As the year flashes past and winter steadily progresses into spring it is time to start thinking about the fish that will be entering your favourite estuarine flat following whitebait. Kahawai and trevally make an early appearance but perhaps of more interest is the apex predator that shadows them, Seriola lalandi, the yellow-tailed king of fishes. Last year I started to hook kingfish in amongst … Continue reading SPRING KINGFISH
Text: Alan Bulmer Lead Image: George Turnbull Catching flats trevally on soft plastics can occasionally be a relatively straight forward exercise, especially during autumn and winter. There are some basic rules to follow and these are covered off in detail in the following articles:- https://activeanglingnz.com/2015/08/08/outsmarting-trevally-with-flies-and-lures/ and https://activeanglingnz.com/2015/07/25/wetlining-soft-plastics/ This article from the archives describes a two hour session on the flats and shows how easy it can be to connect … Continue reading FLATS TREVALLY
Most fly fishermen would have heard of G.E.M. Skues and F.M. Halford. Skues is best known for his pioneering work in developing the art of fishing with a sunken fly (nymph) and Halford as the self- appointed high priest of dry fly fishing. The public battles between the two are legendary. However spin (or threadline) fishing had a pioneer equal in stature whose contributions seem … Continue reading ALEXANDER WANLESS – FLY FISHING INNOVATOR
Sometimes I just can’t be bothered to do the ‘best’ thing. I’d been thinking about trying a spot more live baiting for chub and perch but what with fiddling about catching and carrying baits and carting along an extra rod for bait-fishing I (lazily) opted for a spot of spinning. However, just to try something a bit different I thought I’d give an early morning … Continue reading CHANGING DOWN LURE SIZE – MIKE LADLE
Alan remembers an Autumn escape to Fiji back in 2011….. Our first stop after clearing customs at Nadi airport was the Radisson hotel on Denarau island. Despite the distance being a paltry 12.7 kilometres, it took 45 minutes to get to our accommodation due to the atrocious condition of the road and the inclement weather. The road was a sea of mud in places and … Continue reading SPIN FISHING IN FIJI
The last time we had a warm, settled summer and autumn the kahawai started to appear in the northern estuaries around the end of April. When you get gin clear water, a chilly start to the morning and the promise of a nice sunny day this is what will likely happen….. “The strident alarm clock broke the early morning silence at 6.00 am and I … Continue reading KAHAWAI MAYHEM AT DAWN
About 30 years ago Sam Mossman wrote a seminal book on angling in New Zealand called Saltwater Sportfishing (ISBN #0 7900 0095 4). It was a ground breaking book that was years ahead of its time. Many of the things Sam discussed, and the techniques he suggested, are now common place whereas back in the day they were considered radical and innovative. He was a … Continue reading SAM MOSSMAN – SPINNING WITH SOFT PLASTICS
“Author Tony Bishop” link: http://www.bishfish.co.nz/main/about.htm “Many years ago we stumbled across Tony Bishop’s book “Fishing Smarter for Trout” and were really impressed at the systematic and scientific way that he approached fly fishing. All of his books are written in the same thoughtful and easy to read style. One of the things that Tony highlighted in his subsequent books was the importance of knots. He … Continue reading HOW TO TIE FISHING KNOTS PROPERLY AND SECURELY
Stalking the flats – Part 4 – Lure size and general comments on lures Before embarking on a discussion about the types of lures suitable for estuarine spinning and how to use them, I’d like to briefly discuss lure size. Over the past twenty years I’ve used lures of various sizes in my favourite estuary and meticulously recorded success. Based on an analysis of the … Continue reading FLATS LURES – THE BASICS
Heres “Part Three” of Sam Mossman’s “Lures” There are many ways to fish a lure and many different types of retrieve which can be used Surface fishing Floating lures, either poppers or sliders, are used for this type of fishing. These lures have flat, angled or concave faces and create a disturbance when worked across the surface with sideways sweeps of the rod. The idea … Continue reading Sam Mossman – Lures – Part Three
Active Angling New Zealand 