Advice Needed - Working Out A Game Plan

[pmak]

Hey guys. I need some advice from the collective wealth of experience from Fishraiders to help boost my lure fishing success rate. I have just converted to lure fishing from a boat after getting a neat little tinny from a fellow Fishraider with an electric motor up the front. The boat has helped extend my fishing time beyond the 2-3 hour 'high tide' peak period from my landbased days. I fish typically 6 hours nowadays with an early morning launch and I'm done by lunch time.

I've had mixed success though I can usually catch fish on most days. Early morning high tides work well for me. I also find my catch rate tapering off as the sun gets higher. I also tend to fish bays close to shore and have not fished main river channels much. The fast current and deeper water puts me in unfamiliar territory. With the variables of location, time, tide and current, I can see the need for developing a 'game plan' to work with those variables to maximise my catch rate. To make it easier, I also tend to target bream at high tide and flathead at low tide. Am I on the right track or do I need to adopt different approaches?

Based on the following parameters, how would you plan your fishing time?

6 hours fishing time, launch just after dawn, target bream and flathead, launch from Oatley Bay ramp, 4m tinny with bow mounted electric

Scenario 1: Early morning high tide

Scenario 2: Early morning low tide

Hope to get some interesting answers ...

[gerg]

pmak, in devising your plan, firstly have a think about what the fish are doing (and why) at the particular stage of the tide that you are targeting them. No doubt, you've heard this before, but I think it is important to keep considering this idea.

For example the couple of hours before a high, they'll be moving up onto the edges, onto the flats etc and most likely be actively feeding fish. So in this light, what are the fish doing at other stages of the tide? Time on the water will help you suss that and give you confidence.

Another piece of advice is don't get too hung up on "spots". Sometimes they produce, and sometimes they don't - and often for no apparent reason. Don't get me wrong, I have a long list of spots that I fish on the harbour, but I think it is more important to start to identify patterns. For example, if a certain point that has characteristic structure (and by this I don't necessarily mean the structure you can see - ie use your sounder), cops the current on the run out tide, and is producing, I'd be thinking about similar structure in the system and having a look there. I think once you start identifying patterns, they will help you make higher percentage choices about which of your spots to hit up, at which stages of the tide.

Hope that helps

cheers, Greg

[pmak]

Greg,

Thanks for the heads up. I was beginning to think my question was a little too cryptic to garner a response.

I know what you're getting at - suss out where the fish are at the point of the tide I am fishing at. Are they actively feeding? Are they holding at the bottom? Are they just cruising around?

I am mainly going after bream at the moment. I know they feed at the edges near the top of the tide when they can get access to oysters, etc. What happens at low tide, do they just hold and wait? Do you look for them in deeper water near structure and in holes?

Identifying patterns is a good way to look at it - will keep that in mind when I go out from now on ...

pmak