to bream lure is!
To help you sort through the good and the bad, here’s our top 10 list of must have Hardbody Bream Lures (in no specific order):
1. Ecogear SX40
APPLICATION: The SX40 is a very versatile lure, it can be fished effectively in a variety of ways and areas, including edges, pontoons, boat hulls and snags.
RECOMMENDED COLOURS: 302, 338, 339, 343
RETRIEVE: Twitch & Pause
2. Daiwa Double Clutch 60
APPLICATION: The Double Clutch 60 is a great lure to twitch around snags and structure, however with its sliding weight system, it also offers exceptional casting ability which makes it
RECOMMENDED COLOURS: Rusty Ayu, Golden Shiner
RETRIEVE: Twitch & Pause
3. Noris Laydown Minnow Chiyo
APPLICATION: With a relatively shallow diving depth, the Nories Laydown Minnow is an excellent lure for fishing across the tops of weed beds or across shallow flats.
RECOMMENDED COLOURS: BR-74, BR-63
RETRIEVE: Twitch & Pause
4. Smith DD Panish 65
APPLICATION: The Smith DD Panish is well suited to fishing edges and along drop offs. It is also equally effective twitching in and around snags.
RECOMMENDED COLOURS: 617, 969, 19
RETRIEVE: Twitch & Pause
5. Jackall Chubby
The Jackall Chubby is the benchmark on which most other bream crank baits were designed upon.
APPLICATION: The Jackall Chubby is well suited to rolling across sand or mud flats, letting the lure bump into the bottom.
RECOMMENDED COLOURS: Brown Suji Shrimp, 418, Ghost Wakasagi.
RETRIEVE: Slow Roll
6. Ecogear ZX35
APPLICATION: The ZX in an incredible search tool. Their low profile design and weight makes cast like bullets. Employing a jerk and pause retrieve they can be fished quite quickly which allows you to cover alot of water.
RECOMMENDED COLOURS: The Dark Knight (416), Bleeding Shrimp (418)
RETRIEVE: Lift and Drop
9. OSP Bent Minnow 76
The OSP Bent Minnow has literally been making waves across Australia with effectiveness when it comes to bream. Its unique action and shape make it dance across the water unlike any other lure.
APPLICATION: Best suited to surface fishing in shallow water. Also well suited to fishing across the top of dense underwater snags where sub surface lures would foul.
RECOMMENDED COLOURS: P-74 Pink Head, G-01 Ghost Ayu.
RETRIEVE: Twitch & Pause
7. Atomic Hardz Shad 40
A snack size 40mm shad lure, these suspending lures have a tight shimmy action that bream love. Atomic Hardz are a great value for money lure.
APPLICATION: These great little lures have a great tight shimmy action, and when fished with a pause are deadly on structure holding bream. Best used around snags, rock walls edges and pontoons.
RECOMMENDED COLOURS: Muddy Prawn, ghost gill brown, matt ayu.
RETRIEVE: Twitch & Pause
8. Cranka Minnow Shallow
A shallow diving slim profile lure bait fish imitation that suspends and hangs in front of fish, it has a wide action and fishes well with a jerky twitch and pause action. Cranka lures are Australian owned and designed for australian conditions. The deep running version of this lure is also very good.
APPLICATION: Good for fishing flats and rock walls and shallow reefs.
RECOMMENDED COLOURS: Jollytail, Sand Whiting, Rusty Gold
RETRIEVE: Twitch & Pause
9. Strike Pro Micro Vibe
A bite size vibe style lure that bream seem to love. Great to use when the fish are a bit finnicky and the bite is tough, this micro vibe has a subtle small vibration which gives a less in your face type of presentation that will not spook fish, and entice those shy fish.
APPLICATION: best fished around standing structure like bridge and pier pylons.
RECOMMENDED COLOURS: JU015TL, JU005
RETRIEVE: Lift and drop
10. Cranka Vibe
A 40mm bodied vibe that can be fished at any depth. Vibes are very versatile and catch all manner of species including bream. Cranka lures are Australian owned and designed for Australian conditions, and have a great range of colours.
APPLICATION: Best fished in deeper water, 2 – 10m where other hardbodies cannot be fished as effectively.
RECOMMENDED COLOURS: BBQ prawn, Black Flame, Olive prawn
RETRIEVE: Lift and Drop, Slow roll