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ntnews.com.aul l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l FISHING
By SHANNON HOLOPAINEN
A BARRAMUNDI in the wild
does not always gobble 5-inch
mullet as its daily fare.
I’ve seen nights on tiny tidal creeks where nothing
would be taken except less
than 2-inch shrimps.
It may be true that larger
fish will take much larger
baits, but this logic does not
exclude the fact that both
large and small fish will both
strike smaller lures.
I have hooked near 80cm
barra on tiny Smith Camions: plugs I use down
south for bream.
Not giant fish, but there is
a unique thrill, especially on
a day when fish are scarce, to
be had hooking decent barra
on 2cm lures.
I am always looking into
the water to see what my
quarry may be eating, and
then, as they say, matching
the hatch.
I am sure all can recall
Steve Starling’s momentous
www.ntnews.com.au
queenfish caught in Darwin
last year, the biggest queenfish I have ever seen.
Not caught on a giant popper, but on a proportionately
tiny fly. That is what the fish
were feeding on. So too with
barramundi.
The philosophy of paying
attention to what fish are
regularly eating really comes
into its own in areas that are
heavily fished. Barramundi
— unless they are in one of
those rare, snap at anything
frenzies that make anglers
have second thoughts about
the species’ potential intelligence — certainly recognise
and shy away from lures that
have been dragged past their
noses too many times.
As Vic McCrystal states in
Great Fishing With Lures, a
favourite barra lure does not
necessarily succeed over other patterns because it has
some
particular
panattraction for barra as a
species, but rather because it
is the lure one always ties on
and has confidence in; hence
simple probability states one
will more likely catch a fish
on that lure because it is
what one most uses.
Reason states that one
could be catching many more
fish by regularly experimenting with a range of lure types
and sizes.
As fishermen we are all
bound to chance. In areas
that are not heavily fished,
chance is ever on our side.
Fish in these locations, less
soured by human activity,
less suspicious, will at times
attack anything: Territory
barramundi were once regularly caught on lures made of
cutlery and cuts of thong.
But for land-based fishermen such rarely fished locations are mostly off limits:
we have only our cars and
feet. Chance is something we
must alter through thinking
about technique, lure presentation and fish behaviour
in the environments we fish.
An artillery of smaller
PUB:
Elephants eat peanuts
CHECK OUT SHANNON’S BLOG
landbasedbarramundi.blogspot.com.au
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This little CBD barra was caught on 3lb fluoro straight through, a 1000 Stella and a 2-4lb rod
lures in the tackle box can
really make a difference
when fish just aren’t interested in the ubiquitous gold
Bomber
or
Dropbear
Squidgy shad.
Upgrade split rings and
hooks, use a weight of rod,
reel and line to get the best
action and feel from smaller
lures, then look into the margins and try to match the
baitfish or other critters.
You may well find that a
more delicate approach can
make a day of fishing even
more enjoyable, as all trout
fishermen surely know.
Monday, April 15, 2013. NT NEWS.
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