New demersal rules are in play

LANCELIN

Peter Fullarton

Boat fishers will have to continue looking for alternate options to demersals. On the first of April the season will reopen under the new rules, but I really wonder about the effectiveness of these new rules, and last month I highlighted considerable potential increase in proportional catches of dhufish. It’s been a bit like a gold rush over the last few weeks, with huge amounts of boats heading west to top up the freezer while they still could. The new rules will create three such rushes at the end of each school holiday, will there be a reduction in total effort?

Now is time to go through the tackle box, gearing up and getting rigs ready to comply with the one bait or lure per line rule. There has been some confusion with what this means. Basically, you can only have one leader, though on the end you can have a single, gang or a flight of hooks snelled together, so long as they only hold a single bait.

When I am serious about grabbing a quick fish for the pan, I prefer a paternoster rig with a good quality bait. Paternosters are ideal for our snaggy kelp and coral bottom, as the sinker hangs below the bait, keeping the hooks clear of snags. Traditionally fishers have used two or three baits. I would usually have had one small bait on one of the leaders, as baldies will peck at a large bait, often pulling it off the hook before getting hooked. The smaller offering means larger baldies can swallow it in one gulp. I plan to continue using the paternoster with a single bait, though snelling two hooks together with a smaller hook trailing on the thin end of the bait should make it more likely to hook those baldies as they peck.

Jigs, plastics and slow pitch metals are the way to go. If you have not already got into the jigging scene, jigs from companies like Vexed or Dhubite are great, and fishing them is like a cross between full artificial jigging and bait fishing, and a good transition for those who might hesitate to move away from baits totally. They fit the bill perfectly for the new rules and are a good steppingstone into soft plastics or slow pitch metal jigs.

So what to do with your time on the water now?

I will be putting out my cray pots around the new moon, as there is always a great run of inshore reds this month.

While out checking the pots at first light, it’s prime time to troll up a mackerel. Ideally, I would troll first light while the mackerel are most active, then pull the pots on the way back as the sun lifts in the sky, though given enough effort you will pick macks up any time of day. Often mackerel are tight up on the back of the white bank or even on top of it. If you’re not catching there, start a trolling pattern out to past the 20m line looking for bait schools on the sounder. Sometimes bait will be all along a certain depth, so put the trolling effort in where the baitfish schools are thickest. Mackerel will push up the bait from below, so if the bait is all sitting on the bottom, keep moving on to find some mid-water or surface schools.

Tailor are another option the boatie might not normally target, but this is something to do when there is going to be a strong easterly. The best spot to troll is right up tight on the beach behind the surf break. The most effective technique is to troll pilchards dead slow, or pick up the pace a bit to

3-4kn and troll lures like the Dr Hook School Bully. Land-based recreational line fishers can now fish all year round for demersals, including pink snapper. A drone helps to get the bait to the fish, but is not essential. Casting for snapper is a speciality, just like chasing mulloway. During calmer periods baits usually need to be up tight on reef, though when the swell is bigger and the water is stirred up, snapper can be caught off the sand. Around Lancelin that means fishing in the lee of one of the many offshore reefs to manage the swell enough to be able to keep baits in the water. For snapper, try Fence Reef, the north point of Lancelin Bay, Didie Point and Narrow Neck. Drone fishers who can get the baits out a little further can catch fish