Get Cranking - not cranky Cranking Estuaries and Bays By Jarvis Wall
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sing crankbaits is a technique and lure style that usually goes under the radar here in Tasmania but it should never be overlooked as it’s one of the most effective and fun methods of lure fishing for finicky fish in shallow or mid-range water.
Target Species As a general target species you’ll predominantly be looking for Southern Black Bream and the Silver Trevally, these are two very exciting prospects as they are both very much at home in the skinny water where I’ve found the crankbaits to work best and they can pull some serious string on the light gear! But, this won’t rule out other species, you’ll be likely to encounter Sand and Southern Bluespot Flathead, Leatherjackets, Australian Salmon, Tailor and even Luderick and King George Whiting are realistic targets on these versatile lures at the right time of year.
Locations Tasmania’s East Coast can be exceptionally good and it’s a great ground to heighten your skills as there’s generally a good number of fish life up in the shallower areas. Places like St Helens and George’s bay can be amazing at times, the bay is littered with sand flats and acres of broken weed beds that hold good populations of Black Bream, Silver Trevally, King George Whiting, Australian Salmon and Tailor. The channel edges can be extremely productive on certain days, you can encounter Silver Trevally up to very large sizes and in the current, there isn’t much that pulls harder in our estuaries on light tackle. Ansons Bay is another fantastic location, the variety of fishing opportunities are many for such a small body of water. You can fish the shallow flats for big Black Bream and also the channel into the bay which holds good numbers of Silver Trevally as well. There are also plenty of good cranking areas up the river on the sunken timber or around the deeper edges
for Black Bream, Silver Trevally and the occasional Pinky Snapper. Little Swanport and the Swan River are also fantastic Black Bream fisheries and cranking the sand flats can be incredible amounts of fun. Cranking around the shallow oyster leases can be very deadly too, but can also get very expensive if some of the big bruisers decide they don’t want to come out from their barnacle and oyster encrusted homes. Along the North Coast and North West Coast, there are great options for Black Bream and King George Whiting in the shallows. Big Southern Bluespot Flathead can take a liking to these little lures at times too on the right day, particularly when fishing over broken weedbeds. Some really large Black Bream show up at times on the North Coast rivers and are very much at home moving up into the shallows, they are incredibly spooky and difficult prospects to get a bite out of without blowing your cover which makes for a
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Fishing News - Page 13
