I absolutely love gilthead bream! For me, they have everything that I could possibly want in a fish species: great looks, fierce fighting qualities, and they can be caught in a fair range of environments using a variety of different tackle. They also taste fantastic and one modest bream provides a surprising amount of flesh.
Before I go further, I must say that my fishing for gilts is still very much in its infant stages and there’s an awful lot that I have yet to try and figure out with them. However, whilst most information on gilthead fishing focuses on the estuary or (more recently) the beach environment, most of my time has been spent fishing coastal rock marks so I may have something different to offer. Rock fishing for giltheads is nothing new but there is very little information available on how to go about it in this country and anglers themselves tend to be extremely secretive about the subject. In a sense, I’m not going to tamper too much with that in terms of naming exact areas and marks, but I am going to talk about the practical aspects of this kind of fishing because, at the end of the day, it is incredible fun and I think everyone should have the chance to experience it.
My breaming experience started in spring 2013 when I began visiting the Fal estuary in search of these aquatic pitbulls that I had heard so much about. I was lucky in that I had been given a very reliable mark to try and was successful right from the off, catching plenty of bream although all of a smaller stamp. The over-riding impression was of a fish with immense power for its size that often announced itself with a scorching run. In short, I found that fishing for gilts was amazing sport and I was hooked.
The Hook Problem
From the start, my approach was pretty basic and it has remained so, with a few little refinements. For quite some time, I used a fairly large single hook; a 2/0 Varivas Big Mouth Xtra. Lugworm was usually the bait of choice or a lump of peeler. I found that I hooked maybe half to two thirds of my takes that were obviously from bream. As time progressed, I became aware that a lot of other anglers were using small, strong hooks; usually carp patterns. I experimented with these and found them awful, missing bites left, right and centre. After some amount of frustration, I changed tack entirely and began using a mini pennel arrangement with a pair of 1/0 Kamasan B940S hooks. This is by far the most efficient system that I have used so far and I connect with a good three out of four runs these days. As a bonus, I find that I hook a much lesser proportion of bream in the throat with the pennel, the top hook often lodging in the scissors or jaw.
By 2014, my fishing for gilts had changed significantly also. A chance conversation with a local angler the previous summer convinced me to have a go at targeting gilts on the open shore. I had one or two successful sessions and instantly realised that this way of catching them was much more thrilling for me. Hooking a decent bream in shallow surf is totally exhilarating and I have learnt far more about their character and behaviour than estuary fishing ever taught me. I do enjoy fishing estuaries but I get a bigger kick out of fishing on the open coast so right away, the focus of my giltheading shifted to this environment. From late April to the end of July of ‘14, all my giltheads (perhaps 30 or so) were caught from the open shore.
Wanderers
I personally believe that bream roam all around the Cornish coastline and beyond. Their behaviour is similar to bass in some ways in that they are a wandering species, traversing along the shoreline with the tides and stopping off at certain areas to look for food. Once these areas have been discovered, you can be reasonably sure that by making a note of the stage of tide and conditions that you will be able to catch bream again from them.
In theory, finding new spots for bream should require just a little thought and legwork. The actual features I was advised to look for are pretty simple; sand and structure. Bream explore sand features such as gullies and holes, but rock structure (particularly with mussel encrustations), seems to stop them in their tracks and hold their attention far longer. Ideally, I look for spots that have isolated boulders or rough spots surrounded by sand, then I aim to cast on to the clear ground bordering the feature. I have found that the tighter I fish to the feature (within reason), the more likely I am to get a run. The beauty of fishing these kind of environments is that even if you don’t catch bream, you will usually catch bass as well as other bonus species.
As regards conditions, open coast bream are definitely easier to catch when there is movement in the sea, an onshore chop is ideal and a bit of wind ruffle on the surface definitely aids your cause too. Just like in the estuaries, a first light start improves your odds significantly, although oftentimes in good conditions, coastal bream can be caught right through the day and into the night. One notable thing that a friend pointed out whilst we were fishing one day is that there often seems to be an ‘ideal’ depth of water in which to fish. I have found this to be quite true and for me, most of my runs seem to come when the depth is about 6-10 feet.
