One of the reasons why I like to encourage people to travel and participate in competition or community based fishing events. Is due to the opportunity such events offer anglers to learn from one another. Often while fishing in unfamiliar waterways.
A few years ago, I was gifted with an opportunity to fish alongside two members of the Austackle fishing team (John Wright and Grant Wood). As we participated in a community based fishing competition in Brisbane.
Having never fished alongside either of these experienced fishos before. And, fishing in waters in which I had never cast a lure before. I was super keen to watch, listen and learn as much as I could about fishing in one of Brisbane’s pressured waterways.
Some History
John has previously enjoyed success while competing in several ABT rounds and loves to chase the humble bream. As a result, his approach to fishing in any of Brisbane’s pressured waterways is to ‘go light to get that bite’.
Coming from the pristine waters of Hervey Bay. In which we can be chasing drag burning pelagics one minute followed by massive barramundi or threadfin salmon the next. The idea of dropping my leader size to 3lb was difficult to grasp. In fact dropping my leader below Platypus 10lb stealth fluorocarbon seemed to trigger a unique sense of anxiety.
Going Light Works
John, who was mostly fishing with 3lb fluorocarbon right through on his outfit. Out fished Grant and I, by a significant margin. But, it was not just his approach of ‘go light to get that bite’, which saw him successfully hook and land more fish. Instead, it was a combination of using a lighter outfit combined with a few different retrieval techniques which gifted John with a higher catch rate.
The Technique
While I was becoming frustrated single hopping, twitching, burning, double hopping my soft plastics. John explained to Grant and I the need to excite the fish. He explained that in pressured waterways, fish see a lot of lures. And yes, they still have a feeding instinct when the conditions are right. But, they are more cautious. And while a flathead in Hervey Bay waters will happily and aggressively attack a soft plastic lure as it hops along the bottom. In pressured waters they have seen hopping lures a lot more and need some serious convincing to leave their hole and commit to an attack.
The Retrieve
Rush, Rush, Hop, Hop – The theory being to rush your lure across the bottom and in the process stir up mud and debris. This adds to the curiosity factor of a waiting predator. If they are curious enough they then leave their safe position and pursue whatever it is making the commotion. Getting excited by the prospect of a meal.
Then the hop, presents to the predator the exact location of the commotion. I.e. your lure and as it sinks again to the bottom to commence making more commotion the predator strikes.
Get Their Attention
In many ways, this retrieve expands on techniques which I witnessed last year’s top placed teams of the Gold Coast Flathead Classic using. Many people, myself included. Believed that you needed to be extra stealthy in these pressured waterways. For example, if trolling a lure. We thought you needed to have it set back a large distance from your boat to have any chance of success. Instead top ranked anglers were catching fish right at the transom of their boat while trolling. With motors raised to create white water and commotion.
Upon returning to our wonderful Fraser Coast waters. I dedicated a fishing session to try this new retrieve. I chose to cast a homemade 3.5inch curl tail soft plastic grub on one outfit and the Austackle 1/2oz Gizmo Crustacean fitted with a paddle worm soft plastic. While both outfits were spooled with 8lb Platypus P8 braid I did drop my normal 15lb leader size to 10lb leader.
After a half dozen casts using the rush, rush, hop, hop retrieve I landed my first healthy mid 50’s flathead.
Final Thoughts
I am sure most people will agree with me when I say that you never stop learning while fishing. It is one of the wonderful aspects of our sport. If you can. I encourage you to travel and participate in fishing events outside of your home town waterways. Try to team up with a few different people and see what you can learn from one another while enjoying a fishing adventure.