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Donut Management

By Sean Bekkers

Now, this might be an unusual topic to write about but how do you recover from a session that produced nothing but a dreaded donut? I guess, first off you need to set yourself some guideline as to what is considered a donut. Is it no fish caught at all or is it not nailing your intended target species with other by-catch still coming in?

For me, I’m a bit of an opportunistic angler so more often I have a rough plan to go target a particular species, for example a flathead on an edge bite. However, if I head out and can’t find a flathead to save my life, instead finding a school of hungry trevally that are happy smashing my plastics, I count this as a win and therefore not a donut session. So, for me to have an absolute donut session means zero fish in the boat.

On the other hand, for people that are dedicated to catching a particular species, such bream, bass, or mulloway, then not catching their chosen species and getting a bucket load of other fish might still be considered a donut session. So, what would you consider a donut session?

Some factors that can influence how good a session is going to be include elements such as location, tides, moon phase, weather conditions, time of the year and many of these factors can make and break your session. Most anglers will consider all these factors and more, usually researching all of the tried and proven methods and techniques in order to give themselves the best chance of success.

Avoiding the Donut

When I’m out on a session that is likely to result in a zero fish tally, I am constantly looking for factors that will turn my trip around. These include things such as identifying where the bait is holding, changing my presentation, varying my location and even a Hail Mary may be called upon to try and scratch up a fish.

Finding the Bait:

Instead of flogging dead ground just because I found fish there on previous trips, I will actively go looking for likely areas that are holding bait. Weed edges, drop offs, mangrove areas and a favourite of mine, drains. These are all likely places for me to start searching for bait and ultimately the bigger fish. Selecting an area is going to be driven by where your intended target species are likely to be. For example, flathead like all the aforementioned areas, however, if I’m looking for a mulloway (jewfish) and it’s the right time of year, I might start by using my sounder to find some deeper structure like a rock bar that is holding baitfish.

Change Your Presentation:

Once I’ve found the fish, getting them to bite is the next challenge. If they don’t want to play ball straight away, I will start cycling through my presentations. I will often rotate through different styles and sizes of my ZMan plastics, for example changing from a fish pattern to a girl tail GrubZ or a prawn style.

Another big thing to consider when changing your soft plastics is size and colour. Just like many other fishing articles will tell you, matching the hatch is often the key to being successful. Look for clues as to what bait is holding. If it’s a 3” hardy head, then a ZMan 3” MinnowZ might be the go. If there are big runs of fresh water, with a lot of prawns and crabs being flushed around, then definitely swapping to something like a ZMan EZ ShrimpZ could turn your session around.

While we are on the topic of plastics, don’t forget to try different jighead weights and styles. For example, changing from a standard TT HeadlockZ HD jighead to a painted jighead with eyes, such as a TT DemonZ or Big EyeZ, might temp that big fish to bite.

Obviously, there are a lot of different presentations out there, including hard bodies, plastics, live and dead baits. No matter what presentation you are using, remember to take cues from the bait that is around you and this will often improve your chances of attracting a bite.

Location:

Ever heard people say, “everything looks good”? Sometimes, when you’re on the water, no matter where you look, everywhere deserves a cast and sometimes this will pay off and you’ll catch fish. More often though you’ll need to focus on finding the spots that are holding bait and fish. A rough rule of thumb for me is, if the tide is running up to high, the bait is going to be push up with the tide, so I’ll focus on where the bait is going to be holding and pushing in as the tide comes in, such as a mangrove edge. Likewise, as the tide drops, I’ll focus on areas where the bait is going to be holding as the water recedes, such as drains and structure in deeper water.

Bouncing Back from the Donut

So, this rings true for me lately, the dreaded donut. Some of my sessions have been purely experimenting and ultimately resulted in donuts, however the other hurt a little more because I couldn’t get it together at all. Following a recent flathead session that didn’t work out, I sat back and had a think about what went wrong. I managed to find areas that were holding heaps of bait and the bigger fish were there, however they wouldn’t commit to a good strike, rather choosing to just tail grab the plastic. Ultimately, they showed little interest and probably because they were full.

On this occasion it was a late arvo session, so looking back I could simply change from an afternoon to an early morning session. I could also look at changing my presentations a little more, sending out a well-presented ZMan 2.5” TRD CrawZ or 2.75” TRD BugZ, rigged on a TT NedlockZ jighead. I could slow this down and really hold that presentation right in front of the fish, basically annoying them into a biting. So, with a little reflection on what didn’t work, fingers crossed I’ll be back in the game next session.

At some stage the inevitable donut session is going to occur and for the anglers that just froth on fishing and will go out day after day, regardless of how well they go, then scoring a donut session isn’t such a bad thing. We need to take it as another opportunity to learn and think about how to change your approach for next time.

For some of us though it can be a little soul destroying having a donut session. Limited time and all that effort with nothing to show for it. Don’t worry about it and try and use it as a learning opportunity. Sometimes the worst sessions can teach you the most and allow you some time to experiment and explore new water. Ask some mates how they went and what techniques they used, and don’t forget to check out all the free information out there online, including YouTube videos, articles, forums, etc. With a bit of luck and a few plans up your sleeve, you’ll be nailing the fish on the next trip.

Screaming Dragz, Sean