Winter bream are magnificent.... Big, broad shouldered, bright-eyed thumpers, tenacious battlers on the end of your line and excellent performers in the kitchen.

So, what makes them so different from their skinny cousins who choose to reside in the shallow waters of the estuary system?

Like the mullet and luderick before them, the bream leave the rivers and bays along our coastline and swim north as part of their life cycle.

In the open ocean the bream are purged in the clean sea water and they take on a new snowy white appearance and a fresh taste.

Filleted, boned and crumbed cook the fish in hot olive oil until golden brown.

Serve with a crisp salad or place on a bed of fried rice before drizzling with a sweet and sour sauce.

Best baits include pipis, worms and fresh strips of mullet.

Lately the bream have been going nuts on pipis which are underfoot on Stockton Beach.

Don't be surprised to hook a tailor, salmon or a lurking mulloway.