Fishing Baitball Action

It’s that time of year when most pelagic anglers in SE Qld get excited. Huge schools of baitfish make their way north while being tracked by a herd of predators. If there is a pelagic species you like to target then there is a fair bet they are in the dinner queue!
I have had a lot of fun on the pelagics lately as they gorge themselves on the abundant food supply. There are a few techniques which have produced a lot of fish and are worth mentioning here.

Finding the fish is typically not too difficult. Look for the birds and fish busting up bait on the surface and you have found your fishing spot.
Before charging up to the scene of mayhem sit back and watch for a while – it is a difficult task but often well worth the effort. Try to see which way the fish are moving and get an idea of what type of fish are feeding around the baitball. Having identified this, aim to get just within cast distance and ideally ahead of the moving pack of fish.
Lure options are pretty simple when targeting this type of feeding frenzy. Soft plastic shad type lures or metal slugs are great options.
I have been experimenting lately with using plastics around the baitballs and have had some great success. There are however some tricks that will improve your success rate. I have found the 4 and 5 inch Gulp and Powerbait minnows and jerkshads are great plastics to use in these instances. They look a lot like the bait being eaten and can be worked well in the water to make for realistic imitations. I typically add a few inches of single strand to the head of my jighead to prevent bite offs by toothy critters such as mackerel. I usually load the plastic on to a 1/2 Oz 1/0 hook size jighead. One of the keys to success when fishing these scenarios is to highlight your lure and produce reaction bites. By this I mean rely on the “kill it” instinct to get a predator to bite a lure it might follow and leave if given too much time to think about it. This can be done by altering the physical appearance of your lure, or changing the retrieve.

To change the physical appearance of the lure, I always paint eyes on to my jigheads. By purchasing a white and black permanent paint marker from the newsagent/stationery shop the job can be easily accomplished. There is a reason that many baitfish have evolved to developing black spots on the tails – and it is so they don’t get struck around the head by attacking predators. The moral of the story – predators find eyes hard to resist!

To get the best out of reaction bites when retrieving your lure there are a few techniques to try.
I always start by casting to the edge of the baitball. Having done this I let the lure sink ensuring I keep the line tight throughout.

This allows the lure to sink to deeper water while making the lure look like a dead/wounded baitfish. The lure also starts to drift away from the main patch of bait making it a definite target for predators. The sinking lure combined with Berkley scent, fluttering action and eyes standing out in the water make it very hard for a predator to resist! Be warned the bites are often savage, rip the rod out of your hands type stuff! If there are no bites on the drop, begin to retrieve the lure in high speed bursts followed by a pause to let the lure sink again. If there are no strikes after this, target another area of the baitball, or simply move on to the next patch of busting fish and bait.
I have taken some really good fish over the past month using these techniques. I am finding it very hard to go past the 6’6 - 8 to 10kg jiggin stick and Abu 806 for this type of fishing. 20 to 30lb Stren Super Braid and Flourocarbon leaders are all you need to get in amongst the action and catch some quality fish. The bait will be around for another month or so, so get in amongst it!

Happy Fishing,

Nige

FOOLING AWOONGA'S BARRA

We are now reaching the time of year when impoundment barramundi fishing is greatly influenced by the weather. Colder days make water temperatures plummet and the result is lazy barra that are harder to tempt. On the other hand if you strike a run of warmer days, water temperature increaes and the barra will be far more active.

Recently, I visited the lake for the first time after it had risen about five metres. Most of my old spots were too deep even though patches of weed had survived and managed to grow almost to the surface. This deep, survivng weed could be found in six to eight metres of water. The better patches had weed about two metres from the surface. I'm sure that this type of weedy structure would hold fish but after plenty of casting we only managed one fish. We were tossing an assortment of lures but it was the ever-reliable Berkley 5" Mullet that tempted the strike.

We were unfortunate to have arrived when the action was slowing down. A drop of 4 degrees in the water temperature from the previous two weeks had seen the fish close their lips and refuse our offerings. After the first day on the water, a pattern was starting to emerge. The barra were holding close to the lake edges in shallow water. Warmer areas were preferrable although not crutial. The rising lake had spread the barra out so you had to be prepared to keep moving, casting and exploring. Some of the windiest areas with dirtier water in the main basin of the lake were holding more active fish.

On day two we started to slowly boat some fish. There were quite a few hookups but luck wasn't on our side. The hottest lure for the day was the 5" Berkley Mullet. It didn't seem to matter too much about the colour being used, it was more about presentation. We fished shallow tapering banks with the boat positioned in two to four metres of water. From here we placed long casts up to the grassy edges. The second the lure splashed down, the reel was engaged and the lure was moving fast for the first couple of metres to keep it out of the grass. As we slowed our retrieves down, the barra were whacking our offerings.

The Berkley 5" Mullet had saved our trip. In total we managed to land five barra and dropped at least that many after hooking up. It was great to explore so many new areas of the lake. The fish were so spread out and there was no secret to catching them. I imagine the fishing will be similar over the coming months. Anyone can have a go at it - just remember to take your Berkley 5" Mullets.