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Gary's Deadly Nine
9 fishing techniques that work for Gary Brown
Some of these may not seem like a fishing technique to many of you, but if you read and think about how they can help improve your fishing and catching ability, you too may add them to your repertoire of successful techniques.
From a very early age in my fishing career, I have found that if you want to become a successful angler, you will need to set yourself guidelines that you will need to try and stick too.
This will mean that you will have to do a fair amount of research, put in a lot of time on the water, don't be afraid to learn from others, talk to other anglers and listen and learn and you need to be patient. It may take a while, but the results will come.
Before we get into the 'Deadly Nine', the following 6 guidelines have helped me to become a better angler and to be able to learn much more along the way.
1. Know your targeted fish species. If you are targeting a fish species that you have never caught before then you will need to carry out a fair bit of research. This may be through manufactures websites, books, internet, Google Maps, talking to the local tackle shop or locals and spending plenty of time on the water targeting that particular species.
Know where it lives, it's physical features, how and what it is likely to eat and what type of conditions turn it on or off. For example, if you are going to target dusky flathead you will need to realise that they live and feed on the bottom, so getting lures on or as close to the bottom as possible will surely get their interest.
2. Select and maintain your rods, reels and terminal tackle. Poorly maintained rods, reels, lines, artificials, terminal tackle and accessories will upset the best laid plans. Keep them in prime condition and maintained regularly to give you that high performance you need.
3. Devise a plan before you go. Rather than just going out for a fish and hoping that something may jump onto your line have a bit of a plan before you go. It doesn't have to be the master plan to end all plans. Just something simple and remember this will depend on whether it's a short trip or one of a few weeks.
Now that you have decieded the fish species that you are after you will need to have a bit of a back-up plan in case plan A doesn't go to plan. As an example, if I was going to chase a few bream off one of my local wharfs with soft plastics, I would also throw in a few squid jigs just in case the bream didn't cooperate.
4. Be Prepared. In the boot of my car I have a four piece rod, reel, jig heads, soft plastics, blades, hard bodied lures, scissors, leader material, a shoulder bag and a few other items. It's just in case I am out and about and I come across a boat ramp, wharf, bridge or sand bar that takes my interest, where I could have a flick for bass, bream, flathead, trevally or any other fish species that may be lurking around.
5. Keep records. They say that ninety percent of the fish are caught by ten percent of the anglers, and it is those anglers who keep some kind of record of their catches who will be in that ten percent. Whether it's an album full of photos with a few notes written on the back of when and where it was caught, or detailed diary entries of when you went, what you caught or didn't catch, what you used, where you went, the tides, weather conditions and anything else you may think that will help you next time you go.
6. Be Patient. Most of all you need to be patient when chasing any fish species. As they say patience is a virtue. Sometimes the slow tortoise will win the race.
Now the key to any angler's success is if you can interlock all of these six guidelines together when chasing the fish that you are targeting and you too will be able to put yourself up amongst that ten percent of anglers who catch ninety percent of the fish.
Techniques, Techniques and more Techniques.
What can make it very hard for either a novice or seasoned angler is that there are literally thousands of techniques out there that will catch fish. Some more reliable than others. Over the years I have tried so many different techniques and have found that some will always stay in my repertoire, some will not suit my style of fishing and some will be put back into the memory bank to maybe be brought out at a later date.
Out of all the different techniques that I have used I have put together a selection of fishing techniques that consistently work for me.
- Build your weather skills.
- Work out the local tidal patterns.
- Dunking seventy-five percent of your rod into the water.
- Blow holes.
- Adding scent.
- Parallel anchoring of your boat.
- Single or double hop?
- Dead sticking.
- Feeding out with the current.
1. Build your weather skills.
Due to the fact that the weather does play an important part on the times and places that we fish. You will need to build up your skills on how to determine how the current conditions, up and coming conditions and the possibility of weather changes will affect your next fishing outing.
You may choose to just watch the nightly weather forecast on the television, or read the daily newspaper, use an app, watch the rise and fall of a barometer and temperature gauges or just plain look out the window. Whatever you decide to do you will need to make sure that you have the skills for piecing together all the facts that are available to you at the time, to make the correct decision on where and what to do. Sometimes this doesn't go to plan, so you need to have a 'Plan B'.
If you are going to fish in your local area you will need to get to know your local climate and how the changes in the weather will affect it.
In Sydney, the prevailing winds come from the north-east during the summer months in the afternoon, restricting much of your fishing to areas that face south or that are protected by high cliffs or other structures.
So, having a Plan A and Plan B in place, you could be casting an 87mm Winglet from Fish Inc. Lures off the rocks at Boat Harbour for bonito, Australian salmon, tailor, kingfish and striped tuna. If a southerly change did arrive you wouldn't have to go home, just drive to the other side of the Kurnell Peninsula and start casting from Sutherland Point.
