EARLY SEASON TROUT ON MINNOWS Matt Sherriff tells us his techniques
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Sniper - Killer Wasp
ell, it’s that time of year again when the humble trout becomes front of mind and we all rug up to brave the cold and chase one of Tassie’s most sought-after fish. With the amount of freshwater rivers and lakes available in our beautiful state and the great access available for both land based and boat anglers, it’s no wonder that trout fishing is so popular. Many of our waters have been well stocked over winter by the Inland Fisheries Service which means that most us have a better than average chance of catching a couple of fish! Many anglers target fish deep early in the season, finding them sluggish in cool water temperatures and whilst this may ring true in many of the highland lakes, fishing in lowland lakes will often mean fish will be more actively feeding around the shallow edges or on top. During August and September, we concentrate most of our efforts at Four Springs and will generally focus our fishing over the shallow weed beds using minnows that run around two to three feet deep (less than one metre). As it’s a lure we wholesale, we predominately use the Hawk Sniper 60mm Minnows. These lures suit a wide variety of anglers from the beginner to the experienced as they have a great action on a standard retrieve (constant wind) but also twitch very well for those that like to impart extra action on their lures. There are a wide variety of lures on the market with some great fish catching colours, but my biggest piece of advice is that you need to be all over how that lure works in the water. I’ve had anglers ask me why they haven’t had success on more expensive lures with fantastic paint finishes and nine times out of ten it comes down to the action. Some of these lures work extremely well when twitched or ripped through the water but do not impart very much action at all on a standard retrieve. The result of this is that anyone who is not constantly
working their lure will most likely be heading home with less fish than those that do! The key take out here is to swim any new style of lure you use, taking note of how it moves through the water and how to work your retrieve to give it the best action.
Lure tuneup
Ok; we’ve worked out the action of the lure and how we are going to work it, but what if your lure is swimming off to one side? This problem can happen straight out of the box in some cases but is more likely to happen after you’ve caught a fish or pulled your lure from a snag. In fact, most lures/hooks are actually damaged in the net when there is one treble hooked in the fish and the other caught in the mesh whilst the fish is rolling around. Many anglers will see a lure swimming off to one side and immediately relegate it to their junk lure box. Well, here’s some good news; these lures can be easily tuned back to their fish catching best! To tune a lure, you can use some small pliers to slightly move the nose wire (where your line connects) in the opposite direction to the way the lure is swimming i.e. if the lure is swimming off to the right, bend the nose wire slightly to the left. The key message here is “SLIGHTLY” as a little adjustment goes a long way. Remember to constantly check how your lure is swimming throughout the day as it can make a huge difference to your end results.
Tune your lures for better action
Colours?
What colour to use?? Whilst I will always pick a lure on it’s action first, colour is another important consideration. Walking into a tackle store and looking at their lure wall is like looking into a kaleidoscope. There are so many variables with lure colour; is the day bright or cloudy, is the water clear or dirty, what sort of bait are the fish feeding on? Years ago, I was told to run darker colours on bright days and flashier colours on
Sniper - Black Widow
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Fishing News - Page 31
