10+ Donut Trips / What is going on?

[Spool]

Hey Raiders,

I have been trying and trying but my luck and effort is running out so I’m here to find out what is going on. We have had 10 plus trips ending up with no fish at all only couple crabs and squid.

We usually fish land based Sydney estuary like wharfs, piers and reserves. We usually fish from 11am till late midnight or early mornings. You can say all nighter sort of trip. We have a couple rods in water with bottom bait ranging from all sorts and sometimes fresh squid that is caught. And another rod just using hard lures or plastics which we don’t know much about and just learning. Yet with all this effort of trying different things we have caught nothing and mostly no bites. What is it we are doing wrong? We used to catch fish during Summer but now it is like dead. Cannot believe it has been more than 10 trips with nothing. 

Can anyone help me? What are we doing that is wrong? Where are all the fish, where have they migrated to? What is the cause for this dead silent trips? Where to fish land based for next trips to get more success?

 

Thanks.

[connico]

Berley?...... Also do you move about once you know the spot is dead?

If you're struggling Ill take you on a tour...

[kingie chaser]

Species like bream that frequent the spots you are at are pretty cagey critters & you have to out smart them.

You could try unwanted baits like peeled prawns making sure the bail arm is open & there is no resistance on the line because if they feel an resistance on the take they will drop it.

Let the line run for a bit before you strike.

 

Also lures like vibes, small SP's like bloodworm/prawn wrigglers with small jig heads can also produce.

 

You don't have to always use bait!

 

Hope this helps 

[connico]

If you're going to let a fish run with bait. Use circle hooks. Just incase it swallows the lot.. dont want to gut hook fish....

[campr]

It may be time to rethink your fishing and consider the seasons.  You should find out what winter species are common in the areas you fish and change your tactics to suit.  Winter species include Luderick (black fish), John Dory, trevally, salmon, squid and snapper.   Some of these may be difficult from shore.   Good luck.  Ron

[nutsaboutfishing]

37 minutes ago, campr said:

It may be time to rethink your fishing and consider the seasons.  You should find out what winter species are common in the areas you fish and change your tactics to suit.  Winter species include Luderick (black fish), John Dory, trevally, salmon, squid and snapper.   Some of these may be difficult from shore.   Good luck.  Ron

I think you hit it on the head. Land based fishing is definitely leaner in Winter

[Spool]

On 6/4/2018 at 7:02 PM, campr said:

It may be time to rethink your fishing and consider the seasons.  You should find out what winter species are common in the areas you fish and change your tactics to suit.  Winter species include Luderick (black fish), John Dory, trevally, salmon, squid and snapper.   Some of these may be difficult from shore.   Good luck.  Ron

I believe this is the major part. Went on another trip today around Lane Cove River and Sydney Harbour all land based and not even a nibble. I don’t know where are all the fish in Winter go. Does anyone know? If I was to go fishing at a land based spot in Winter where would be the best place that the fish are at or migrated to?

During Summer the usual spots I will catch something but Winter has changed everything....

[JonD]

I travelled over 50km yesterday with 4 very good anglers onboard, we targetted different spots from 8am -4pm. We fished in waters from 1m -65m  for a grand total of one small snapper and two foul hooked wrasse. Fish could clearly be seen in the shallower water as well as be seen on the sounder in the deep water.

Unfortunatly days like this are far more common than the good ones and we spend quite some time on the water. We also fish using high end electronics and quality light tackle and yes we have good catches which may seem regular to many people but we work pretty hard to catch them.

Plagues of leather jackets worked their way through at least 4 packs of plastics, so there were plenty of fish, unfortunately not what we were after.

Much of our trip was traveling close to headlands or along the back of surf looking out for schools of salmon which are normally very easy to spot, we found none. Eventually all feeling defeated we gave up. Today we are ready to try again as this might be the day, that's all you can do.

 

[Volitan]

On 6/4/2018 at 3:36 PM, Spool said:

Hey Raiders,

I have been trying and trying but my luck and effort is running out so I’m here to find out what is going on. We have had 10 plus trips ending up with no fish at all only couple crabs and squid.

We usually fish land based Sydney estuary like wharfs, piers and reserves. We usually fish from 11am till late midnight or early mornings. You can say all nighter sort of trip. We have a couple rods in water with bottom bait ranging from all sorts and sometimes fresh squid that is caught. And another rod just using hard lures or plastics which we don’t know much about and just learning. Yet with all this effort of trying different things we have caught nothing and mostly no bites. What is it we are doing wrong? We used to catch fish during Summer but now it is like dead. Cannot believe it has been more than 10 trips with nothing. 

