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Lead image: Rob Wilson (https://www.ghostfishing.co.nz/) One of the biggest issues facing anglers spin fishing from the shore is snagging and losing lures. If you are fishing an area for the first time or using lures not suited to the terrain that you are fishing then losses can be significant and expensive. There is a fine balance between getting your lure close to the bottom where … Continue reading HOW TO STOP LOSING LURES
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?
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
Photos: Paul Smith, Jim Lanfear & Alan Bulmer I recently stumbled upon an article http://www.tacklemaking.com entitled “Colour theory for fishing lures”. While the article is written from an American angling perspective it got me thinking about the most effective colours for flies and lures when fishing the estuarine flats in NZ. Before I add my thoughts read what they had to say below:- DIFFERENT FISH … Continue reading CHOOSING A LURE COLOUR TO SUIT THE CONDITIONS
One of the most sought after estuarine flats targets is trevally. Nicknamed the “Silver Prince” they are a difficult fish to hook and often can be even harder to land. The larger specimens encountered in estuarine environments tend to hunt alone, unlike in the open ocean where schools of fish are common. Tagging studies by local fisheries scientists have shown that trevally are not a wide ranging … Continue reading TARGETING TREVALLY
In order to successfully fish estuarine flats it is important to be always on the lookout for places where fish will likely congregate. Features such as subsurface rocks and weed beds are regularly identified as fish holding areas and need no further discussion. However, one of the most obvious fish attracting features in an estuary is one that is often overlooked completely by anglers, namely … Continue reading MOORED BOATS ARE FISH MAGNETS
One of the most successful techniques for spin fishing on the flats is to “wet line” soft plastics. This technique works best if the spinning reel is spooled with braid. My preference is to use 7 kilogram Nanofil or Fireline and attach a 1.5 metre length of 7 kilogram Amnesia monofilament as a shock trace. Fly fishermen will probably understand the principles involved as they are almost identical … Continue reading “WETLINING” SOFT PLASTICS
Due to low tide almost coinciding perfectly with dawn and dusk, I managed to get two fishing sessions in paradise yesterday. Excellent! The morning session fitted in with Paul Smith’s schedule so we arranged to rendezvous at 06.15 am at our normal parking spot. The drive to paradise is a long and winding one which our canine fishing companion Louis was no fan of. Whenever … Continue reading SNAPPER – DAWN AND DUSK
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
Most people tend to put away their fishing gear at the end of autumn or fish less frequently during the winter. Aside from the fact that the atmospheric conditions are often uncomfortable, people believe that it is more difficult to catch fish during winter with the same regularity as over the warmer months. Is this really the case? In my experience winter fishing in the … Continue reading WINTER FISHING TIPS
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