Before I go further, I must say that my fishing for gilts is still very much in its infant stages and there’s an awful lot that I have yet to try and figure out with them. However, whilst most information on gilthead fishing focuses on the estuary or (more recently) the beach environment, most of my time has been spent fishing coastal rock marks so I may have something different to offer. Rock fishing for giltheads is nothing new but there is very little information available on how to go about it in this country and anglers themselves tend to be extremely secretive about the subject. In a sense, I’m not going to tamper too much with that in terms of naming exact areas and marks, but I am going to talk about the practical aspects of this kind of fishing because, at the end of the day, it is incredible fun and I think everyone should have the chance to experience it.
My breaming experience started in spring 2013 when I began visiting the Fal estuary in search of these aquatic pitbulls that I had heard so much about. I was lucky in that I had been given a very reliable mark to try and was successful right from the off, catching plenty of bream although all of a smaller stamp. The over-riding impression was of a fish with immense power for its size that often announced itself with a scorching run. In short, I found that fishing for gilts was amazing sport and I was hooked.
The Hook Problem
From the start, my approach was pretty basic and it has remained so, with a few little refinements. For quite some time, I used a fairly large single hook; a 2/0 Varivas Big Mouth Xtra. Lugworm was usually the bait of choice or a lump of peeler. I found that I hooked maybe half to two thirds of my takes that were obviously from bream. As time progressed, I became aware that a lot of other anglers were using small, strong hooks; usually carp patterns. I experimented with these and found them awful, missing bites left, right and centre. After some amount of frustration, I changed tack entirely and began using a mini pennel arrangement with a pair of 1/0 Kamasan B940S hooks. This is by far the most efficient system that I have used so far and I connect with a good three out of four runs these days. As a bonus, I find that I hook a much lesser proportion of bream in the throat with the pennel, the top hook often lodging in the scissors or jaw.
By 2014, my fishing for gilts had changed significantly also. A chance conversation with a local angler the previous summer convinced me to have a go at targeting gilts on the open shore. I had one or two successful sessions and instantly realised that this way of catching them was much more thrilling for me. Hooking a decent bream in shallow surf is totally exhilarating and I have learnt far more about their character and behaviour than estuary fishing ever taught me. I do enjoy fishing estuaries but I get a bigger kick out of fishing on the open coast so right away, the focus of my giltheading shifted to this environment. From late April to the end of July of ‘14, all my giltheads (perhaps 30 or so) were caught from the open shore.
Wanderers
I personally believe that bream roam all around the Cornish coastline and beyond. Their behaviour is similar to bass in some ways in that they are a wandering species, traversing along the shoreline with the tides and stopping off at certain areas to look for food. Once these areas have been discovered, you can be reasonably sure that by making a note of the stage of tide and conditions that you will be able to catch bream again from them.
In theory, finding new spots for bream should require just a little thought and legwork. The actual features I was advised to look for are pretty simple; sand and structure. Bream explore sand features such as gullies and holes, but rock structure (particularly with mussel encrustations), seems to stop them in their tracks and hold their attention far longer. Ideally, I look for spots that have isolated boulders or rough spots surrounded by sand, then I aim to cast on to the clear ground bordering the feature. I have found that the tighter I fish to the feature (within reason), the more likely I am to get a run. The beauty of fishing these kind of environments is that even if you don’t catch bream, you will usually catch bass as well as other bonus species.
As regards conditions, open coast bream are definitely easier to catch when there is movement in the sea, an onshore chop is ideal and a bit of wind ruffle on the surface definitely aids your cause too. Just like in the estuaries, a first light start improves your odds significantly, although oftentimes in good conditions, coastal bream can be caught right through the day and into the night. One notable thing that a friend pointed out whilst we were fishing one day is that there often seems to be an ‘ideal’ depth of water in which to fish. I have found this to be quite true and for me, most of my runs seem to come when the depth is about 6-10 feet.
