A foolproof fishing guide

Early to bed, early to rise, fish all day, make up lies. Sadly, that’s the way it is for most of us weekend danglers waiting for a nibble on the end of the line. Mind you, it’s welcome therapy contemplating the meaning of life while staring blankly into the water.

Yet, yet it’s something else again when you actually experience a hot fishing bite, when the line zings across the guides, you lean back and the rod portrays a parabolic arc. There’s a real thrill in the ensuing fight, the drama of landing the whopper, and a primal sense of accomplishment in being able to feed the family.

Of course, kids like fishing, too. With Easter holidays in full swing, this is an opportune time to talk techniques, tackle and tips. If you want to cut to the chase then book a trip with a fishing guide or charter. Meantime, here’s some good fishing oil to help you even the score this holiday season.

TIME AND TIDE: Fish are like most animals in that they prefer to feed at dawn and dusk. Midday is for sleeping, unless you are a fish that swims in the deep, where light levels are low. Conversely, the shallower the water the more likely fish are to spook. During overcast and rainy days, the fish often bite with abandon. That’s why foul weather, providing you’re not foolhardy, can be good for fishing.

The last few hours of the run-in or flood tide and first few hours of the run-out or ebb tide are prime feeding times. All the better should this coincide with dawn or dusk. Solunar tables have been used for centuries to pinpoint heightened times of feeding activity, but basically the lead-up to the full and dark moons are best. Night fishing around illuminated bridge pylons can be terrific at Easter, too.

Of course, holidays mean everyone’s wetting a line and boat traffic is increased, so you need to get outside your comfort zone to beat the crowds and find some undisturbed fish.

HOT SPOTS: All good anglers have their closely-guarded fishing hot spots. It goes without saying that a good depth sounder is an imperative part of your arsenal, as is a GPS so you can save the hot spots and return to them at a whim. If you suddenly experience some great fishing then press the waypoint button and allocate a name to the spot later. The holiday season presents plenty of opportunity for fieldwork and exploration.

There are some general traits consistent with most hot fishing spots: they feature some kind of topographical feature such as a prominent reef or steep drop-off; they are flushed by the tide and experience good water flow; they are transit areas or known fish ‘highways’; or they are feeding grounds such as sandflats at high tide.

One tip that’s always worked for me is to anchor on a reef but to pull back to the edge of it where the rough ground meets the sand. Gravel beds are another top fishing spot. On your GPS charts, look for those areas marked with the letter “G”.

TACKLE: Without risk of sounding like a grumpy old fisherman, when I was growing up, tackle was considerably more expensive that it is today. You can now buy an excellent estuary outfit from a leading brand like Daiwa, Jarvis Walker, Penn, Shimano or Shakespeare for $70. Spool up with braided line, which hasn’t any stretch and transfers the bites and casts better than monofilament. Using a uni knot, attach a clear section of fluorocarbon line to the working end. This is near invisible to fish and offers excellent abrasion resistance.

Generally, 4-6kg line is plenty for most estuary species, while 10kg-15kg tackle is better offshore. You’ll also need a decent tackle box with an array of terminal tackle, the nuts and bolts of fishing, including swivels to prevent line twist, various sinkers and chemically-sharpened hooks. These are sharp so take care. But they don’t last long so check the tip to make sure it’s still sharp before baiting up.

CATCH THE BAIT: Bait collecting can be almost as much fun as fishing itself. And from little things big things grow. So catch some live bait like yellowtail, mullet or garfish and use them to catch bigger fish like flathead and jewfish. The very best bait for kingfish is fresh squid (see notes below on how to catch them.). At the same time, a cut bait like a yellowtail or whiting fillet always works well. Store-bought pilchards are the most reliable fallback.

Invest in a yabby pump — the Australian Alvey brand is robust — and a sieve and take the tykes to the sand flats at low tide. Look for the holes and use the pump to extract the pink yabbies. Mind the claws on the bigger white males. As the tide turns and begins to cover the flats, pitch the yabbies along the edge of the drop off. The fish will be waiting, chiefly whiting and bream.

LURE THEM IN: Today’s lifelike soft-plastic lures take some beating and can actually out-fish bait. Certainly, you get a lot less small fry jumping on lures. The most productive of them all is a prawn or shrimp pattern threaded onto a lead jig head. Use the aforesaid estuary outfit with 4kg line and cast to the edge of the sand flats, retrieving the lure with a flick and drop so it bounces across the bottom like a prawn. Stick at it and you’ll score some nice flathead.

The other must-have lure is the deep-diving minnow. Buy a Halco Laser, Rapala CD7 or Manns Stretch+. Troll two minnow lures at dawn around the deep-water headlands and, nothing surer, you will catch fish. Expect bonito, kingfish, Australian salmon, tailor and more. Your boat should be travelling at about six knots and set the lures back 50 metres.

TWO-ROD APPROACH: Armed with the above information, you can adopt a two-rod approach. That is, set a live bait or large cut bait on the bottom on a heavy line for a big fish, while at same time soaking a live nipper on light tackle for a smaller species like a whiting. Alternatively, cast soft-plastic lures while waiting for the big bait to get taken.

If you are taking kids fishing, remember they have pretty short attention spans. So set them up with the lighter tackle and nipper or peeled prawn bait. Close the barb of their hook to facilitate easier release of undersized fish. They will find it more fun catching lots of small fish that waiting for a big ‘un.

BERLEY: You can speed things up and bring many more fish to your boat by berleying. Chopped pilchards mixed with bread works well in most situations. Add some sand to weight the berley and send it asunder. A berley bomb is a boon for the same reason. The device deploys your berley near the bottom where your bait will soon be wafting about. In the estuary, try burying some berley on the sand flats at low tide and then fishing over the top for bream at high tide.

EYES IN THE SKY: Birds are terrific pointers to fish activity. Where there are squawking gulls, terns or shearwaters you can be assured there are big fish chasing sprats. Once you locate a school of feeding fish, either troll the edges with your diving minnows or stand off and cast metal lures into the melee. Whatever you do, avoid driving through the middle of the school and spooking the fish. Wearing polarised sunglasses helps when looking for wheeling birds and splashing fish.

CRABS AND CALAMARI: Diversifying is a good way to guarantee a feed. Bait some witches hat crab nets or traps with mullet and deploy them in about four to six metres of water early in the day. Check them on your way home after fishing in the near vicinity (holiday pirates have a habit of pilfering traps when no-one’s around). If you leave them overnight you’ll do even better. So pick a good anchorage and crab around your boat.

Squid are more common than just about any other marine critter and nothing compares with a feed of fresh calamari. The way to catch them is with dedicated a squid jig. The prawn-pattern jigs with feathers as fins work brilliantly. The key to catching squid is to cast your jig over kelp beds and around seagrass. Retrieve slowly so the jig dances just above the weed and the squid will pounce.

PRO-ACTIVE APPROACH: Fishing can be as idle or active as you like. But if you put in the effort and use the abovementioned techniques you’ll be kept busy acquiring a meal fit for King Neptune this Easter. Last but not least, fish safe, fish responsibly, fish ethically, and only take what you can eat. But good things do come to those who bait. And right now the fish are snapping. 

Opening snapper photo from Portland Fishing Charters, see http://www.portlandfishingcharters.com.au.