River and Estuary Fishing Tactics

By Dale Lucas

I think that the humble estuary fishing adventure must be one of the top ways for anglers to get out onto the water and catch a few fish. One of the things I love about fishing the estuaries is that you never know what you will catch next.

When fishing your local river or estuary there are a few things to know. More times than not there is somewhere to hide from the wind, making it an ideal fishing option on those days where more open water is not viable. Also, constant changes of tide and water temperature make for interesting fishing, and it will generally never fish the same as yesterday, keeping it interesting and keeping us learning as anglers.

Myself, along with my mate Lee Major, have been hitting our local river and really trying to dial in some effective techniques and get our heads around the how, what and when of fishing this system. We have had days with great success, using larger plastics such as the ZMan 6” DarterZ, along with days where plastics like the ever-reliable ZMan 2.5” GrubZ and Slim SwimZ is all that they will bite. Why is this, is the question that we keep asking. Now, this is why I love fishing. It could be due to tide, moon phase, or even water temperatures, but in the end the love for fishing keeps us coming back and grinding away for the that feeling of achievement when we crack it and the time spent out on the water. Here’s a couple of tactics that have been proving successful and may be worth adding to your arsenal.

Undercut Banks

We have been throwing plastics, lightly weighted, into undercut banks and allowing them to sink slowly to the bottom. From there it’s a short pause, followed by 2-3 short, sharp jabs of the rod tip. This technique has been catching a variety of fish, including bream and flathead, with the odd trevally thrown in the mix.

Undercut bank edges provide a good ambush point for all predatory fish, while also allowing them to escape both heavier currents and the sun. Targeting these areas can be tricky as you need to get your lure right in as close to the bank as possible, to tempt fish out to eat.

In this environment one option is to use a TT Fishing weedless jighead, such as a ChinlockZ Finesse or SnakelockZ Finesse in a size 2, paired with a ZMan 2.5” Slim SwimZ, just to get deep enough in there to get the fish to bite. Fish slowly in this type of structure. Moving your lure away too far or too quickly may cause you to miss fish that have not had time to see the lure as they stalk the undercuts.

Steeper Banks

We have also had good success targeting steeper banks with heavy drop offs and isolated structure. For this environment we change up the gear, often opting for a ZMan 3.5” Trick SwimZ in Bad Shad or Green Lantern colour. These colours keep it natural, and we present this plastic on a 1/4oz 3/0 TT HeadlockZ jighead.

We fish this presentation in around 1.5 – 3m of water, really trying to cover as much ground as we could. I used a few tricks to get the fish to bite and I found that they really wanted the lure with some scent, so I added some Butt Juice Pro-Cure Super Gel Scent to the plastics and coated them every 20-30 casts. This made the fish either hold onto the plastic longer, for a better hook set, or encouraged them to come back for more if I pulled hooks.

Slow rolling the bottom or a simple two hop technique attracted most of the bites but change it up and see what works on the day. Pay close attention to your line and feel for the bite through the rod. Some days the bites can be very subtle and on others they will near rip the rod out of your hand.

Other Tactics

Don’t be scared to move around in a river or estuary system. The fish do and so should you. Vary the depth and areas that you’re targeting. One of the best ways to learn is to give it a go because if you do the same thing every time you fish, you will have days where you may struggle to find the fish. Some of the best anglers are well rounded in fishing all types of environments, with a variety of lures, learning through trial and error, and time on the water. If a change of location will catch you more fish just do it, it’s always worth trusting your gut while fishing. Most of the time though a packet of plastics and maybe two or three types of jigheads can do you for a day of fishing your local.

The time of year is something to keep in mind as that can assist you when selecting a variety of lures. If the prawns are running, throw something like a ZMan 2.5” PrawnZ or 3.5” EZ ShrimpZ to match the hatch. Water temperature at that particular time of year can also change your species target. For instance, if it’s winter you may choose to chase some tailor or bream, while in summer you may prefer to chase flathead in the shallows or mangrove jack in the structure.

Thankfully Tackle Tactics has a full range of soft plastics and jigheads to fool these fish, in a massive range of proven colours, along with a stack of articles, videos and rigging guides on the website to help you get hooked up. Take your time and plan your trip so that you’re enjoying more positive outcomes on the drive home. Get out there and have some fun! Estuary fishing is amazing, with almost endless possibilities in terms of what you can catch.

Cheers MAV