Left: the rig that I use incorporates two smallish but strong hooks in a pennel arrangement. The rubber sleeve covering part of the lead link is to stop the rig tangling. The swivels I use are manufactured by ESP for carp fishing and are small, strong and dull in colour. I try to keep anything shiny to a minimum on rigs for this species. |
Rigs, Lines and Baits
Once located, open shore giltheads are usually not difficult to catch or at least get a bite from. If fished for like bass, using sensibly light gear and leads, they are much more likely to get hooked. Giltheads are as fussy as bass as regards feeling resistance from the end gear and continental anglers report that overly obtrusive terminal tackle is also a turn-off for them. To this end, my rig choice is a basic running leger with a slight twist. I have my lead link running on 3’ of 30lb fluorocarbon with a swivel each end. One swivel is attached to 4’ of 20lb fluorocarbon and my choice of hook(s), the other is attached to the mainline. I do make sure to carry lighter fluorocarbon for the hooklength if I ever feel the need for it, but the stiffness of the slightly thicker material is a real plus in the surf where fine lines can get tangled beyond repair. The main advantage of the lead link on the thicker line is that it works to prevent the rig tangling in the surf and the link itself wearing away at the mainline. As a Brucey bonus, you get a functional bolt rig effect and your mainline doesn’t rub across the seabed as much, which can cause potential weak spots.
Some people successfully use braid for giltheads but I definitely prefer mono for my mainline. Daiwa Sensor is an old favourite; a thicker, old fashioned type of line in today’s market, but a tough and battle proven one for sure. Mono has two main advantages over braid in the surf: firstly, its stretch. The stretch in mono not only helps to avoid the bream feeling instant resistance from the rod tip, but also provides some cushioning against the wave action, avoiding dragging your carefully placed bait all over the place. Also, because of casting tight to structure, snagging and rubbing the line against rocks and mussel beds is an inevitable consequence. I would much rather subject mono to this kind of treatment than braid.
Moving on to baits, coastal giltheads will accept much the same variety of baits as they will in estuaries: lugworm, ragworm, peeler crab etc., but to target them more specifically, I was recommended to try razor clam. When razor is fresh, it is also very attractive to bass so I like to let it sit in the fridge for a while (about a week, say) until the animal is nearly dead, then either use or freeze them. The smell from these baits is very pungent and the bream seem to almost favour these over fresher offerings at times. The advantage of having a stock of frozen razor is that you can go off giltheading at the drop of a hat. Rock fishing for them is a pursuit that lends itself to those times when you just have a couple of hours to fish as mostly that is as wide a timeframe as you can expect to get a bite in.
It is definitely worth trying any other kind of shellfish you can obtain, cockles and clams are used with success by some estuary anglers, and giltheaders in France and Spain have no hesitation in baiting with mussels. Interestingly, some continental sources recommend refraining from de-shelling baits before use, instead either trying to hide the hook in the bait or attaching it with elastic. Apparently, this ploy can select for the better specimens, which would seem logical enough. Gilts of all sizes have the dentistry to make short work of shells but maybe the bigger fish with larger mouths and more powerful jaws find it easier to cope with the more sizable shellfish and are the first to pick up those prey items.
Something that isn’t discussed much is the potential for groundbaiting. Inevitably when letting razors go to a certain level of ‘iffiness’, some expire altogether. I like to pick these out and freeze them down. Once down on the rocks, I crack the shells to let the juice out and throw them in uptide of where I’m going to stick my baits (the fact that I can throw them as far as I’m casting says something about how close in gilts can be caught). If you want to, you can collect a few mussels and limpets and add them to the mix, but be careful of taking too many from the rocks as these are not only an important part of the general ecosystem but they are also the gilts’ food and no food equals no fish!
Interestingly, the gut contents of the fish that I have kept have mostly been comprised of fragments of mussel shell and green weed, showing that the species has an herbivorous aspect to its diet too.
