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OFFSHORE ANGLING => General Offshore Angling Discussion => Topic started by: Capt. Hook on June 04, 2018, 03:59:16 PM
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Some days you can make every mistake in the book and still get a lot of fish, but then there are those days when you can try everything you know and not get a bite.
When one starts fishing one tries and learns all sorts of ways to entice fish, then after many years one tends to stick to those methods that one feels comfortable with and that usually deliver results. But then that day happens, and not a single fish is interested in your offerings, they have gone off the bite and have lock jaw.
When these dreadful days happen they can really be frustrating and no matter what lure you troll nothing bites. It is at times like these that one has to do something different to what one normally does and so you need to change your game plan. There are many reasons that the fish just stop; water too cold, water too warm, green water, turbid water, low barometer and the list goes on; there are so many factors and variables.
There are things that can be changed or done differently and I will list some of the things that I do when these things happen that have helped me get a hook up.
Often on these days there are fish around but they are just not feeding, in many cases the fish get lethargic and perhaps lazy so they don’t want to chase your lure, or perhaps they become very selective in the way they are feeding.
Go Back to Basics and keep it simple.
Sometimes all the acquired knowledge that one has picked up over the years and the large collection of tackle and lures that one accumulates from severe cases of Tackle Addiction (TA) can leave one with far too many choices, and often these are the days when one must go back to things that we did in the early days when we first started fishing and keep this simple.
Go Shallow
Often when there is no action offshore I will come and fish inshore in shallow water 10-30m, I will fish over known areas where I know fish are usually present. Pinnacles, Drop offs, Ledges, Reefs, Wrecks and Bait spots. You will be surprised what fish hang around in the shallows.
I will work these areas over and over and I will then start doing different things to my spread.
Go Light
I always carry lighter tackle on the boat for these days and often lighter lines and leaders can make the difference
Go Smaller
When these days happen and you eventually come to the realisation that this is one of those days, so change you lures and go smaller. Instead of Konas run small Feathers or Bullets, I will often change to very small Feathers with light lines. For Rapalas take off the big ones and put on small ones.
Mix up your spread with some feathers and some Rapalas so you can cover different depths. I will often run 7 lines on these days, 3 small feathers running off the riggers and shot gun, if the wind is blowing on the strong side and you battle to keep these lures down, attach small birds and these will keep them where you want them, 2 small shallow running Rapalas and 2 small deeper running Rapalas.
You may catch smaller fish but you can still catch larger fish on small lures.
Go Natural
When the fishing is tough I prefer to run with natural colours and dark colours instead of bright colours, like Olive’s, Brown’s, Silver, White, Red/Black, Black/Purple and so on.
Go slow
Slow down your speed, so instead of 6-8 knots slow down to 4-5knots and sometimes even slower like 2-3 knots. These slower speeds will give you more visibility time and allow the fish more time to decide and choose, if they lethargic it is easier for them to chase your lure, if they are deeper they can have time to come up. You may not cover a lot of area, but in these cases you want to have more “lure time” as you work these spots.
Put some meat on the hook
On the small Feathers add some strip baits like fish fillets if you have or some strips of squid.
Working spots
I have found that sometimes fish will only eat a lure running in a specific direction so when working your spots go through them in all directions and find the one that’s working once you have established this continue working all your spots with this same direction.
Lures that I like to use for these days
For the feathers, Williamson make some awesome small Flash Feathers in 4” and 5” and I also love the 5” Diamond Jet Feather that has a sonic strip that you can set and I set this with a nice bulge so it can make a good vibration when trolled slow. I also use the Williamson small Exciter Bird to keep these light Feathers down when the wind is blowing.
For the shallow running Rapalas I really like running the Saltwater X-Rap SXR 10. They also make a smaller one the SXR 8 which is really productive on a very slow troll.
For the Deeper Running Rapalas I will go with the X-Rap Magnum XRMAG 10.
Rapala also makes a Freshwater X-Rap called the X-Rap Deep and I really love this lure, I change the hooks to the galvanised ones used on the SXR series. The one I like is the XRD 10, but for a very slow troll the XRD 8 can also be very productive.
For these smaller Rapalas one can use light fluorocarbon leaders or light no 3 wire steel traces.
It is a good idea to keep a set of these smaller Rapalas and some lighter spinning rods on your boat, not only are they great for trolling but they are all also great for light spinning and on those tough days when one works the shallows and things are tough it has often happened that I come across a small school of Yellowfin or Bonnies and sometimes even Snoek.
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Nice info Mike have a cred :+ cred:
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Great post
thanks for sharing
(clap) ckdykb