Picture This…
Picture this in your mind. It is early morning. The first rays of sunlight are slowly reaching over the horizon. There is the slightest chill in the air & you are standing on the front casting deck of your boat. It is still. There is not a ripple on the water surrounding you. In your hand you hold your favourite rod & reel. The bail arm has been released. You can feel the line in between your finger & the rod. Everything is perfectly set.
You have checked your knots, the leader is new & the lure is tried & tested. The hooks are sharp & just itching to be set, you are waiting. Just then, within casting distance, directly in front of you. A school of bait fish rise & flick along the water’s surface. Driven up, by an unknown beast.
The Cast
You cast! Your lure lands with a small splash just beyond the bait fish & you pause. It feels like an eternity as you slowly count to 5 in your head before giving the lure a slight jerk. The only sound you are interested in? Is the slight pop of your surface lure as a brilliant splash of water is scooped up by the lures cupped face & pushed forward. You pause again!
You move your arm, the fishing rod with it, to jerk your lure once again. Suddenly, an explosion erupts around your lure as the beast inhales your offering & the water surrounding it. While anticipated, the violence of the attack, the sudden sound & the immediate connection to the fish makes your heart beat faster.
The Fight
Suddenly the drag on your reel is screaming. It feels as though there is a stream train roaring, uncontrollably on the other end of your line. The fish heads for cover. A rocky outcrop! You have only a few seconds to tighten the drag & angle the rod tip in an effort to force the fish away from potential freedom. Your fishing rod is bent over at an impossible angle, the tension of the line is at breaking point, doubt enters your mind.
As if by a miracle, the fish turns! It has worked. Sometime later you are bent over the gunnel of your boat swimming the beast. Admiring its strength, colour & watching closely to see its gills processing oxygen. As the fish swims away you experience an overwhelming sense of achievement. And, a want for more!
The Addiction
Surface fishing is visually spectacular. This is what probably makes it such an addictive form of fishing. It does not matter if you are chasing aussie bass in skinny water or a giant trevally in a large swell. Once you hook & land your first fish on a surface lure. You will want to do it again & again & again!
I have been fortunate enough to land a number of fish on a surface lure. Including some magnificent trevally. But the journey to find, hook & land such fish has been full of lessons.
FREE GPS Marks for Fishing Hervey Bay – Here
The Story
In the video above, I started the session using my normal fishing pattern. Using my bow mounted 55lb Minn Kota electric motor. I slowly navigated around a number of rocky outcrops. Casting my lure into tight little eddies where the water was reasonably still. Trying hard to always retrieve my lure along the edge of where the current was flowing & the water was still.
Areas to Target
I find that ambush predators will sometimes hang in still water or behind cover out of the current saving energy until something tasty comes close. At which time they explode into the current, snatch their prey & then return to their sanctuary away from the current. If this does not work I then target areas where the current is drawing water over shallow rocks. It is in effect the same principle. Predators sometimes sit well below the surface. Hidden out of the current in deeper, still water. Behind a rock or something similar & they will attack their prey from below.
My final roll of the dice is to then fish the areas where the current is moving fast. Looking for ledges & natural alley ways in which schools of predatory fish are moving along. Herding bait fish into the shallows where there is little room for them to escape. Casting my lure to mimic one of these trapped & isolated bait fish in the hope that one of the predators attack my lure. Fishing in such close proximity to rocks is why I tend to use a heavier 30lb fluorocarbon leader. You need the abrasion resistance as once the fish is hooked. It will head for cover or swim close to cover looking to break free of the line by rubbing up against sharp edges.
Frustration
No matter what I tried on this particular morning, I could not entice a fish to hit my lure. It was about an hour before low tide & I knew I was entering into the prime bite time. But, I was puzzled as to why I had not landed a fish at this point. They were there, I could see them. Rising to the surface, chasing bait, even following my lure! Getting ever so close & then at the last second rolling away.
The Change
It was time to mix things up. The first thing I tried was varying my retrieve. In anticipation, I think, I was retrieving too quickly. Giving two or three short pops of the lure. Letting it sit for two or three seconds before another two or three pops. So, I slowed down. It was so hard, but slowly counting to five in my head before a single but firm pop of the lure. The urge to go faster was so strong, that was until the follow up turned into a bump!
Next, I dropped my lure size from the 120mm Sebile Splasher to a home painted 80mm popper sourced from wlure.com. Such a change demanded concentration. This lure was a lot lighter. The casting distance was still good. But, I had to temper my retrieve in a big way. I did not need to rip so hard to get the lure to pop on the surface.
The result, first cast was incredible. Not one, but at least three fish rose & trailed the lure. One gave the lure a good solid bump while the others rolled & disappeared under the water again. By now my heart was pumping. I was so close yet needed something to turn the bump into a solid bite. What was making it worse was the visual show behind my lure. I could see the dorsal fins of the fish & knew they were big. I applied my trump card. Scent, specifically squidgy S factor to my lure. Rubbed it into the eyes, all over the trebles, even on the knot & on the first few inches of line. Then, I recast!
The Bite
This time I let the lure sit for a good 10 seconds. I wanted to let the scent do its work. Get into the water, attract the fish, hide my own scent & hopefully trigger a bite. Once I started my retrieve. A single, large yellow dorsal fin appeared about 5 metres behind my lure. This fish was big, it was pushing a bow wave as it stalked my lure. The urge to quicken my retrieve was so strong. It took immense effort to resist. Half way back to the boat I paused the lure again, slowly counting to five in my head.
The fish was so close now. It was hard to delineate between its bow wave & the splash of the lure. Then it happened! A huge splash erupted around my lure. I distinctly saw the fish turn as it struck my lure. I saw its entire side & tail as it dived under the water. There was immediate tension on the line. Luckily my drag was set perfectly, with just enough tension to ensure the line stayed tight, helping the hooks to set, but not tight enough to let the fish snap the 15lb braid through sheer power.
The Result
It was a great battle. After 15 minutes I was holding my trophy. A 74cm Trevally, in front of my GoPro with a smile from ear to ear. The fish was released without any trouble. Getting back to basics & thinking through the problem had really helped that day. Slowing down my retrieve after noticing how the bait fish were acting. Dropping lure size to match the hatch. Finally using scent to trigger the bite had culminated in success.
I can assure you. That overwhelming sense of achievement & a want for more is still there. I am well & truly a surface fishing addict.
Booking.com