2. Work out the local tidal patterns.
On 5 May 1971, Geoscience Australia, on behalf of the National Mapping Council of Australia, carried out a simultaneous adjustment of 97 230 kilometres of two-way levelling. Mean sea level for 1966-1968 was assigned a value of 0.000m on the Australian Height Datum (AHD) at 30 tide gauges around the coast of the Australian continent. From then all tides are calculated from the Australian Height Datum.
Anyone new to fishing can find trying to work out the tides can be quite a daunting task. They go back to a place that they have fished before at the same time of the day, only to find the tide is not as high as it was a couple of months earlier. This may be due to whether it's during the full moon or new moon period of the month.
Not only do tidal patterns come in the form of spring and neap tides, you also have semi-diurnal, diurnal and mixed tides. Semi-diurnal tides consist of two high tides and two low tides, each lunar day. A diurnal tide consists of one high and one low tide. Mixed tides occur when successive high or low tides are of significantly different heights through the cycle. All of this can make it quite confusing.
One thing that is in the anglers favour it that the tidal movements are very predictable and can be forecast well in advance, making it much easier to plan that next fishing outing. Now don't get me wrong when I say this, the tide charts that you can pick up in your local bait and tackle shops are a good place to start when wanting to know when the high and low tides are occurring, but they are not always 100 percent correct. I use Willy Weather on my phone.
On my first ever trip to Weipa I caught a 70cm barramundi while casting to a set of small rocks at mid tide. The guide explained that there wouldn't be enough water until the tide was half way up as they would be right out of the water. Local knowledge and timing of the tides brought the results.
3. Dunking seventy-five percent of your rod into the water.
How many times have you had a fish scream off under a pontoon, wharf or overhanging snag, only to bust you off on the oysters, muscles or anything else that is sharp that is under there, while fishing from a boat.
Plenty you say!
Sure, you can try and put the brakes on by holding the spool, using the electric to pull you away or just praying that the leader you have tied on will hold up to the abrasion.
Have you ever thought of dunking your rod into the water up to the fore grip? I have done this numerous times.
What this does is reduces the angle that the line is coming from the tip of the rod and allows (hopefully) the line to now be well under a pontoon, wharf or overhanging snag. What you will find is that you won't have as much feel in the rod tip as you had when it was out of the water, so you will need to have your index finger running parallel along the rod and use it and your wrist to help guide the fish back as you are winding the reel.
Once you feel that the leader material is now out of harm's way you can continue to fight the fish above the water. All you need to do is when you get back make sure that you give the rod a good wash in freshwater and spray the guides with Inox or Tackle Guard.
4. Blow holes.
Indications that bream or whiting have been feeding over shallow banks and within the intertidal zone are 'blow-holes'. These are depressions in the sand or mud, surrounded by displaced sediment giving a crater effect, and usually exhibiting a colour change which is due to the next layer of sediment being exposed.
Discovery of blowholes in the sand or mud indicates an area where bream have been prospecting for worms or crustaceans. Sometimes they are quite deep and very noticeable due to the colour change of the exposed sediment. Of course, fishing these areas is no guarantee of success, but doing so repeatedly with fresh bait is the nearest thing to it.
Slow roll your soft plastics along the edges of these areas or where you may see puffs of sand or mud rising. This is where a good set of polarised sunnies is a must.
5. Adding scent.
I don't add scent to my lures or bait every time that I use them. It's mainly added if I get a take of a plastic and after a short tug of war the fish spits it out or I have tried a number of different colours, sizes, weights and techniques with no results.
How much is enough or how much is too much? That is a question that you will need to experiment with to find the answer, as what may work today may not work tomorrow.
I had taken a trip with a mate of mine down to Wonboyn Lakes to spend a couple of days with Stuart Hindson from Aussie Fish Estuary Adventures targeting black bream with TT Lures Switchblades.
First thing in the morning the fish were on the chew and it was nearly a fish a cast. Then it started to slow off with limited results. A couple of hits every now and then as the blade fluttered down or on the drop after a small hop off the bottom, that would result in the trebles being tangled on the leader, confirming the hit from a fish.
Stuart asked me to swing the Switchblade around to him and he applied some Pro-Cure Bloodworm scent to the blade. When I looked at it there was so much scent it looked like the Blob.
On my first cast of the Switchblade covered in scent, it got smashed on the way down. After that first cast it wasn't a fish a cast, but I would say about every three cast it was a fish. The bites came as it sunk down to the bottom, as it was falling after a hop and even when I left it sit on the bottom for up to thirty seconds at a time. The next day fishing the same area this technique didn't work at all. This is not a technique that I would use every time I use blades. Only when I'm not getting a bite would I try it. Otherwise you would go through heaps of scent.
If I wanted the blade to vibrate, I only smear on a tiny amount to the sides of the blade, otherwise the trebles will stick to the side of the blade and you won't get the correct action as it moves up and down.
6. Parallel anchoring of your boat.
Many anglers will drift with the aid of an electric motor when using artificials. Allowing them to drift parallel to rock bars, weed beds, pontoons and drop-offs and once the fish have been located they can either use the spot lock button on their electric to keep them where the fish are or make another pass by where they are.
To do this without an electric motor is very difficult. Sure you could use the main motor, but this can be a bit noisy.
