Fishing tips - change tactics

Adam Clancey finds the key to consistent success often involves the ability to adapt in response to changing factors.

One of the things that make fishing so addictive – and often frustrating – is the fact you may go out one day, have a good catch and think you’ve got it wired, only to miss out on the very next trip!

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Therefore, the ability to achieve consistent fishing results often relies on your ability to change tactics, which can be minute by minute, day by day, or month by month.

Some tactical changes can be pretty obvious, but require having confidence in your tackle and rigging skills. For example, you may be snapper fishing when a school of kahawai starts busting up on the surface. There are quite a few things that can be done tactically to take advantage of this. Firstly, if you have a light casting setup rigged with a small metal jig and the action isn’t too far away, you can simply whip out a cast to the feeding fish and crank the lure quickly back to the boat. Alternatively, you might get the anchor in and put the boat into a position where you can get close enough to cast over to the working fish. Bust-ups often happen very quickly and can end just as quickly, so speed is essential to get a result – a great reason to have multiple rods set up and ready to go for a variety of techniques.

Subtle changes can make a huge difference to fishing success or failure. These include changes in the wind and current speed and direction. Many times I have been in the middle of a hot bite when the wind changes or the current shifts and the fish go off the bite. Slack tides tend to affect how fish bite – and can be in positive and negative ways. While there are no hard-and-fast rules, it pays to have an awareness of what the wind and current are doing.

A couple of very simple tactics can be used to deal with these sorts of changes. If the current or wind is dying out, try using lighter sinkers or even pull the anchor and try drift fishing. Or, if the wind changes direction and opposes the current, creating a situation where your rig ends up underneath the boat, try tying your anchor off in a different position, or even double anchoring if conditions allow. Otherwise, try attaching a bucket or a drogue out the back while still anchored – much more of the current is harnessed, so the effects of the wind are negated.

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When using soft-baits, you can try using a dragging technique or casting at a different angle to achieve better lure contact and control.

Seasonal tactical changes play a big part in being able to enjoy year-round fishing success. In many areas certain species become more common at certain times than at others. It is therefore important to note the water temperatures and general weather conditions that determine when these fish come and go.

One such factor is the influx of squid inshore as the water temperatures cool down. This can have an effect on everything from large game fish (i.e. marlin, tuna and broadbill) to smaller predators such as snapper and kingfish.

So when squid start to show, one of the simplest tactics involves changing to squid baits and, in the case of lure fishing, moving to more squid-like patterns and colours, such as brown, pink, white and lumo. Simply having a packet of squid bait available will often put better quality fish in the boat.

Seasonally, fish can be found in different areas. This is especially the case with kingfish. Over the summer months kingfish are found all over shallow harbours, estuaries and rocky headlands. In winter they all but disappear from these areas, but can be found on the deeper offshore reefs, where they are able to be targeted with deep-fished live baits and jigs. In spring they tend to get active and move around a lot more and will often school up in large numbers. Then they can be targeted with most common techniques and are more inclined to take surface lures.

Understanding fish movements is an important weapon to have in your arsenal of fishing tricks, because finding the fish can be one of the toughest parts of securing a feed. For example, it is common knowledge that snapper school up in spring prior to spawning in various parts of the country. These pre-spawning snapper are often found in large numbers, feeding ravenously in deeper water, close to spawning grounds. So find the areas where they are congregating, and the fishing can be mind-blowing. You need decent electronics to find these sometimes tightly-packed schools; if you’re not on top of them, you won’t get a bite – while a boat 100 metres away is loading up.

When game fishing, use the sea surface temperature charts to work out the best places to search for marlin and tuna, and then look in those areas for deep contours, depth changes or structure, and you will have shortened the odds of finding fish.

One of my favourite tactics involves deploying different techniques for a variety species, and finding out which fish are biting. Many a day has been saved by putting a live bait down on a sinker, resulting in a good feed of john dory.

   This article is reproduced with permission of   
New Zealand Fishing News

June 2016 - By Adam Clancey
Re-publishing elsewhere is prohibited

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