Land-based fishing tips * from P17
Casting lightly weighted lures off marina jetties can turn up a myriad of fish such as golden trevally.
Berley is a great option when land-based fishing.
If you fish lightly weighted bait or lures, jetty fishing can be a lot of fun for the whole family.
hard featureless sand devoid of bait (such as yabbies and worms) and lacking structure, holes, ribbon weed or rocks. So where are some of the best types of landbased locations? The areas you should be looking for are listed below according to whether you’re fishing the salt or freshwater. Whatever location you choose, simply follow a few key principles: • Use live or very fresh bait • Fish as light as you can • Use long traces and appropriately matched rods and reels. Beach Suggested target areas include: • Shallow low tide gutters for whiting • Gutters near isolated rocks and headlands will often hold bream, tarwhine, dart and even soft reef fish • Deeper gutters with close back banks or steeply shelving beaches are good for tailor and are best at dawn or dusk and into the night, though don’t discount them at high tide during the middle of the day • Deep isolated holes or deep water close to shore with plenty of bait
Tailor action can be thick and fast at dusk from deep beach gutters close to shore. Page 18 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2024
are spots worth targeting mulloway at night. Estuaries • Recommended target areas include: • Shallow sand flats covered in yabby holes – fish the drains and little gutters on these flats up to the mangroves or the water’s edge on the faster rising tide, as well as the early stages of the falling for fish such as whiting and bream • Entrances to shallow drains and creek mouths on the falling tide for flathead • Edges of weed beds and drop-offs for flathead on the falling tide • Rock walls at the entrance to the estuaries, making sure to change your technique according to the tide for fish such as tailor, salmon, mulloway and luderick on weed baits in winter • Boat ramps with fish-cleaning facilities – target these spots with fish flesh bait, particularly late in the day or at night when most boats are gone • Sandy estuary entrances using live worms for whiting and bream, and yabbies or soft plastics for flathead • Directly under landbased structure such as jetties during the day using lightly weighted bait or lures, remembering to use a tight drag to drift your lines down under the shade and near the pylons where the fish feed • Safe jetties and marinas are great spots for kids to fish using lightly weighted bait such as peeled prawns or pilchard pieces and using berley to attract the fish • Marinas and jetties can also be top spots for more advanced anglers throwing and jigging lightly weighted lures for a myriad of species
• Bridge and jetty pylons at night, the boundary line between bridge lights on the water and the dark area beyond are good spots for tailor, flathead, mangrove jack and jewfish, as baitfish are attracted to the lights and predators often lurk at this boundary line. Freshwater dams and lakes Optional target areas include: • Recently drowned green grassy banks holding worms and grubs after rainfall or snowfall (down south), particularly at night or dawn • Drowned timber using lures, bait under floats or unweighted bait such as shrimp • The steeper bank side of river bends that are carved out and form a deeper backwater • If legal to do so, the deep water near dam walls and downstream from the overflow after water is released • Off the bank among rocky structure such as granite boulders • Creek offshoots from dams • Pull up on lake islands in a boat and fish the steep side during the day or shallow side at dawn and dusk. For those of you who want to get out of the boat more or simply want to get into landbased fishing, these are productive spots to try your luck. Be sure to use plenty of berley, particularly around the slower change of tide periods in saltwater estuaries. I hope these tips help you get into the fish. For more tips from Skip, check out my Facebook page at facebook.com.au/on tourfishingaustralia
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