The Unfair Advantage

Hi Fishos,

In this era of advanced tackle such as engineered reels that rival space science, fishing lines made from sophisticated hi-tech materials and lures created from organic substances it's a wonder fish stand a chance. You would think we all would be pulling fish hand over fist. The funny part is that even if we use this state-of-the-art equipment we still invariably have fishless trips. Coming home empty handed is the sometimes the only constant you can rely on. It seems the improvements in tackle only keep us up to speed with the changing behavoiur of our adversaries.

Then other times it's the basic plays that reap the biggest rewards. On saturday i was fishing in my back yard, Berowra Waters. Lately the fish in the Hawkesbury system have been much more co-operative in the creeks and tributaries rather than the main flow. Seeing as i fish this peice of water regularly my goal was to try some locations i haven't persued before. That's quite difficult as i have scoured most of this deep catchment but there were a few spots i regularly drive over without too much attention.

The first spot was a prominent hole right on a prominent bend or point. This may sound like a no-brainer but the reason i never stopped previously is the high traffic volumn past this section. It was early so i decided to try it. I was rewarded early with a flathead first cast and on the second cast i felt the tell-tale tap of our friend 'the rabi'. For those uninitiated it's what Sami Omari calls the Jew. Positive hookset, were on. Fish boated! It was a nice little soapy but couldn't pop the drag. I was looking for his mother anyway.

I was starting to get some nice soundings showing and just as i was about to have my third cast, a very bad mannered captain decided to cut a path in between me and the marker pole on the point, disecting us perfectly only 10 meters from my boat. I didn't say a word. If he didn't know what he had done then nothing i was going to shout out was going to make a difference. It goes without saying the markings disappeared...the hole shut down.

I laboured on for a few hours after that; no cigar. I was still a little miffed about the rude boatie. The tide had turned now and i tried another spot with very similar characteristics to the first one; a prominent point with adjacent deep water. I had a boat anchored 50m off the point. I saw him jiggle a silver can attached to a rope. I made polite conversation with the guy and built the courage to inquire about the berley he was using. Sure enough he said dog food???

I couldn't fault him for using it though. Him and his mate were reeling fish in one after the other; flathead, bream, flounder and soapies were all succumbing to the flavour of Pal.

I was right beside em and was catching the odd stray flathead. It was obvious the berley was working it's magic. Being polite i asked if i could drift downstream and fish way back in his berley trail. To be honest i wasn't expecting a positive response. To my amazement i got the nod and off i went. In the next hour i had what i would call a hot bite. Throw all the new wizz bang gadgetry out the window. This was a case of yesterday's techniques still firing today. Without Pal dog food i was screwed. No space-age reels with scented plastics were going to salvage my session...but berley did. A little politness after some gross misconduct managed to deliver me a great few houres.

The fisho anchored upstream did remark about me stealing his fish before they made it to the back of his boat. Truth was he had a killer session too. It was an unfair advantage to fish in that berley trail. But no more than we try to give ourselves with all the latest and greatest technology anyway. Maybe i should carry a can of Pal with me all the time...just in case.