Orange Rocks on Sunday

There was a bit of action at Orange Rocks yesterday morning, with 7 runs and not one fish landed.  (and I think that I figured out why…. but I will tell you just now.)

Johann dropped a brown skate right in the gully as well as a “couta” right in front of the ledge. I did not see it, but Micky said that he saw the fish tail-walk just before it threw the hook.

Micky had 4 runs but did not get a solid hookup on any of them. His take on all this was that there must have been a school of couta hunting just in front.

Then the guy in the pics fought something for about an hour, also loosing it right in front of the ledge. By the way that it was behaving, I would say that it was a big brown skate.

But bad luck to him. Fanie came and picked me up to watch the fight, makes me kick myself that I was not fishing.

Righteo – why I think that everybody was loosing their fish, is because everybody was rigging their baits the same way and binding the bottom hook down with a cabletie. I only use a cable tie to close the mouth of the mackerel and hold the top hook in place…. I never use a cable tie on the bottom hook; because if the fish does not bite cleanly through the bait, then you have the cable tie preventing the hook from going all the way through. (ie the hook can only go as far in as the cable tie…. whereas if the hook was free, then it could go all the way through)

So the result is that you only hook up with the first 1/3 of the hook and when you put pressure on the fish, it pulls the hook parallel instead of putting the pressure in the  through of the hook.

I prefer to pin the hook and then bind it a bit with latex cotton. It holds the hook in place, but can come loose easy enough to ensure a proper hookup.

Some more advice is to pin the bait on the top, rather than in the belly like everybody else does.   This will put the weight on the dark side of the bait and when it settles in the water, it will pull the dark side underneath and show the shiny side on top (opposite of the natural camouflage of the fish)

So when the predator is underneath, he sees the shiny side which sticks out – rather than hides the bait.  When he looks from the top, he sees the shiny belly, rather than the camouflaged dark top of the fish.

This may only give you a fraction of an advantage, but I like advantages and I like fishing smart.

Thanks to Brendan at Gremlins for teaching me that trick a few years ago.

If you are in the area, give them a call on  039 317-3233  or pop in and say hi. I guarantee you that you will receive the very best service, prices and advice. Tell then that Shane sent you.

Cheers for now and TIGHT LINES !!

If you are in our area and would like a private, guided tour of the best fishing spots – join me for a Fisherman’s Beach Buggy Tour

Going Tight !!