BLOG: Fishing on Struggle Street

I feel like I have been on a week-long bender. The problem is I don't smoke, drink or take drugs, but at 3am I find myself sitting in my dimly lit office, unable to sleep, staring at a mass of fishing gear - and I don't know why... 

Whilst this is a recollection of the morning's events, the thought process involved had me drawing parallels with times on the water when I'd been fishless, cold and wet, just staring at my gear, wondering where it all went wrong. Has that ever happened to you?

So, you've spent the money on fuel, driven an hour or so to the ramp and arranged a leave pass from the missus but you get there and the fish just aren't biting - what do you do? Going home isn't an option; the leave pass is as rare as a golden ticket in one of Willy Wonka’s chocolate bars, so you decide to stick it out and hope your luck turns.

When the fishing is tough you have a few options. The two ways I often consider when things aren't going to plan are: (1) to focus on fundamentals, or (2) try something radically different.

Focusing on fundamentals is the higher probability play - the what, where, when and why of fishing - paring things back to basics in the hope of turning your fortunes around.

Ask yourself the following: what are you fishing for; do you have a target species in mind or are you attempting a scatter-gun approach? Where are these fish likely to frequent? How does time of day or tide effect their movements and feeding? How do you maximise your chances of success?

Let’s say I'm out estuary fishing for whatever comes along. If the fishing is slow then it's time to change tack and apply some fundamental thought to the process. I might choose to focus on bream for example. I would then look at the time and check what the tide is doing. If it's 11am and the tide is just starting to run out then I would think through a few scenarios. The top of the tide allows the bream an opportunity to scavenge over flats that may have been too shallow or dry during the low. As the tide recedes, baitfish along with other prey will flee the flats and the wily bream will likely be patrolling the periphery, waiting for an easy meal.

So my plan of attack would be to fish the flats broadly right then (the top of the tide) and work the edges as the tide runs out. But the edges should also hold a few flathead, which are ambush predators and probably sitting along the edge of the flat, lying in wait. So now I have an alternate target as the tide recedes - if the bream don’t play ball I’ll flick for flatties.

Next decision is lure choice. Is the water clear, is it a bright sunny day and what depth am I likely to be fishing? In the middle of a bright sunny day fish are generally less active on the surface so it would make more sense to use a lure or bait that targets the lower end of the water column. If it's bright and the water clarity is reasonable then you are best off sticking with natural colours due to the increased visibility.

A lure imitates a bait so it stands to reason that a live or fresh bait would improve your chances. If I had access to a supply of quality bait then I would anchor up on the edge of the flats then fire off a bait into the shallows and a bait along the edge in order to maximise my chances. The main focus is bream so I’ll start out with bream sized lures and baits – if success isn’t forthcoming then I’ll adjust my fishing to chase flatties along the edge or will move to a similar location elsewhere in the river system to try again.

When the chips are down it’s time to take a step back and reassess. Relying on the basic  fundamentals of fishing is a proven strategy that has worked before and will no doubt work again in future.

What do you do to turn around a fishless day?