The Changing Seasons

Hi People,

It's here! The best time of year...Finally!

Autumn is my favourite time of year to wet a line. The days are still warm enuf to jump out of bed at 4am and wear thongs and it's not too cold to need beanies or balaclavas. But it goes a little further than that. In my opinion this is the gun time for a number or reasons; allow me to explain...

My fishing diary is not a comprehensive piece of work eligible for a pulitzer prize...its more an amalgamation of photos carefully filed by location, month and fish caught. In this way i can look over my fishing trips and see patterns on fish caught in what area in what month. Its without coincidence that my best fishing photo library has been collected in the cooler months of Autumn.

So why is this??? Why do i seem to be catching all my prized fish in Autumn???

In order to understand this, it is interesting to look at the other seasons as well. The two extremes of summer and winter have produced the least fish. Then spring comes in as the 2nd most productive time of year. So the immediate conclusion you can draw from this is that in the areas i fish, and with the techniques i use to catch them, the transient months of autumn and spring are the best fish producers. The fish seem to react better to lures in the 'mid' temperatures rather than the heat of summer or the chill of winter.

So let's look at temperature! I know for myself i find it hard to eat in the height of summer. Its too hot, i become sluggish and sometimes i just couldnt bother. Same with fish. I recorded temps of around 28 degrees this summer. Thats hot bath water! How do you expect fish to want to chase down a lure when the water they live in is practically boiling??? I even found whiting to go off the bite at times too with ultra high temps, and these are true blue summer specialists!
Same goes for Winter! How do you expect a fish to have enuf energy to hit a lure when they are chilled to the bone??? I know i don't move far from the blanket in winter!

While it's true the rising water temps promote fish activity, extremes in weather can have the same effect of putting fish off the bite. Even conditions within conditions, such as the barometic pressure in summer effects fish behaviour. This summer season the barometer's been going crazy. The weather patterns have been very inconsistent and erratic. Many times the fish have shut down when every other signpost suggested a good session.

In winter and spring the weather patterns are much more settled too. You can string a few good wind-less days together with a high barometer and moderate water temps. In fact water temp doesnt really cool off totally till about June. But the water temps dont pick up sufficiently again till November either!

Another prime reason is the 'cross over' of species in this period. The summer fish are now ready to move on and either reproduce, such as the bream, or they will find more suitable conditions, like the whiting for instance. This happens the same time the winter species move in such as tailor, salmon and trevally. The cross over could mean more competiton for food. This 'can' force fish to become more aggresive. Certainly this time of year has produced better mixed bags of fish. Having a larger biomass of fish present means a larger concentration of apex predators. Just look at the current shark epidemic. But for lure anglers this usually means jewfish, kingfish, EP's and salmon. All are viable targets this time of year.

Therein lies the secret. The fish are better suited to the warming or cooling temperatures of autumn and spring and the transient fish populations mean there is a larger concentration of fish, wich basically means greater competiton for food. Its without doubt the best time of year in the Sydney estuaries and rivers so take advantage.

The trick is you won't catch fish reading this in front of your computer! Get out there...