Gilthead sea bream is a common but feisty fish. What a pleasure it is to track it on a longline, whether you're setting it down or drifting.
A silvery round fish with beautiful stripes and hues
The body of the gilthead bream is tall, with a small head. The upper jaw is protractile and the small mouth opens easily.
Its coloring is metallic blue-gray on the back and lightens on the belly, where 5 or 6 broad brown transverse stripes and 15 to 18 blue longitudinal lines drawn by the scales may appear. The tip of the tail is pale.
Fun from July to November
It feeds on plants, worms, shellfish (especially cockles and mussels), crabs, shrimps and dogfish. But it also feasts on the flesh of oily fish. All you need is a mackerel on hand, freshly caught if possible, and you're ready for a spot of griset fishing.
This round fish can be found all along our coasts from July onwards. It's a relatively easy fish to catch on a longline or single-stick rig.
Two stacks are sufficient for this assembly
A two-stack rig is sufficient, especially for many anglers where the number of hooks to fill with bait increases rapidly. This is especially true with fragile baits such as callianasses, which have a very short hook life. This means you risk spending more time gutting than fishing.
So opt for a two-stack rig, 30 cm long in 0.35 mm. The line body is made of 0.45 mm nylon and should be able to support the eventual lining of some nice bream. If the griset can reach 3 kg, a catch of 800 g can be considered a nice fish. In fact, such a doubling could be the undoing of our 0.35 mm pilings when the beautiful bream give opposing headbutts. When you come across specimens approaching the kilo mark, you'll need to consider 0.40 mm webs.
Step-by-step assembly
- Loop knot
- Sheath
- Perforated pearl
- Stacks: fluorocarbon 0.35 to 0.40 mm
- No. 2 short shank hooks
- Nylon 0.45 mm
- 2 beads bonded to cyanolite
- Staple swivel
- Single lead 30 to 100 g
- Suitable bait, e.g. callianasse
