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
The first thing I do when I first walk onto an estuarine flat is to take 10 – 15 minutes to look around through my polaroid’s and see what is happening. I’m looking for two things, fish movement and bird activity, and while I’m looking I try to keep my own movements as unobtrusive as possible. Checking for fish movement, especially in the shallow margins, … Continue reading FINDING FISH USING BIRDS
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
Over the years I have read many articles on spin fishing and written down everything that was worth remembering. The following are my summary notes on bibbed minnows. It is a collection of other people’s work so I am not claiming ownership. Hopefully it is of some value. “Bibbed minnows have a tapered, streamlined shape reminiscent of a bait fish and a projecting lip (or bib … Continue reading HOW TO FISH HARD BODIED LURES
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
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
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