Once located, open shore giltheads are usually not difficult to catch or at least get a bite from. If fished for like bass, using sensibly light gear and leads, they are much more likely to get hooked. Giltheads are as fussy as bass as regards feeling resistance from the end gear and continental anglers report that overly obtrusive terminal tackle is also a turn-off for them. To this end, my rig choice is a basic running leger with a slight twist. I have my lead link running on 3’ of 30lb fluorocarbon with a swivel each end. One swivel is attached to 4’ of 20lb fluorocarbon and my choice of hook(s), the other is attached to the mainline. I do make sure to carry lighter fluorocarbon for the hooklength if I ever feel the need for it, but the stiffness of the slightly thicker material is a real plus in the surf where fine lines can get tangled beyond repair. The main advantage of the lead link on the thicker line is that it works to prevent the rig tangling in the surf and the link itself wearing away at the mainline. As a Brucey bonus, you get a functional bolt rig effect and your mainline doesn’t rub across the seabed as much, which can cause potential weak spots.
Some people successfully use braid for giltheads but I definitely prefer mono for my mainline. Daiwa Sensor is an old favourite; a thicker, old fashioned type of line in today’s market, but a tough and battle proven one for sure. Mono has two main advantages over braid in the surf: firstly, its stretch. The stretch in mono not only helps to avoid the bream feeling instant resistance from the rod tip, but also provides some cushioning against the wave action, avoiding dragging your carefully placed bait all over the place. Also, because of casting tight to structure, snagging and rubbing the line against rocks and mussel beds is an inevitable consequence. I would much rather subject mono to this kind of treatment than braid.
Moving on to baits, coastal giltheads will accept much the same variety of baits as they will in estuaries: lugworm, ragworm, peeler crab etc., but to target them more specifically, I was recommended to try razor clam. When razor is fresh, it is also very attractive to bass so I like to let it sit in the fridge for a while (about a week, say) until the animal is nearly dead, then either use or freeze them. The smell from these baits is very pungent and the bream seem to almost favour these over fresher offerings at times. The advantage of having a stock of frozen razor is that you can go off giltheading at the drop of a hat. Rock fishing for them is a pursuit that lends itself to those times when you just have a couple of hours to fish as mostly that is as wide a timeframe as you can expect to get a bite in.
It is definitely worth trying any other kind of shellfish you can obtain, cockles and clams are used with success by some estuary anglers, and giltheaders in France and Spain have no hesitation in baiting with mussels. Interestingly, some continental sources recommend refraining from de-shelling baits before use, instead either trying to hide the hook in the bait or attaching it with elastic. Apparently, this ploy can select for the better specimens, which would seem logical enough. Gilts of all sizes have the dentistry to make short work of shells but maybe the bigger fish with larger mouths and more powerful jaws find it easier to cope with the more sizable shellfish and are the first to pick up those prey items.
Something that isn’t discussed much is the potential for groundbaiting. Inevitably when letting razors go to a certain level of ‘iffiness’, some expire altogether. I like to pick these out and freeze them down. Once down on the rocks, I crack the shells to let the juice out and throw them in uptide of where I’m going to stick my baits (the fact that I can throw them as far as I’m casting says something about how close in gilts can be caught). If you want to, you can collect a few mussels and limpets and add them to the mix, but be careful of taking too many from the rocks as these are not only an important part of the general ecosystem but they are also the gilts’ food and no food equals no fish!
Interestingly, the gut contents of the fish that I have kept have mostly been comprised of fragments of mussel shell and green weed, showing that the species has an herbivorous aspect to its diet too.
How Big?
When it comes to the size of fish you can expect to catch, coastal gilts usually boast a pretty high average size. By May/June, the average bream I was catching was around the 3.12 mark and I wasn’t getting many under 3lbs. I caught quite a few around 4.12 and for what seemed like some time, struggled to get over this boundary, before finally exceeding it on my last bream session of the year.
