Breamin in Dirt Water

The recent Taree ABT Bream round proved to be additionally challenging. The spout of wet weather we have had right along our coast line resulted in high river flows through many of our east coast waterways.

Having arrived at Taree many anglers knew they were in for a tough time when greeted by views of a swollen, chocolate coloured river carrying all sorts of debris. The prefish day proved especially tough with many anglers including myself not looking like getting a bite through a full days fishing. The day on the river provided an opportunity to establish where pockets of water out of the main flow were not as affected by flood waters.

Note: Check out the water colour difference in this shot. The flooded main river is flowing past a tributary that contains water much cleaner than the flood waters. These places are a good place to start looking for feeding fish!

My tactic for the first tournament day was one that had me focussing on targeting active fish in areas where the water was not too badly discoloured. There were several back pockets and arms of the river that were somewhat out of the main flow and these areas contained water that looked like it may still hold fish prepared to feed.

One of the first lessons for the weekend was in changing the mind set. You had to believe that fish would still feed in the dirty water so as to fish purposefully and make each cast count. The next part of the equation was to find structure that would hold feeding fish. As it is with many types of fishing - when the fishing is tough, you can often still locate active fish tight against the margins of a waterway. I used this strategy and targeted the base of mangrove vegetation wherever I could find a bank with enough water around the root systems of these trees. because the water being fished in these areas is often quite shallow, the presentation employed had to be very subtle. This meant fishing very light and small offerings.

My choice of tackle for the weekend included the 1 to 3 kg Berkley Dropshot rods in 6'6 to 6'9 lengths. I matched these rods with 801 sized Abu Cardinals which were loaded to the brim with 2 lb Stren Microfuse Braid. I used 2 to 4 lb Stren flourocarbon leaders and did not fish heavier than 1/50th Oz jigheads all weekend. The finesse Nitro/Berkley jigheads in 1/50th weight and No 2 hook size were perfect for fishing a subtle presentation. My plastic of choice for the tournament was the Gulp 2 inch jiggin grub in watermelon.

The strategy for targeting fish was pretty simple. Firstly position the boat as far from the bank being fished as possible so that you can just reach the structure with a good cast. Then fire casts in to the mangroves using low trajectories. This will enable you to get right in under the low hanging branches where the fish are most likely to be holding. Having landed the cast, simple let the plastic free float to the bottom while watching the line for any suggestion of a bite. Bites on the drop will have the signature of the braid twitching once as a fish sucks in the bait. If there are no bites on the drop, wait a few seconds and then give the plastic a small lift and shake and then let it sink back to bottom. If there are no takers after the second lift, quickly retrieve the plastic and cast back in to the next likely looking spot.

Pitching light weight plastics under the mangroves branches like those shown here is a great way to catch shy and often big fish!

This technique worked well for several anglers through the weekend and team mate Russell Babekuhl using a similar approach but used cut down 6 inch Gulp sandworms to accumulate his bags of fish.

I managed to fight my way to 6th spot in the final wash up, and driving home the real lesson in my mind was that dirty water fishing can still be fruitful. By weighing up the conditions, finding some active fish and casting well presented soft plastics such as the Gulp suite of lures, fish can be tempted to a hook when many other anglers have gone in search of better looking water.

With the forecast of more months of rain ahead we all might be learning to get positive about catching fish in the dirt water,...its either that or put the rods away for a few months and that option isnt worth thinking about!

Happy fishing,

Nige