Begging for Bites – By John Boon

There’s no better time of the year to dedicate an article to tough bite tactics than the month of August. If you’re targeting Winter species in Winter then bites might be a bit more plentiful. If you want a challenge then try targeting summer species like barra in one of the toughest months of the year.

Angler’s up north would be reading these words and having a laugh to themselves purely for the fact that Winter water temps up north rarely get below comfortable for summer species. Down here our estuary water temps get down as low as 16 degrees. It can be a real challenge at times to get barra and threadies to open their mouth, challenging but not impossible.

There’s a Zerek Live Mullet in there somewhere. Silent but deadly.

Even when times are tough and jack frost is being a real pain in the butt, animals still need to eat. They definitely aren’t going to be expending much energy during the colder months and therefore don’t require as much food. Makes sense when you get time to sit down and have a think about it.

Have you noticed that some of your deadly summer tactics are pulling donuts during the colder months? That itself should prompt you to rethink the situation. I still hear it time and time again with anglers doing the hard yards to find those awesome fish rich spots but still drive away thinking that they just weren’t hungry.

When they start describing tactics and artificial’s used it becomes very clear why they have struggled for results. Seasons change and anglers should be changing with it. I know this might sound kind of simple but it’s a lot more complex than people might think. Changing your tact from what you want to do to what the fish are doing can be hard to wrap your noodle around. Time invested quickly becomes your biggest asset.

Check that water temp out on the Apex – but still finding fish stacked up is important.

Are Winter tactics as simple as applying your finest finesse fishing tactics? I would say kind of. Finesse fishing has been written about continuously and in my opinion now falls under the more basic tactics of piscatorial pursuit. The age old question of does leader size effect species like barra will vary from one angler to the next. Some of the pro’s even believe that barra aren’t leader sensitive. I guess it will be up to you to prove your own theories.

I will always downsize a leader if the bite is super tough. Very hard to prove if that barra you caught on 30lb fluorocarbon would still have still bit on 80lb. Fishing next to another angler can help narrow down the truth but can it ever be exact? There are so many other variables that need to be considered. Was it leader size that was the difference, was one of the lures scented, was one of the lures retrieved differently or were the two lures worked from the same angle?

Along with downsizing leader comes downsizing lures as well. This is one technique that I’m a big believer in. Prawn imitations are a great choice when the bite is tough because everything loves eating a prawn.

The Holt Productions Swim Prawn is a great plastic.

I remembered I had the young fella in the boat with me when we were targeting some winter barra on the mighty Fitzroy River. They were school sized fish around that 70-80cm class. We were working through some different tactics with not much to show for our effort. It wasn’t until I downsized the jighead and weight and put on a Holt Production Swim Prawn in the three inch size. The colour of the prawn was clear but it still had a multicolour fleck through it. The retrieve was a super slow lift and drop. I used as much hang time in front of those fish as possible. So many variations to the formula to get that one bite I was begging for.

As much as I love downsizing for tough bites another factor you need to consider is that some fish might not make the effort to use energy unless it’s worth their while. By this I mean don’t write off using bigger plastics during Winter. If I have tried all the downsizing finesse with no results then I will then try a bigger plastic from seven to nine inch depending on the fish sizes.

Barra can be more willing to chase an easy meal if they think they won’t have to eat again for a long time. So basically running down one big meal will consume less energy than chasing down 5-10 snacks. This doesn’t always work though as sometimes a big plastic will scatter or scare the entire school, just keep it in the back of your mind.

Looking at how each different lure works is another critical factor. During the colder months I prefer to go for lures with less rattle and vibration. There’s still a time and a place for bringing the loud Elton John’s out for a lap but on average I’ll run through more silent and less intrusive options first.

I mentioned before about the Holt Productions Swim Prawn. This would be one of my favourite finesse plastics for sluggish fish. All that moves on these little gems is the little legs underneath the plastic.

I definitely wasn’t expecting this solid fingermark during Winter, but being at the right place at the right time with higher water temps than the main system, anything is possible.

If you’re going for a more traditional bait fish profile then look at something like the Zerek Live Mullet. All that moves on these cool plastics is a segmented body. They are a highly effective silent option.

Live target have some really cool life like bait fish profiles including mullet and herring. The herring is the one I’ve had more success with. All the action comes from a small vibrating tail. If you ever watch a mullet or a herring cruising around in the shallows this is the exact same action. There’s no body roll like in a paddle tail or hard body lure it’s just a very simple design that works.

Some types of lures that go from the frontline to reserve grade during cooler water temps are ones with heavy loud rattles or  lot of vibration. The Vertrex maxx is a super cool soft vibe that emits an enormous amount of vibration. These guys have worked well in the summer months but will rarely get a run from me when the water temps drop.

Any type of loud, hard body lure gets the same treatment. Lures like barra classics or equivalent all get to take a back seat. I will still cast them at times but usually after I have exhausted more suitable techniques first.

Another hot technique during colder months is to keep one eye on your surface water temperature read out on your depth sounder. Even though it’s only measuring the surface it can give a good indication that a particular area might only be one degree warmer which can make all the difference.

One degree increase in water temp, plenty of bait present and a nice, stable weather area are all great indicators for a feeding station. Fish that are actively moving around in these spots are another giveaway you might have found a red hot area. Pay close attention to what bait species are present and try and match the hatch.

Full Winter fog out but quality chrome slabs are still on offer if you love a challenge like Luke Peisker.

One of the last factors I would like to discuss for Winter options is timing. One of the biggest over looked critical factors when wanting to get a red hot bite going when it’s bloody cold.

There’s been a lot of different writers all discussing common triggers and unless you’ve had your head buried in the sand there’s something to this. Triggers can come in many forms. The common triggers are definitely the position of the moon. The four most common moon triggers are moon rise and set and also moon above and moon below. Some of these bite triggers might only last a short time like 5-10 minutes or could be quite long of up to an hour.

In my experience fishing during Winter, the moon below period has been the most reliable. Sitting on a school of inactive fish and then watching them switch on is very cool. So make sure you’re aware if there’s a moon trigger approaching and be on fish for that period. If you’re not aware of the moon position then you could be spending quality fishing time travelling or searching.

Other triggers are the sun rise and sun set and also tide changes. Being on a good school of fish for the sunrise hasn’t just worked during Winter but all year round. First light is a very important trigger of the day and if you can line it up with a tide change or moon trigger then it can be even better.

Even the humble flathead can take some convincing. Small paddletail presentations worked the best on this Winters day.

I’ve got a few other triggers that aren’t talked about or are overly common but more research is required before I’ll be happy to discuss them. There’s plenty more out there that will spark fish to feed so it’s up to the angler to be aware of what’s going on at all times of the day or night. Don’t just write anything off as just a fluke or something that just happened. It all happens for a reason so make sure to look closely at every different aspect.

August definitely shouldn’t be a write off month. If you only go when the fishing is easy then what you will learn is very limited. It’s the same as fishing on a highly pressured school of fish that don’t want to bite anymore. You will still get them to bite but you will need a good thought process of how to get that bite. Thinking about what the average angler does and then try and do the opposite.

So are you an angler who likes a challenge? Anglers who like being challenged are the ones that will always be head and shoulders above the rest. Limiting angler growth is the constant pursuit of comfort in my opinion. Get out there and challenge yourself but above all have a lot of fun along the way.

Don’t write off big plastics like the 9 Molix RT shad in the cooler months. Sometimes it can make the difference.