Preparing For a Trip

[mzaakir]

Just wanted to put something out there for all those who looking at new spots and fishing spots they have never fished before. Hope this helps those who may be travelling and looking for zones to fish or even here.

When I have the opportunity to go out on a boat with a mate whos driving 3hrs up cant pass up the opportunity. Neither of us have fished gold coast on a boat and me very little landbased, so this is how ill go about it. Will give follow up report on Monday with how the session went.

1) Weather - Especially being out on a boat, weather is super important. Things like winds, wind direction, current, swell etc. Making sure your able to go safely if very important. Personally I am going Sunday, windy seems to be fairly low in the morning but goes up to about 10-11 knots which isnt super bad. Once the winds start creeping up, ill likely switch from being in open water to behind island bit out of the wind. Landbased id day on a windy day, fish a lake or a pocket of water that fairly out of the windy and will have calmish water. Reason for this being youll have direct contact with lure making it way easier to work plus there will be water movement but not a heap, but even that bit will keep the fish active for a bit longer on most days in my experience. 

2) Setups - Setup wise all depends on you and what your targeting. On a boat brining 2-4 all rounder setups is perfect. For me I plan to target snapper jewies threadies in the morning, and if no signs of tuna then tailor flathead in the afternoon. Ill bring a 2500 setup for most of the lighter stuff, a 3k setups for snapper jewies threadies etc and a 5k if we see tuna. This covers bases for everything so i wont really have an issue setup wise. Landbased wise id suggest 1 rod. Depending on where your fishing a 2-5 or 1-4kg rod with a 2500 or 3000 is perfect, the goal for the new spot is to cover as much ground as possible and just finding where the fish is. Ideally fish places with structure, weed beds or rocky patches.

3) Lure Choice - I like to stick to something natural, something i have confidence in. Matching the bait is quite important when fishing a new spot. If you cant see any bait and dont know what in the area, a natural 3inch plastic matched with a jighead based on depth is a perfect starting point. 

I feel like im missing something, will add more when i remember. Hope this helped someone

 

 

[mangajack]

Similar to my attack at a new location.

To add to that I would also add researching the amount of rain the place has had in the previous week and 6 weeks.

I do current and historical aerial image research for the area to determine how much it changes over the years....can be pretty important on locating bait fish and worm/yabby areas.

 

[mzaakir]

Yeah thats for sure, rain previous week is definitly something to look for but why past 6 weeks? does that make a difference

[mangajack]

6 weeks does make a difference if the system is recovering from a big flush...can set back the salinity a long way.

One of my favorite systems fishes best in drought when the salt pushes a long way up the creek. A decent flush can take 6 weeks to clear and the salt to return, if i check rainfall for the past week only I don't see that it has not recovered yet.

Similarly in lower reaches that are creek fed, water can travel in that creek for months after a rain event as the springs release slowly or the catchment is rather large.

Last week we got 81mm of rain here over 4 days....slow soaking rain. Yesterday I did a wade  through a tidal section of the river with a light rod...3 bream and 2 bass....bass generally are not in that section of the river. The river is clean but not very salty.

[mzaakir]

hmm interesting, ill keep that in mind and see how it affects spots i fish as well