Estuaries can provide some excellent fishing sport for the shore angler if you are looking to target Bass, Flatfish such as Flounder and Mullet. Many species of fish will venture into the shelter of the estuary in search for easy pickings as the tide begins to flood.
Mullet and Flounder are probably the best know species in numbers associated with estuary fishing. Mullet ofer can be spotted in large shoals all the way to the top of the estuary system. Stalking them with a light fixed spool reel and a light spining rod spooled with flurorocarbon line complete with a light trace and a small sized 10 hook (even a carp paste hook will do) with bread as bait should do the trick.
You may be thinking why bread? Mullet are funny feeders, they are almost vegetarian!!! They eat algae, small crustations, sand fleas, decaying matter from plants and even seeds fallen from trees. Over the years bread has been a good contender for Mullet bait as it can be pinched lightly on the hook to allow it to float or can be compressed to make it sink. The knack to catching Mullet is to first work out if they are feeding as they can tend to just bask in the sun. If they are feeding they may be taking food from the surface or off the bottom. Try to match there feeding habbits!
If you are going to target Bass look out for large shoals of sandeels that are shoaling into or up the estuary with the rising tide. Bass also tend to follow the deep gullies that are carved out into the mud by the river at low tide. A good pointer is to visit the mark at low tide to work out where the deeper sections are, then you can come back on a higher tide and have an idea on where to cast too.
In the lower reaches of the estuary, Mackerel and Pollock will spend time swimming around harbor walls, pontunes and jetties. All three of these species can be caught using float tatics, with sandeel as bait.
When looking to catch Flounder which is abundant in the winter months and tend to be of a larger size you will need a medium action beach rod with a fixed spool reel which can hold around 200 yards of 15lb line. For the end gear a simple running ledger or a three hook flapper rig loaded with ragworm or lugworm will your best bet. However if you wish to target larger fish then you cant go wrong with some frozen hermit or fresh peeler crab to bulk up the bait.
Quite often a bite will materialise as the bait resettles on the bottom. The Flounder have a tendency to watch and wait for the bait to move to trick it into thinking it is escaping.
A good point to consider is that estuaries hold huge amounts of fresh bait. The wader birds are a dead give away when they are walking over mud flats yanking up worms and cracking open shellfish. It is well worth making the trip down there on a low tide and dig your own Ragworm or collect some Peeler crabs in the warmer months. If not stock up on a good selection from your local tackle shop.
0 comments:
Post a Comment