I had some bait in the fridge gathered for a trip that never materialised and on looking at the tides and conditions for the next day, realised that everything was right for a giltheading trip. I hadn’t been after the bream for a few weeks, being focussed on other species, but I had a hunch that things were right and that I had to get out there. I arrived on the mark at the crack of dawn with the tide still relatively high. I tackled up and put both rods on spots that I knew from previous experience to be good ones. Nothing much happened for the first hour or two, and by mid-tide the sun was creeping higher and warming the rocks around me. I kept fishing with confidence as I had started well outside of the ‘hot time’ for this mark and was now in eager expectation of a bite. My first run came a bit later than I had anticipated, but I was ready for it and on striking felt the familiar firm resistance of a bream. The fish gave a good account of itself in the slight swell, but came to the net without much drama and proved to be a smaller fish in the 3lb category. Unfortunately, as they sometimes do, this bream had gorged the bait right down and was hooked in the throat so I kept it.
Almost as soon as I had rebaited and cast out, I had another searing run and struck into a better fish. This one ran off a good 30 yards of line against the clutch and thumped hard as it came into the shallows. Landing it was a little tense as a set of waves stopped me reaching it first time but I eventually got the bream in the net and up on to the rocks. This was a nice one in the 4.12 category and was cleanly hooked in the scissors. I quickly returned the fish and it swam off powerfully.
The next take was on my other rod cast alongside a ridge of rock about 8 feet long that had given me plenty of bream in previous sessions. The rod bent right over and line screamed off the baitrunner as the hooked fish panicked and bolted. I struck into solid resistance and it kept on going, running a good 40 yards from where it was hooked, before changing direction and swimming laterally along the swell. Firm pressure got the fish moving towards me before it made another shorter run and tried to get its head down. I kept the pressure on and it came in close over the rough ground. I caught a glimpse of its bright silver flank and it began to come up towards the surface. I prepared the net and a fortunate backwash virtually deposited the wallowing fish into the mesh for me. I could see this was a better size than any I had caught previously and I remember shouting in triumph before carrying my prize to the higher ground. The bream was hooked in the throat and so I dispatched it quickly before settling down to have a proper look at it. The colours of a freshly-caught gilthead are absolutely stunning and, unfortunately, fade very quickly. Pictures of long-dead specimens do them no justice as the bristling fins and vivid colours on a live or freshly killed fish are much more pleasing to the eye. On the scales, the bream cleared 6lbs by an ounce and I was elated as this was the target I had been trying to beat.
I recast and had another run pretty quickly, the culprit being a fish in the 4.12 category which was hooked nicely in the lower jaw and went back with a strong flick of its forked tail. After this last bream, the action died off and the fish had obviously moved on. I was left to take stock of what had been a typically short and frantic period of activity.
Although I was spending a fair amount of time out there and catching my fair share of fish, I never contacted one of the real bruisers that I am reliably informed do haunt the shores of this coastline. I know of fish to 7lbs caught last year but I have no doubt that there is better yet to come. We all know that bream of 8lbs + do lurk in the estuaries of Cornwall, but fish of that stamp have been reported to have been hooked and lost along the open shore too. Sooner or later, someone (hopefully me!!) will land a true monster of a gilthead from the beaches or rock marks of this county.
Not only has the maximum size of giltheads running the coast of Cornwall not been truly established, but there also exists so much possibility for improving and diversifying our angling methods for them. Bream on the continent are often fished for with float tackle and I can really see this working here, especially in slightly deeper water where I suspect they could be working the faces as opposed to the bases of the rocks. I can also see no reason at all why they shouldn’t be caught on soft plastic lures in much the same way bass and wrasse are. In conclusion, fishing for gilthead bream from the open shore is a new frontier for sea angling in our country and I suspect that it will be the subject of increasing interest and importance in the years to come. If you haven’t yet sampled the sheer excitement that these fish have to offer, I strongly urge you to do so!
When it comes to the size of fish you can expect to catch, coastal gilts usually boast a pretty high average size. By May/June, the average bream I was catching was around the 3.12 mark and I wasn’t getting many under 3lbs. I caught quite a few around 4.12 and for what seemed like some time, struggled to get over this boundary, before finally exceeding it on my last bream session of the year.
