CATCHING FISH CAN DO YOUR HEAD IN

You have all the gear, a beautiful boat, enough bait to feed a small African nation and a super positive frame of mind. At this stage you cant wait to get your line wet and simply cant imagine why the fish wont be queuing up to jump on your lines. I have watched this scenario play out in my local fisheries time and time again. My fishing buddy and I watch these people and generally have a friendly chat as they are putting their beautiful boats in the water. “Don’t need any advice champ”, is a common retort. I don’t blame them really.

My buddy and I fish in a beaten up, plenty old, 12ft blue tinny that sports a 9.9hp little buzz box on the back. We have it set up with the stuff we need, not ALL the stuff you might need in a years fishing. We have comfy seats, a couple of rods usually one set up for bait and one rigged for lures, we have enough bait for the session, a few drinks and maybe a bite to eat. These guys usually fly out, plonk their boats anywhere, anchor up and toss their lines in. A few get lucky and land a few. Most get unlucky with a couple of toadies and sun burnt faces. Even the best fisho’s don’t catch fish every time they venture out. But there are a couple of things they do BEFORE they go out that greatly increase the chances of hooking the fish they are targeting.

The Author Darren Beesey with a horse Tamboon Inlet Black Bream the fell prey to a 3" Gulp Minnow

We have embarrassed a few of these ‘big boat, big ego’ fellas over the years with big bags of our target fish. Often only 50 to 100 metres away. A little research goes a long way. What do I want to catch, what do they eat and how do they find it when we aren’t presenting it on a hook? There is plenty of great info on the internet these days, you just have to look. FishingAustralia.com.au is a great place to start!! My recommendation, though, is to chat with the bloke at the local fishing store. And I don’t mean the cheap fishing section at a supermarket! Go into the local tackle shop, spend what amounts to a few extra dollars on the stuff you need and listen to what he has to say. You are about to fish in this bloke’s back yard. It’s in his interest to help you catch fish.

Now that is a good step one. Step two is to know a little bit about the fish you are targeting. You just can’t go out and hope pot luck will land you a fish. Whiting are a good example of a fish that can do your head in. Whiting are bottom feeders that ‘snoot’ through the sand to stir up a feed. Small stuff like bass yabbies, mussels and pippies are very common prey for them. So if your bait isn’t sitting on the bottom you just won’t catch any. They, like most fish, have predators and so need a hiding place between feeds. Whiting prefer weed beds for this purpose, and because they feed in the sand they are most often found in areas with both. Hide in the weed; dart out to ‘snoot’ in the sand. Not rocket science.

The local tackle shop guy will also tell you whiting like moving water, especially the run in tide. Why, I hear you ask? Because when the water is low they are more likely to be in deeper weedy channels in hiding, more concerned with avoiding predators than food. As the water runs in it serves a couple of purposes. It stirs up their common food sources. It fills up the shallower, flat, sand patches surrounded by weed beds allowing them to move into these areas to feed in relative safety. You may find the area you are looking for whiting has many likely spots you can try. As these fish will take the right baits quickly and often, it’s a good idea to only give a spot 10 to 15 minutes before moving on. When you find them it’s generally the stuff of one rod in the water as you will miss an awful lot of bites trying to bait and watch 2 rods or more.

Bream are little different. They are flighty, conservative fish that can and will outsmart you quite often. They love structure they can hide in. Fallen trees, rock walls, rocky overhangs etc are good spots to try. They rarely, if ever, feed freely out in the open. The younger they are the more likely they are to jump on a feed. The challenge is to catch the big ones. They are old and large for a reason. When you catch a large trophy bream it may just be 30+ years old! That’s 30 years of outsmarting predators, fisherman and the elements.

They will hide deeper into structure than the young, smaller fish. They will ambush a feed with great gusto and power and retreat quickly back into cover. That is why fishermen need to be ready to lose many baits or lures in search of the big ones. They will break poor knots, bend cheap hooks and often sit and look at your presentation many times without as much as a touch before finally nudging it, checking it out and then striking without warning and trying to rip its catch back into the structure it came out of. Awesome fun are bream to catch.

But research, patience and persistence are very necessary ingredients. The big ones are such a buzz to catch its worth the effort. So if you follow these few guidelines; do your research, talk to the locals if possible, be prepared for the fish you are targeting, and above all have a bit of patience, you will enjoy your fishing much more as you will catch more fish. I have found by experience phoning ahead of time and talking to the local tackle shop in a town you haven’t fished before is an invaluable thing to do. You get an early insight into what to expect, and if you exchange names on the phone the fella you spoke to will be even more willing to help you with info when you actually drop in to buy some gear or bait and re-introduce yourself. This info is provided to help you catch more fish. It is basic in nature and is intended to be a place to start.

Fishing is not a perfect sport. Each type of fish does it a little differently and needs a slightly different approach to be successful on a regular basis. Sometimes the buggers just beat you up, steal your bait all day and ‘do your bloody head in’. There is always next time. Your experience builds and you become a better fisherman. And please, ALWAYS practice catch and release, remember minimum size and catch limits are there for a VERY good reason… its so our fish stocks stay strong and you have something to catch tomorrow with your kids.

Good luck and great fishing!

Beesa.

If you have comments or questions about this article please post them below.