Open the Floodgates or Flog the Dead Horse???

Hi Peoples,

It's no secret that this summer has been mightily dissappointing. Im not going to put some superficial spin on it. Im not going to justify it by saying everyones is finding it tough. The fact is i pride myself on catching fish when others cant. I pride myself on being able to track fish movements within a system, know where fish will be, know what fish 'should' be active and why! This summer things changed...and in a big way...

First off, the summer season isn't a particularly prime time for us anyway. If you read my last post you would know that summer is typically poor for our clan. Yes, the die-hard bait fishos clean up on whiting from the suds, yes the kingy brigade do well with live squid. But for me its all lures. A fish on lure is worth 10 with bait. Call me a snob but its how i feel..

I think we have been spoilt. Usually a poor session involves half dozen flatties, a few bream and maybe a bonus fish like a small jew or kingy. Every session has the undesirables too like tailor, leatheries and pike. So if you mix that in with 3 fishos onboard fishing for approx 8 hours, it equals roughly 3 fish each per day or 1 fish every 3 hours or so...Now thats slow in anyones language.

Funny thing is if you combine the total like described above it seems like a decent day. Now lets look at some of our recent trips...last sunday at botany bay, 1 legal flathead, 1 pike and 1 tailor between 2 anglers over 7 hours??? WTF. I would say that is our worst day in over 5 years, not to mention a dud day at Brisssy waters the week b4.

So whats the issue??? Are the fish changing patterns and i aint keeping up??? or are they becoming immune to the lure of our lures??? or is it just a case of lost concentration???

Probably the answer is a little of all those. I do believe that fish can 'wise up' to lures and presentations. It wouldnt take long for us to stop eating at a restaurant that served meals with saftey pins in them. Im sure we wouldnt forget food that looked like the meal that did either! Same goes with fish. Also the erratic weather patterns do have an impact on how fish behave. Species like whiting used to come on the chew on the Central Coast early Nov when i was a little boy...now its late January. Not to mention environmental impacts like the QX desease in the HBury killing off the oysters. The bream have to find another food source. They don't just stop eating. This will affect migration routes as well as behaviour.

The answer is simple. I need to fish more. I need to re-tune into the local waterways. To a degree i feel like i need to wipe the slate clean and start again. Re-learn all the things i thought i knew about the local fish. It's scary to think that but in the same breathe its exciting too. New possibilities and new challenges.

The bonus is this is traditionally my most productive time of year. I hope that remains the same. If not all might be lost and i will need to put my training wheels back on. I guess worse things have happened.

I'll keep you informed on my progress..till then... kick arse captain!