Know your tides, dietary trends for species angling
ONE of the most exciting fish to angle off the rocks has to be the white musselcracker.
They are still relatively abundant around the rocky shores of our coast and mostly on the wild side west of the bay.
The Venus ear, now illegal, is the bait that was the cracker’s achilles heel.
Unfortunately, the Venus ear, being of the abalone species, has now by legislation been removed from the bait species the angler may be in possession of.
The other popular bait for these critters is the sand crab that is also deadly for pig-nosed grunter.
Very characteristic of the way they “spar” is to dive down into the “bricks” and attempt to cut you off.
They are incredibly strong fighters and will tickle the fancy of any angler.
They are good for the table too and have a daily bag limit of two. A very accomplished cracker angler, George Branford, caught this brute of 7.5kg pictured today this past weekend the Flat Rocks area.
Fishing the spring low tide allows you to wade out and place your bait where the structure can be seen, increasing your odds.
George used an armadillo as bait which shows that these fish are mostly shellfish driven. Understanding the fish’s dietary trends will increase your odds when targeting any species.
Species angling is now an extreme trend among anglers and many competitions are about a designated list of species.
Should you not be able to cover the species on the list, you will be at a huge points disadvantage.
Once the behaviour of fish and current conditions are understood little can separate you from a targeted catch.
Fishing the barometer is also an advanced skill of successful anglers. A high barometer lends to better opportunity than a low one and suddenly barometric changes indicate windy conditions (east and west winds are determined by this) that will be encountered.
Boat anglers live by the barometer as their outings can be treacherous should it be ignored.
Tomorrow we experience a neap low tide at 3.15am with a gentle westerly that will become fresh by mid- afternoon.
An easterly is expected for Sunday at about 10am becoming fresh by late afternoon.
As a river angler, my observations are that on the spring high (full and new moon) tide is around 6pm and this equates to about 3pm for the rock and surf anglers. Another good website for current conditions is: www.tides4fishing.com