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Blackspot Sea Bream, Pagellus bogaraveo

Introduction: The Blackspot Sea Bream is a large fish growing to > 10 lbs.  Known locally as the 'Red Sea Bream', it is typically caught on offshore marks over sand or mud.  This is the most commonly caught sea bream in Irish waters, although as a summer migrant, it is likely to show up anywhere on our deep sea marks.  All bream fight real hard! This is the largest of the bream like fish on the ISFC list and are a recorded catch by west and south coast fishermen here going back centuries.  Most skippers know of marks likely to offer bream. 

Boat tactics: 'Red Sea Bream' are caught in Ireland largely by accident, usually on offshore reefs marks late in the summer and well into the autumn.  They seem to fall mostly to a mackerel strip, squid and worms fished on a long trace on the drift over a mark, offered on hooks above the 1/0 mark.  Light boat tackle offers great sport.  Although they are a shoaling fish, they are rarely encountered in large numbers even off the boats on deep sea water marks, albeit our knowledgable west coast skippers will doubtless find them for you. 

Shore tactics: We have yet to see any Blackspot Sea Bream reported as caught from the shore in Ireland.