Bream fishing - love it.

[Butters]

Went to a mens retreat with about 30 guys from my church last weekend. We had a blast. Got to do some bream fishing last saturday afternoon. Haven't done any fishing in a while. It was alot of fun. I forgot just how relaxing it can be. I like to keep things very simple when I am fishing. Last weekend was no excuse. Found a good fishing hole where we were staying. A few of my fellow christian brothers from church joined me there. I was using Zebco rod and reel, with night crawlers for bait. Caught about 8 bream. Mostly later in the afternoon.

A few of the other guys were using spincasting reels and equipment, with light tackle. Some even used lures. I have never had much luck with artifical baits and lures, but I am willing work at it some, whoops, there's that 4 letter word that doesn't belong with fishing...work. One guy was using a roostertail bait. I asked him about it and he said it worked very well for him. When I got back sunday afternoon I got a couple these from Wally World. Since then also I have picked up a Johnson Beetle Spin. Are these any good? Thanks, Dee.

[Dee]

I too love to catch perch (i.e.brem). When I was a kid my grandmother and I would fish for anything that got on the hook, and we ate what we caught. Worms were the bait of choice and it is unbelievable how many perch you can catch on one worm head.
We would take the head, dorsal fin, an two stabilizer fins off, while gutt'em and then take a table spoon and scrape the scales off. Wash'em up, roll'em in corn meal and fry'em tails and all. I have set at the table a many a night scrapin the best fish in the world off those many little bones.
I used rods and reels and cane poles both. High tech is many times just too much work. Enjoy!

[DDZ]

Thanks for the defination of "brem" I was trying to figure out what the heck a brem was. In my part of the country, I have never heard this term used for perch. When I was a kid, the lake I fish was loaded with perch, and they were a lot of fun to catch, and great tasteing. The perch just about disapeared in this lake. Up untill a few years ago it was rare to catch a perch. I believe it was due to Northern Pike being introduced into lake. I think they just about cleaned them out. They are starting to make a comeback now. When I first started catching Pike in this lake they were very numerous. Now along with the slow return of perch, the number of pike are less. I guess it just took a little time for the fish in the lake to balance out. 

Dee, I too as a kid would clean them as you mentioned. I now fillet them, because of the work involved scraping off the scales. Also no need to worry about getting a bone stuck in your throat.  What I remember though about leaving the skin on, was that they maybe tasted a little better. The skin gave then that extra chrispy taste. Ain't nothing better than fresh caught pan fried pan fish. I wait all winter with the thoughts of eating pan fish. 

[Graybeard]

Properly a bream some times also spelled brim is a bluegill, shell craker or other member of the sunfish family found scattered all over the south. But the name has come to be associated with most any panfish size fish with scales these days. There are no perch I'm aware of here in Alabama or thru out most of the deep south.

[DDZ]

Thanks Dee, and GB. Learned something new today. I guess I never really read that much about fish and fishing. I just love to do it. 

[canon6]

I do miss my "pan fish" be they called bream,bluegill etc;We  in the mountain west are so deprived, or is that depraved     Doug

[streak]

Graybeard,
You forgot the white perch ,alias"sac-a-lait", or crappie,( all the same fish)!Very prolific breeder`s in much of the south. Especially Louisiana, Mississippi, Arkansas, and Texas. Good eating too!Get in a bed of those "slabsides" with minnows or Catalpa worms and you will be busy man!! These can get up to 2.5 pounds or so in size." Sac-a-lait" is the Cajun term for the white perch.

[Graybeard]

The crappie (proper name for them) isn't a perch even if some call it one and I've never heard them called by the name of bream or brim. They are however definitely a panfish.

[streak]

Graybeard,
You are correct in saying that the proper name is the crappie or is somes refered to as the common name. This crappie term is derived from the French Canadien term "croppie" or "crappe`".
I think the term" "white perch" probably originated from the scientific classification of the crappie.
Where one would find that like the bream or sunfish the crappie shares the same "ORDER: Perciformes".Where perciformes means perch like or perches depending on what source you derived the definition.

[Doublebass73]

I had never heard the term Bream until I started coming to this forum. Here in New England we have a few terms for various panfish. We use the term "Kibby" for a bluegill sunfish or pumpkinseed. A crappie is know as a "calico bass". We also have white perch and yellow perch.

[streak]

Doublebass73,
The bream name actually originated in Europe for certain type of fish in that part of the world.Down south the bream are sometimes called by special names such as "Chinquapin"," Red Ear"," Bluegill"," Shell Cracker"( As Graybeard has already mentioned)," Mason",etc.
There is another perch which exist in areas such as the Atlantic Slope,Gulf Coast,Mississippi Valley streams,Red River,Sabine River,Brazos River,Colorado River, and many other rivers of the south in Florida, and the Atchafalaya River Basin of Louisiana. This is known as the " pirate perch".
Anyway always enjoyed my " bream" fishing back many years with just a cane pole and worms and crickets.
Later on graduated to a fly rod and popping bugs, and rubber spiders. Catching bream with a fly rod with these topwater lures sometimes got to be very exciting! Most of my fly rod fising was in N.W. Louisiana on Black Bayou.The best time was early in the morning or late afternoon with no wind preferably. Take your boat and ease around the cypress trees and cast your bug on to the side of the tree and let it slide down into the water. Let the ripples settled down and then just give the bug a very light twitch and " Whamo"! those bream would inhale that bug and put up quite a fight. Sometimes the bug after you gave it a little twitch  the bream would jump out of the water and come down to catch the bug! This was tedious fishing because you had to let the fish break out of the water get somewhat airborne and then turn downward to catch the bug. Your timing on the strike better be good! Otherwise you missed him!

[greg916]

I love Bream fishing, especially for Bluegill and Redear (Shellcrackers). I like to use cane poles, but mostly use telescoping poles now for convience. The Toyota just ain't as big as the GMC was! We do have Perch here in NC, but they are pretty rare. I havn't seen one in quite a while.

I took my grandaughter fishing last week, and she caught 28. Fish and chips for supper!

[LunaticFringeInc]

Fishing for sun fish can indeed be a lot of fun and relaxing if nothing else.  I just recently put together a sweet little ultra-light spinning rig and using some 1/16th once Road Runner Jigs heads and some 2 inch grubs I have been having more fun than the law should allow on the way home from work of late.  Quiet a few of them have been nice saucer sized slabs that went well with a little bit of butter and garlic at 350 degrees along with a plate of hush puppies!  You just cant beat that.  More than a few times while fishing waters where the Bass see brutal fishing pressure, I have been rudely suprised by some pretty nice sized Bass that beat the sun fish to the mirco sized lures.  Its made for some heart stopping excitement not to mention tested my skill and patience in fighting a fish.

[Badnews Bob]

Fishing for sun fish can indeed be a lot of fun and relaxing if nothing else.  I just recently put together a sweet little ultra-light spinning rig and using some 1/16th once Road Runner Jigs heads and some 2 inch grubs I have been having more fun than the law should allow on the way home from work of late.  Quiet a few of them have been nice saucer sized slabs that went well with a little bit of butter and garlic at 350 degrees along with a plate of hush puppies!  You just cant beat that.  More than a few times while fishing waters where the Bass see brutal fishing pressure, I have been rudely suprised by some pretty nice sized Bass that beat the sun fish to the mirco sized lures.  Its made for some heart stopping excitement not to mention tested my skill and patience in fighting a fish.

Just did some of that on the way home from work this afternoon micro fishing tackle is my favorite stuff right now. I caugt about 8 then packed up for home, An hour in the sun on a small lake is a good thng for sure.

[ratgunner]

Congrats Butters.