Tackle Tactics » Tips-Techniques » Sweetwater-Impoundments-Brackish » Edge Bite Trout Fishing

Edge Bite Trout Fishing

By Ken Smith

The months of October to November, in my part of the world, will see those big brown trout that inhabit our freshwater lakes and dams move into the shallow margins and feed ravenously. I tend to think that this coincides with the yabbies emerging from their winter hibernation, along with the emerging warm spring conditions in general.

My grandson Josh and myself decided it was time to go for walk along the dam edge and see if we could polaroid some cruising trout. I had packed a couple packets of ZMan 2.5" TRD CrawZ in Motor Oil and Watermelon Red colours, knowing that if the trout were cruising the edges, they will readily take these without hesitation.

I also had with me a packet of ZMan 2.5" Grubz in Neon Pink colour, just in case the trout weren't cruising the edges. These would be cast into the deeper water and worked slowly back to the edge. The colour red / pink will incite a reaction bite from a lot of fish and especially from trout.

Generally, these plastics will be rigged on either 1/4oz TT Lures HeadlockZ jighead or a 1/5oz TT Lures NedlockZ, to assist with long casts. The TRD CrawZ is cast well out in front or to the side of the cruising fish and hopped toward it as it cruises along on its beat. If the cast is too close to the cruising trout, then you will spook the fish and miss the chance of a hook up.

On the other hand, if the cast is just right, you will see the excitement of the fish as it spots the yabby imitation and rushes in to engulf it. This is pretty exciting fishing, all within view of the angler. An addition to the TRD CrawZ that has proven effective is a small amount of Pro-Cure Super Gel sticky scent in either Crawfish or Shrimp flavours. This is exciting fishing. Sight casting to big cruising brown trout and watching them vigorously attack the soft plastic within a metre of the edge of the water.

Josh was using my Cerros 2-4kg, three-piece, travel spin rod (CER-S-703ML 7'0" 2-4kg 1-15g) paired up with an Okuma Helios SX-20 reel and spooled with Platypus Bionic Braid X9 and 10lb Platypus Stealth FC Fluorocarbon Leader. I was using an Okuma Helios one-piece spin rod (HS-S-701L 7'0" 1-3kg 2-10g), paired with the exact same reel, line and leader setup that Josh was running.

We both rigged up with a ZMan 2.5" GrubZ in Neon Pink colour and 1/4oz TT Lures HeadlockZ jighead, allowing us to prospect our way around the banks, while we also polaroided for edge cruising trout. Unfortunately, there were no edge cruising trout to be seen during this session, however the trout were not far off the edges, just out of sight. The Neon Pink coloured GrubZ soon worked its magic though, enticing the bite from the big hidden brown trout.

All up we spent around six hours fishing the edges and we landed seven big brown trout, all of them landed on the Neon Pink GrubZ. I estimated that the best fish would have weighed close to 7lb, with the smallest to around 3lb, giving a total weight of somewhere between 20 and 30lb for the seven fish. There was also a smaller trout of around 30cm caught, along with a few missed opportunities.

Now is the time to cash in on this exciting style of fishing, so grab yourself a well-balanced outfit like the ones described above and add some easy casting braid and fluorocarbon leader. Keep it simple with a variety of TT Lures HeadlockZ or NedlockZ jigheads, some ZMan plastics, again look at TRD CrawZ and GrubZ both in the 2.5", along with some sticky Pro-Cure scent to sweeten them up. The next four to six weeks will see some of the best conditions for this style of fishing.

Get out and get amongst it!
Cheers, Ken Smith

Gearing Up:
Okuma Cerros Travel Spin Rod - CER-S-703ML 7' 2-4kg
Okuma Helios SX Spin Reels - HSX-20
Platypus Bionic Braid X9 - 10lb
Platypus Stealth FC Fluorocarbon Leader - 10lb
ZMan 2.5" TRD CrawZ
ZMan 2.5" GrubZ
TT Lures HeadlockZ Jigheads
TT Lures NedlockZ Jigheads
Pro-Cure Super Gel Scent