Can anyone help me? What are we doing that is wrong? Where are all the fish, where have they migrated to? What is the cause for this dead silent trips? Where to fish land based for next trips to get more success?

 

Thanks.

Put me down for 4 land-based trips over the last 2 weeks without a single fish. This is just the winter shutdown. Happens every year. Pickings are slim, and target species change to ones which are not so easy to target off the shore.

Land based anglers suffer the most because we have less options. If you have a boat you can chase more winter-oriented species like trevally or snapper, you can fish deeper in what are effectively the fish’s winter holding zones, or pursue schools of salmon or tailor instead of waiting in the hope a school will come to you.

Where I live, blackfish are the winter saviours. A few salmon off the beaches in the early morning. Maybe some tailor. Very little else that is worth pursuing.

To answer your question of where are all the fish. It depends, species by species. Some have migrated north. Some have migrated to deeper waters, but many species are still in the same area. It’s just that their energy needs are very low in winter, so they scarcely need to feed, just mooch around. Fish are cold blooded so they don’t expend energy keeping warm, so if the are not breeding, not actively growing, not moving around, not defending territories and not evading predators then they can just about shut down. Like lizards or snakes, you don’t see them in winter, they don’t die off or migrate anywhere, they just crawl under a rock, shut their metabolism down and don’t feed for 3 months. No problem at all to an ectotherm.

This shutdown is accentuated for shore based anglers because we are biased towards shallower water. Shallow water is mostly a feeding environment for fish. Being in shallow water represents a risk for fish so if they aren’t feeding then they would rather not be there. I live near the water on the Central Coast and every day in summer I used to walk along the shore and out onto the public wharf and watch the bream, whiting etc in the shallows. Now, nothing.

maybe learn to pursue drummer. Or buy a boat.

cheers

 

[JonD]

Another 0 trip today, worked plastics as well as burleyed over reef that clearly showed fish. Slipped on my wetsuit and swam down to around 15 m to see what was going on. My daughter continued flicked plastics on 4lb line where even though there were fish within inches of the lure, they simply showed no interest, even the burley lay among the reef with nothing showing interest.  Water temp was 17'c, dozens of little baby lobsters littered the reef but nothing seemed to be in a feeding mode.

 

[Kracka]

G'day Spool.

The fish will be there, particularly in the areas youre fishing...jetties, weed beds, flats etc all provide fish with a structure for cover and/or feeding.

What may help if youre not doing it already is...

Burleying with whatever baits you are using will help tremendously. Tides are key as well as low light periods - an hour prior to sunrise as well as before sunset and an hour after dark. Ive found the bite drops off significantly after dark (depending on your target species), but its still worth fishing...itll just require a more targetted approach species-wise. I.e. noahs, jews, bream etc. Id suggest pick a target species for an outing and stick to it for best results.

Winter theres a tonne of fish around. Luderick for example, although theyre a year round option we target them more in winter as the warm water pelagic actions slows down. These guys will require more specific gear and fishing methods so feel free to ask members. Plenty of blackie gurus around on FR to help u out as well as previous posts. Heck, feel free to tag along next time i target them n ill show you if youd like. I fish the harbour and rocks.

Bream are good and flathead can be caught...theyre in a "hibernation" mode as the water cools off but they can still be caught easily enough. Live bait, strip baits (e.g. bonito) works well...SPs even better and can cover more ground.

Leatherjackets are an option too, theryre around in plague populations sometimes.

If you after something bigger...winter kings are an option as well as larger jewies. I have seen a few big kings up at the Spit - coming right into the burley trail more often than not. Havent targetted them...yet hehe.

The stones are great this time of year with luderick, bream and drummer being the main targets.

Again...depending on your target species, unweighted baits give the most natural look and will tempt more bites and larger fish too. As an example, i very rarely fish for bream with any weight nowadays. Its all unweighted...bonito strips, luderick gut or live prawns and nippers. Made a huge difference to how many fish i catch as well as the size too.

Thats my 2c anyway...hope it helps and keep us posted how you go on your next outing. Dont give up. Itll turn around for you.

Edit: ill add...like with lures, always take a variety when you go fishing. What works one day may not work the next. Always best to go that extra mile and cover tour bases.

Its also good to have a few back up spots...especially when rock fishing.

And important to note certain spots will fire at certain times. I.e. high (leading up to or running out) and low (falling/rising). It pays to travel and keep a fishing diary...youd be amazed at the patterns you can discover and how you can make it work to your advantage.

Edited June 17, 2018 by Kracka