Ever thought about anchoring your boat parallel to either a rock bar, weed bed or a drop-off?
This will give to the advantage of being able to work your lures over the flats, along the edge or the flats at either end of the boat and also out into the deeper water.
If you think about it you can work lightly weighted soft plastics like a 2.5" or 3" ZMan Slim SwimZ on a TT Lures HWS (Hidden Weight System) jig head for bream, trevally, whiting, flathead and anything else that hunts on top of sand flats.
Or what about putting on a larger soft plastic like a ZMan 4" SwimmerZ, 4 to 5" Scented PaddlerZ or ZMan 4.2" Trick ShotZ and slowly hopping or twitching them for barramundi, GT's and pelagics. You could also try using a Bagley Rattlin' Finger Mullet while using the walk the dog technique. The only slight disadvantage is that if you get a fish that screams off to the horizon you won't be able to take off after it in the boat.
Anchoring your boat parallel like this will also allow you to also work lures like the Bagley Rumble B 09 and 11 or the Bagley Minnow B O5 parallel to the edge of the drop-off from the front and rear of the boat. Once you hook up to a fish you may have to negotiate the anchor rope.
7. Single or double hop?
I don't think that this question will ever be answered... 'Do you use a single or double hop when targeting dusky flathead with soft plastics?' What I have found is that both will work. It's just a matter of working out which one works at the time and whether you do a small or large hop with a fast or slow retrieve.
This is where you need to remember that your target species lives on the bottom and they can be caught in very shallow water (ankle deep) to very deep water. Keeping the lure close to the bottom will give the dusky flathead the chance to inhale it.
When I am targeting dusky flathead in water depth from 1.5 to 5 metres I tend to use ZMan 4" SwimmerZ, 4 to 5" Scented PaddlerZ or 4.2" Trick ShotZ and I will use the double hop technique. This will allow the plastic to rise quickly off the bottom and as it flutters back down the second hop will add a bit more action to the plastic. I find that the second and first hop will give plenty of action to the paddle tail.
On the other hand when targeting dusky flathead in shallow water (ankle deep to 1.5 metres) I will tend to use the one hop technique. This allows me to slow down the retrieve while using either a ZMan 3.5" GrubZ or a 4 or 5" StreakZ Curly TailZ. The curly tail style of these soft plastics will still have plenty of action even at a slow hop.
The weight and size of the TT Lures jig head that you use will depend on the depth of water, current and size of the plastic that you use.
This technique can also be used while fishing TT Lures Switchblades as you will see the results while targeting flathead at Port Stephens in 15 metres of water near the boat ramp at Salamander Bay.
To give you a starting point you can click on the following link that will give you jig head size to plastic. www.tackletactics.com.au/Rigging-Guides
8. Dead sticking.
This is a very simple and effective technique that I use when there is not much current running. It can be in deep or very shallow water. This can be done with either a blade or a light to medium weighted soft plastic. Select you preferred artificial and cast it out as far as you can and let it sit on the bottom. There is no lifting, hopping and jigging involved. It just sits there waiting for the fish to pick it up and take off with it.
While using this technique I will usually apply some or a lot of the Pro-Cure scent. This is also where 'patience is a virtue' comes into play. This is a very effective technique while fishing in amongst structure like rock bars, oyster racks and dis-used oyster poles.
It is also a deadly technique when fishing over weed beds. The trick is to use as light a jig head as possible with a ZMan 2.5" Slim SwimZ or a 2 or 2.5" Grubz. A 1/20oz HeadlockZ jighead or a 1/60oz to 1/20oz HWS jig head would be ideal. The combination of the light jig head and the slightly more buoyancy of the ZMan plastics allows the lure to sit on the top of the weed, rather than sinking into it. The fish will pick up the slightest movement and suck it in and swim off with it.
9. Feeding out with the current.
Have you ever been anchored up bait fishing, while having a small and steady berley trail going out the back and thought what would happen if I fed out a weighted soft plastic into the berley trail? Next time you are on the water and berleying for say snapper. Try feeding out a ZMan Scented Jerk ShadZ on a TT jig head and either leave it sitting in the berley trail or if that doesn't work you could pick up the rod and twitch it back up the berley trail.
You could also try casting out the ZMan Scented Jerk ShadZ soft plastic and allowing the current to take it away. Sometimes I have let it out forty odd metres. Then I will either slow roll, twitch, jerk or rip it back through the berley trail. This could also be done with a Bagley or Fish Inc. hard bodied lure.
This technique is also very effective when using a TT Lures Switchblade. When fishing where there is a bit of current you will allow the blade to sink to the bottom. Once on the bottom slowly lift the blade about 50 to 90cm off the bottom. This will make the blade vibrate and move with the current. The current will move the blade away from the vertical position. Let out some line and allow to sink back down. Repeat this process over and over again. Many of the bites will happen on the drop.
These Deadly Nine fishing techniques can be used while fishing out of a boat or from the shore. All you need to do is adapt them to where you are fishing at the time. So why not give them ago and you too will increase your arsenal of techniques.