Learn to fish soft plastics- Tides and maximising your time on the water
Learn to fish soft plastics- Tides and maximising your time on the water
So it’s not really rocket science to work out that we all seem to live busy lives these days. For many of us getting out to go fishing is a stress relief and way to recharge after a busy week, catch up with mates or get the family away from anything remotely electronic and ‘online’ with nature. Catching some fish is also a real bonus.
So as quite a lot of fishing is done in the saltwater, let’s discuss the tide and it’s effect on our fishing. So if you are going to maximize your time on the water it makes sense to pick times when weather, barometer and tides are all working in your favour.
I should qualify my comments by saying that any approach to working out your plan for the day should centre around the target species you are targeting. I like flathead, they are easy to catch, widely found, easy to target ( when your in the know) and are a sucker for a Rhino Lures soft plastic lure, which is a good place to start for beginners to soft plastics. They can be caught in real shallow water and as a result are accessible to boat and land based fishermen.
So what does this have to do with tide? I find there is nothing more relaxing than wading a sandbank, flicking a lure and catching fish. If there is less water there are less places for them to hide right? Well yes and no. Less water yes, more predictable, definitely.
Like all creatures, a lot of the time flathead are driven by their hunger and a falling tide, draining sandbanks and gullies are like ringing a dinner bell to our scaly friends. Their prime food sources are funnelled into a handy stream of goodies cascading off the sandbank right into our ambush predators hidden location and ripe for the picking.
That's why I like falling tides and particularly the last two hours of the run out and the first two hours of the run in. I find that the run out is in full swing, the fish are switched on and will feed readily up and until the change of tide.
This lower tide generally gives walking access to large areas of sandbank normally underwater and can even help you to see where they may have been laying in the sand. I usually plan to target this time as I find the fish tend to be more predictable and less spread out.
Now this is not to say that you cannot find them at other times of the tide, it’s just the location is critical.
Take high tide, I know numerous fisho's that like to target high tide in deep holes for larger specimens, this works too. But it is fishing blind essentially and while it does work, it can be frustrating at times and not always the best place to start when you are looking to refine your technique and gain some experience in soft plastic to begin with.
High tide can also be good to target shallow sections of sand bank in between weed beds and other places where their prey is concentrated into a confined area. Large flathead can even be found in shallow water of less than 20cms at times, so working your lure right to the end of the rod tip can sometimes yield great results.
Its all about the bait and thinking about where it is and where it is going, you can then be sure you will find your quarry.
Best of all low tide does not always require a boat to access and some great fishing locations can be found only a short walking distance from your car park.
To wrap up the blog, here is a summary of how to plan your trip to take advantage of the tide;
To summarise:
1) find a tide that will be suitable for your intended fishing location
2) look for a window two hours either side of low tide
3) find a safe pace to wade and look for draining channels and drop offs
4)take a good quality landing net, your Rhino Lures and a positive attitude and prepare for a great time out on the water.
5)come back and post your photos to facebook/skulldragindustries
Until next time Skulldraggers, have fun, fish responsibly and remember to take only what you need and post the rest to social media.
@skulldragindustries