Joseph Gardner has become one of Australia’s most consistent tournament bream anglers — Australian Champion, Angler of the Year winner, and an angler capable of producing results on completely different waterways around the country.
So what is behind that consistency?
In this episode of The Lure Fishing Project, Joseph sits down with Andrew during the Hobie round at Wallaga Lake and breaks down the surprisingly simple approach he uses to catch bream around Australia.
Joseph started tournament fishing in 2014 — and donutted his very first competition. Just a year later he recorded his first win, and from there began a journey that would eventually take him to the top level of Australian tournament fishing.
One of the biggest lessons from this conversation is just how small Joseph's lure rotation really is.
Rather than constantly changing lures, Joseph relies on a handful of presentations he knows extremely well and concentrates on putting them in the right places.
We go deep into three of his key bream presentations:
🎣 Z-Man StreakZ — from shallow weed beds and timber to Gold Coast pontoons, including jighead weights, retrieves, colours and the violent twitching action Joseph uses to make the lure dart.
🎣 50mm Ecogear Aqua Bream Prawn — including Joseph's incredibly simple worm-hook retrieve, how he watches his coloured braid rather than the lure, and why he believes in setting the hook hard.
🎣 Blue Lip Baits Pygmy Mussel — a lure Joseph helped create, including how he fishes it around structure, bridges and sand flats and why tiny movements can be so effective.
But perhaps the most important part of the episode is Joseph's approach to casting accuracy.
He explains how he used to take a bucket to the park and practise casting into it over and over again — and why he believes that work has made one of the biggest differences to his tournament results.
As Joseph puts it, you can make ten casts to a dock in the wrong place and catch nothing, while the next angler can make one accurate cast and catch the fish.
We also cover:
• How Joseph researches a completely new waterway before arriving
• Why he can travel across Australia and still rely on the same core techniques
• How he plans a pre-fish and eliminates unproductive water
• Why he prefers fishing away from crowds
• Why using identical rods and reels helps his casting accuracy
• His unusual approach to changing lures — or not changing them
• Why an extra 100 casts can matter more than constantly trying new presentations
• Fishing tough tournament days without losing confidence
• His Lowrance electronics setup in the kayak and boat
• A memorable 49cm black bream from Denmark
• The tiny bream that started his obsession with lure fishing
• Joseph's three biggest tips for improving as an angler
Joseph's final three pieces of advice are beautifully simple:
Casting accuracy. Confidence. Time on the water.
This is a detailed conversation with one of Australia's best tournament bream anglers and an episode packed with practical information you can take straight onto the water.
🎣 JOIN THE LURE FISHING PROJECT COLLECTIVE
Get extra episodes, the Big Bream Series, bonus content, live Zoom sessions, giveaways and more:
https://lurefishingproject.supercast.com
