Category: Technical

Alan Bulmer, Dr.Mike Ladle, Fish Species, Lure Fishing, Tackle, Technical, Techniques

WHAT IS THE BEST LURE COLOUR?

Recently I happened across an excellent article written from Steve Starling which looked at the how to choose a lure colour to suit the conditions and summarised the findings in several elegant pictograms. It is well worth the read and most of the recommendations reinforced what Active Angling has already written on the subject of lure colour (https://activeanglingnz.com/2015/08/28/what-are-the-best-fly-and-lure-colours-for-the-flats/). Check out Steve Starlings article by clicking on:- https://www.fix.com/blog/view-from-below-lures-underwater/ The … Continue reading WHAT IS THE BEST LURE COLOUR?

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Alan Bulmer, Dr.Mike Ladle, Fish Species, Lure Fishing, Saltwater Fishing, Spin Fishing, Tackle, Technical, Techniques

UNDERSTANDING FLOUNDER AND OTHER FLATFISH

Text: Mike Ladle                        Lead image: http://www.fishcrack.com Around the world flatfish are regular targets for shore based anglers yet here in NZ they are largely ignored. However, rather than simply chase them after dark with a spear or net the opportunity exists to target them with a rod and line during the day. To do this it is important to understand how flatfish, and flounder in … Continue reading UNDERSTANDING FLOUNDER AND OTHER FLATFISH

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Alan Bulmer, Light Tackle, Lure Fishing, Saltwater Fishing, Spin Fishing, Tackle, Technical

CHOOSING THE RIGHT JIG HEAD

Featured image: Tim Angeli Arguably the most important factor in soft bodied lure fishing (soft plastics and soft baits) is selecting a jig head that best suits the conditions encountered. Much of what has been written on this subject is fairly generic and it often does not make much sense until you’ve experimented extensively and learned from experience what works best and when. Many people … Continue reading CHOOSING THE RIGHT JIG HEAD

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Alan Bulmer, Fish Species, Fly Fishing, Fresh Water Fishing, Tackle, Technical

CONSIDER REFLECTED UV WHEN TYING FLIES

Text: Alan Bulmer         Featured image: Auckland Freshwater Anglers I have just finished reading a book by Reed Curry entitled “The New Scientific Angling – Trout and Ultraviolet Vision”. The ISBN number is 9780984086306. It is thought provoking read that will probably change forever the way you think about trout fly design. The book looks primarily at UV reflectance and how this is likely be used by … Continue reading CONSIDER REFLECTED UV WHEN TYING FLIES

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Alan Bulmer, Lure Fishing, Saltwater Fishing, Spin Fishing, Tackle, Technical, Techniques

ARE SOFT BODIED LURES MORE EFFECTIVE THAN BAIT?

Featured image: NZ Fishing World Recently I wrote an article which described experiments conducted by Mike Ladle in the UK to compare the effectiveness of lure and bait fishing from the shore versus fishing from a dinghy.  These results clearly showed that, while the catch rate using bait and lures were similar from the shore, the frequency with which big fish were caught increased by nearly six fold with lures (34 … Continue reading ARE SOFT BODIED LURES MORE EFFECTIVE THAN BAIT?

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Alan Bulmer, Dr.Mike Ladle, Fish Species, Fly Fishing, Lure Fishing, Saltwater Fishing, Spin Fishing, Surfcasting, Technical, Techniques, Trip Report

ARE LURES MORE EFFECTIVE THAN BAIT?

Text: Mike Ladle       Featured Image: Scott Gray Many years ago fisheries biologist, Mike Ladle, and four of his UK angling friends set out to determine the relative success of various methods of fishing in salt water and whether fishing with lures was as successful as fishing with bait. All of the anglers were skilled bait and lure fishermen. They designed an experiment to ensure that … Continue reading ARE LURES MORE EFFECTIVE THAN BAIT?

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Alan Bulmer, Blogs, Light Tackle, Lure Fishing, Saltwater Fishing, Spin Fishing, Tackle, Technical, Techniques

MEMORY FREE SHOCK LEADERS

Text: Alan Bulmer    Featured image: Scott Gray For many years now I’ve been spin fishing with low stretch conventional or fused braid. The main reasons that I originally switched to using braid were the increased casting distance, improved sensitivity to takes and a dramatic reduction in twist when using bladed spinners. At present, I’m using 1.5 PE conventional braid with a rated breaking strain of 8.8 kilograms and … Continue reading MEMORY FREE SHOCK LEADERS

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Alan Bulmer, Fresh Water Fishing, Lure Fishing, Saltwater Fishing, Spin Fishing, Tackle, Technical, Techniques

HOW TO BECOME A BETTER LURE FISHER

Not every fishing is session is full on action, especially when fishing a lure. Despite what the angling magazines would have us believe, it is not uncommon for anglers to have blank sessions or sessions where very few fish are hooked. Even professional guides have tough days where the fish do not seem to want to cooperate. On these days it is important to make … Continue reading HOW TO BECOME A BETTER LURE FISHER

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Alan Bulmer, Fly Fishing, Fresh Water Fishing, Saltwater Fishing, Technical, Techniques

HOW TO BECOME A BETTER FLY FISHER

Text: Alan Bulmer               Images: Frank Richard & Paul Smith Not every fishing is session is full on action, especially when fly fishing. Despite what the angling magazines would have us believe, it is not uncommon for anglers to have blank sessions or sessions where very few fish are hooked. Even professional guides have tough days where the fish do not seem to want to cooperate. On … Continue reading HOW TO BECOME A BETTER FLY FISHER

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Alan Bulmer, Fly Fishing, Fresh Water Fishing, Tackle, Technical

MATCHING FLY LINES TO RODS

Recently I happened upon two pieces of information, an article and a catalogue, which got me thinking about how difficult it can now be to choose a weight forward fly line to match a particular fly rod, especially the newer fast action models. The article was “Line ’em up” and it was written by the late Hugh McDowell for Fish & Game NZ back in 2002. It is … Continue reading MATCHING FLY LINES TO RODS

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