Tackle Tactics » Tips-Techniques » Beach-Rock-Land-Based » After Work Land Based Fishing Sessions
After Work Land Based Fishing Sessions
By Ryan Fogg
There isn’t a bad time to wet a line and lately I have found my fishing sessions have been limited to 2-3 hours, with work and family life a priority. This made me think about what I could do differently, to make the most of my time when fishing. For starters, I usually carry one or two combos in the truck with me on days ending in ‘y’. Another recent addition is the new TT Tackle Sling Bag, and this pack makes having all your gear in one spot, ready to go at a moment’s notice, very easy. With my jigheads organized into a small TT Waterproof Tackle Tray and a few packets of my confidence plastics, I am ready to find a bank or flat that looks fishy.
For my land-based sessions, I like to keep it very simple, and today’s session saw me with one combo, the TT Red Belly 7’, 2-4kg spin rod, matched with an Okuma Ceymar HD 2500 reel. This was the perfect outfit for covering all the water depths that I had planned to fish. The Okuma reel was spooled with 6lb Platypus Pulse X8 Braid in white, with a 10lb Platypus Hard Armour leader.
Presentation wise I had rigged a ZMan 2.5” PrawnZ in Opening Night colour, paired with a 1/6oz 1/0 TT DemonZ jighead. I really like the eyes on these jigheads and believe it increases my catch rate. I always carry a bottle of Pro-Cure scent to mask any smells that I may have on my hands and to stimulate the fish if they are shut down.
Recently I had an amazing session on a Friday afternoon after work. I finished work at 2 pm, and with the last two hours of the run-out tide ahead of me, I picked two likely spots that could hold a few dusky flathead, my target species for dinner that night. Whilst the first spot didn’t fire, I headed to a spot that had produced for me on many occasions. This particular spot had me wading through some shin deep water, to reach a small sandbank that was surrounded on one side by a deeper channel. With the tide now approaching the last of the run-out, I believed that most of the flathead would have retreated off the banks and into this deeper water.
As I worked towards this small bank I flicked my presentation in front of me, just in case a wayward flathead was still lurking in the shallows. With no luck, I set up on the sandbank to work a section of the deep gutter. One of the key features that I look for is structure, whether it be manmade or natural. On the far side of the gutter were some mangrove trees and a deep weed edge. I was able to cast up current and work my plastic back with the current to give it a more natural look.
From my fishing spot I was able to work my casts in a 180-degree fan pattern and really cover the water thoroughly. Doing this gave me the best opportunity to catch the intended target species. It didn’t take long before I had my first eat and after a very short fight, I had landed my very first flounder. After a quick release and applying some more Pro-Cure scent, my plastic was back in the water and looking for the next bite. It didn’t take long before I felt that faint bump, followed by a short run with some violent headshakes. Over the next thirty minutes I landed 12 flathead, with 5 being over 50cm and the biggest measuring 63cm on the handy Tackle Tactics Fish Ruler. Throw in a handful of bream and this session looked like being a very memorable one.
The retrieve that I was using was a flick, more than a hop, as I was trying to imitate a prawn flicking across the bottom, looking for somewhere to hide from hungry predators. Flathead are fierce predators that lie partially submerged, waiting for their prey to come to them. At the start of my fishing session I had two rod lengths of leader, however I finished with a leader about 40cm long as the fish engulfed my presentation on every occasion, requiring a leader trim and retie. With the sun disappearing quickly and a feed caught, I headed back to my truck thinking about everything that had just happened.
After writing down some notes about the trip, I wondered if that session would be repeatable again soon. With this in mind, I headed back again to the same spot the next afternoon, with the same plastic tied on to a fresh leader. This time I took my GoPro to help capture some footage, which I had rigged to a simple tripod. Again, the location and quick session didn’t disappoint, with five fish landed in quick succession. There was more boat traffic on this occasion, being a Saturday, and I am sure that this impacted on the fishing as the spot is quite narrow. Even so, I left there again with a huge smile on my face, after a memorable session.
So, next time you only have an hour or two, don’t hesitate to grab your rod and head down to your local system for a quick flick. Spending a few hours with the sand between your toes is a great way to wind down after a long day at work.
This article was based around the ZMan PrawnZ, however the basic principle would work for most plastics, whether they be a paddle tail, curl tail or a crustacean.
I hope that this article helps you find some fish and bend some rods.
Cheers for reading,
Foggy
Gearing Up:
TT Red Belly Spin Rod – RBS701ML 7’, 2-4kg
Okuma Ceymar HD Spin Reel – CHD–2500HA
Platypus Pulse X8 Braid – 6Lb White
Platypus Hard Armour Leader – 10lb Supple
ZMan 2.5” PrawnZ – Opening Night
TT DemonZ Jigheads – 1/6oz 1/0
Pro-Cure Super Gel Scent - Saltwater Yabby / Nipper
TT Tackle Sling Bag
TT Waterproof Tackle Trays
Tackle Tactics 130cm Fish Ruler