Estuaries, Reading Water and Finding Fish

[Tommo]

Looking for good areas to fish in an estuary can be daunting to the beginner, where to start?

Arriving at a new estuary is always exciting, and it often takes a day or two to figure it out.The first thing you need to establish is where the deeper channels run and where the shallow banks are. If the water is clear then this is easy. The deep water appears darker and the shallower water appears lighter. Using polarised sunglasses greatly improves your vision of underwater structure. If the water is discoloured then it can be a bit trickier. The shallower water generally flows slower (due to friction), while faster water indicates deeper channels.

Check out the formations at low tide, find places where shallow water drops away quickly to deeper water. These are called drop offs. Always keep an eye out for movement of baitfish and swimming prawn. They usually give their presence away by surface movement, particularly early in the morning and in the evenings. Anywhere where bait organisms are plentiful should be a good area for predators, unless the bait fish are in very shallow water. In that case predators will be patrolling in the nearest deep water to where the bait is. On a dropping tide establish where the water is flowing off the shallows into deep water. Game fish will ambush bait at these channelling points.

Structure in estuaries often holds fish. Look out for rocks, sunken trees, dropoffs etc.


I

f you cannot see the structures then an eddy on the surface indicates their presence. Fish both up current and down current of structure. Fish around the mouths of creeks flowing into the main river, there are often holes scoured out here by current eddies that can hold fish.




 Rocky areas are particularly good in the upper reaches of estuary, and often hold river snapper and perch. Sometimes these rocks may be exposed at low tide and covered at high tide, and often fish best on a half tide. Look carefully at the rocks, if they have growth such as sun oysters or barnacles on them, then they will be good for fishing over when the tide covers them.
 




The water below cliffs and rock ledges is often deep and is a great area to target predatory fish. These are particularly productive in the upper reaches of estuaries where resident species such as river snapper and perch will spend the daylight hours.
 



Watch the water for signs of fish movement, some species such as skipjack and garrick will often give their presence away by breaking surface. Baitfish being chased is a sign of predator action. Take note of where this happens. If a predator is feeding in a certain spot, then that spot is worth fishing, other predators will probably soon be arriving.

Moving into an estuary with the rising tide is a good option. A good idea is to follow the line of clean water and dirty water as it pushes up the river.  This can often be productive with fish entering an estuary on the pushing tide. Fish the mouth area on the low tide and work your way upriver as the tide pushes.

At high tide you want to be fishing the upper reaches of the river. Follow the falling tide back down, until you are once again fishing the mouth area on a low tide.Bends in a river create interesting fishing opportunities, with the inside of a bend being shallower and the outside (cut-away bank) being deeper with faster moving water. The cut-away bank often has submerged trees and rocks that have fallen into the water as the bank has been broken away, creating ideal structure for fish. The bank is also often undercut, providing an excellent ambush position for some predators.


On the low tide also look out for good mudprawn banks. Where there is a lot of mudprawn there will always be a lot of fish. These creatures are an important food source and a very important part in the food chain in estuaries. It is a good idea to concentrate fishing efforts over and around productive mudprawn banks, particularly on a pushing tide as the water covering the prawn colonies gets deep enough for fish to move in.



 
You will be able to see blow holes, where fish such as grunter have been blowing prawns out of their burrows, this confirms that this is a prawn bank where the grunter like to feed.



 
Do not be put off by dirty water in the upper reaches of an estuary. Often after rain, the fresh water entering the system is quite muddy. Fresh water is less dense than salt water, and there will be a layer of clean salt water beneath the muddy fresh water. This often provides great conditions for catching fish, as they feel less exposed beneath the muddy water, and also makes it easier to stalk the fish as they do not see you. In the pic below note how dirty the water appears, yet we caught a lot of fish in it.


 
Some species, particularly river snapper and ox-eye tarpon are tolerant of completely fresh water and will go beyond the tidal influence in an estuary. The pic below shows a river snapper caught amongst water lilies in totally fresh water in the far upper reaches of a Mozambique estuary, around 40km upriver from the river mouth!




 When doing a recconaisance trip up an estuary it is a good idea to focus a lot of your casting with surface lures. When these ate twitched slowly with plenty of pauses in between they attract a lot of interest from predators. Cast to structure and close to the banks as though bass fishing. Even if you do not hook up on fish, you will get enquiries in the form of a soft swirl or boil on the lure. This gives you coinfidence that you are fishing the right areas and helps you to map out areas to come back and fish on different tides. Most predatory species in an estuary will eat a well presented surface lure in the right conditions. This form of fishing is particularly effective at dawn and dusk, but can account for fish throughout the day.
 

[PH]

Thanks Tommo!!
 
Nominated for post of the month.
 
(Maybe you should use the "Insert Image" button when linking to photobucket.)

[Tommo]

OOOps! Sorry, will sort it out...

[Poenskop]

Brilliant post Craig. I can't wait for my trip down to the Kei. Thanks for this. What kind of popper is the one in the Perch's mouth on the last pick?

[Jakes]

Very nice post Tommo ...  ... 

[Tommo]

Sorry about the pic thing, sorted it out at last. I am a bit technologically challenged....
 
The popper in the last pic is a Salmo lure.
 
Hope the write up helps with those going on holiday near an estuary!

[Lichia amia]

One of the posts of the year.  :shre:

[Willie]

Excellent post Craig    and have some 

[WalkersKiller]

Superb post Tommo 

[REEFMAN]

Brilliant, brilliant, brilliant!! 

Thankyou Tommo!! First of it's kind! 

[PH]

Hope the write up helps with those going on holiday near an estuary!

Just what I needed for the Hols. Thanks!!

[rofflign]

fantastic post! thanks for sharing.

[Zetti]

Absolutely brilliant!

Huge  Tommo

[Half-Pint]

 :udman:Tommo this is exactly what I needed! Hopefully I can turn my mombak around this December in th EC

[John F]

Great post, as usual Tommo!

Fishing amongst those water lilies with a lipped lure (+ trebles!) must have been an awesome experience!

Thank you!

 

[SAfish]

  
One of the best articles I have ever read.  :shre:

[MIKE PIKE]

  ... excellent post Tommo...     .

[Capt. Hook]

Very informative, thanks Tommo

[Cam Mundy]

Great post Tommo I love estuary fishing I've been dying to have a crack at the estuary system of Abu Dhabi looks really promising

[Manuel Junior]

 :shre: Tommo . Nice post!!!