I had some bait in the fridge gathered for a trip that never materialised and on looking at the tides and conditions for the next day, realised that everything was right for a giltheading trip. I hadn’t been after the bream for a few weeks, being focussed on other species, but I had a hunch that things were right and that I had to get out there. I arrived on the mark at the crack of dawn with the tide still relatively high. I tackled up and put both rods on spots that I knew from previous experience to be good ones. Nothing much happened for the first hour or two, and by mid-tide the sun was creeping higher and warming the rocks around me. I kept fishing with confidence as I had started well outside of the ‘hot time’ for this mark and was now in eager expectation of a bite. My first run came a bit later than I had anticipated, but I was ready for it and on striking felt the familiar firm resistance of a bream. The fish gave a good account of itself in the slight swell, but came to the net without much drama and proved to be a smaller fish in the 3lb category. Unfortunately, as they sometimes do, this bream had gorged the bait right down and was hooked in the throat so I kept it.
Almost as soon as I had rebaited and cast out, I had another searing run and struck into a better fish. This one ran off a good 30 yards of line against the clutch and thumped hard as it came into the shallows. Landing it was a little tense as a set of waves stopped me reaching it first time but I eventually got the bream in the net and up on to the rocks. This was a nice one in the 4.12 category and was cleanly hooked in the scissors. I quickly returned the fish and it swam off powerfully.
The next take was on my other rod cast alongside a ridge of rock about 8 feet long that had given me plenty of bream in previous sessions. The rod bent right over and line screamed off the baitrunner as the hooked fish panicked and bolted. I struck into solid resistance and it kept on going, running a good 40 yards from where it was hooked, before changing direction and swimming laterally along the swell. Firm pressure got the fish moving towards me before it made another shorter run and tried to get its head down. I kept the pressure on and it came in close over the rough ground. I caught a glimpse of its bright silver flank and it began to come up towards the surface. I prepared the net and a fortunate backwash virtually deposited the wallowing fish into the mesh for me. I could see this was a better size than any I had caught previously and I remember shouting in triumph before carrying my prize to the higher ground. The bream was hooked in the throat and so I dispatched it quickly before settling down to have a proper look at it. The colours of a freshly-caught gilthead are absolutely stunning and, unfortunately, fade very quickly. Pictures of long-dead specimens do them no justice as the bristling fins and vivid colours on a live or freshly killed fish are much more pleasing to the eye. On the scales, the bream cleared 6lbs by an ounce and I was elated as this was the target I had been trying to beat.
I recast and had another run pretty quickly, the culprit being a fish in the 4.12 category which was hooked nicely in the lower jaw and went back with a strong flick of its forked tail. After this last bream, the action died off and the fish had obviously moved on. I was left to take stock of what had been a typically short and frantic period of activity.
Although I was spending a fair amount of time out there and catching my fair share of fish, I never contacted one of the real bruisers that I am reliably informed do haunt the shores of this coastline. I know of fish to 7lbs caught last year but I have no doubt that there is better yet to come. We all know that bream of 8lbs + do lurk in the estuaries of Cornwall, but fish of that stamp have been reported to have been hooked and lost along the open shore too. Sooner or later, someone (hopefully me!!) will land a true monster of a gilthead from the beaches or rock marks of this county.
Not only has the maximum size of giltheads running the coast of Cornwall not been truly established, but there also exists so much possibility for improving and diversifying our angling methods for them. Bream on the continent are often fished for with float tackle and I can really see this working here, especially in slightly deeper water where I suspect they could be working the faces as opposed to the bases of the rocks. I can also see no reason at all why they shouldn’t be caught on soft plastic lures in much the same way bass and wrasse are. In conclusion, fishing for gilthead bream from the open shore is a new frontier for sea angling in our country and I suspect that it will be the subject of increasing interest and importance in the years to come. If you haven’t yet sampled the sheer excitement that these fish have to offer, I strongly urge you to do so!