Decided to try chicken breast as bait and the results were almost immediate, at least for Bream because they absolutely loved it.
The chicken breast was less than $5 for a decent sized fillet and that lasted us most of the session, far cheaper than frozen bait.
My light gear setup
Rod: 2-8lb Blackhole Bream
Reel: Shimano 2500 Ci4+
Line: 4lb Berkley Vanish Flurocarbon
Also as a side note, we were using the same bait in the same spot but nearly all the fish were caught on fluorocarbon and only 1 fish on the braid. So we found that maybe the fish were aware of the coloured braid in the water and were perhaps less likely to approach the bait whereas fluorocarbon is virtually disappears in water. Something i learned in this session as I've always used light braid and a leader. Fluorocarbon produced more hook ups, may not be good in oyster country or rocks but for the estuary as we fished, it was perfect and it produced the goods.
Cheers,
SJ