So, How Do You Fish???

[mangler]

Seeing as there is such a diverse range of people on this site, who use equally as diverse fishing methods, I thought it would be interesting to see each of our preferred fishing methods and also what we do with our fish landed.

It doesn't matter if you never fish from anywhere but a boat, only fish freshwater dams, only spearfish, only fish to fill in time between checking crabpots or only fish using soft plastics. The main thing is that you are still fishing and most of all having a great time doing so whether you are using thousands of dollars worth of gear, or a coke bottle with some line and a hook on it..

So everyone lets share how we fish and what fishing means to you (it doesn't matter whether you only fish catch & release, fish for a feed or even fish to get away from the other half). Hopefully we'll all learn some new techniques and maybe even be inspired to give something new a go.

Cheers,

Matt

[mangler]

So here goes. (Sorry for the epic post!)

I fish for a feed & fun. I'll never keep more than what we can comfortably eat that day, I don't see the point in freezing fish, if I wanted to do that I'd just go to a fish shop & buy some. Having said that, once I've got a feed I won't stop fishing, will just keep fishing for the fun of it.

Saltwater fishing for me is all about simplicity, and relaxing away from day to day life, fish are just a bonus.

- Estuary - Primarily fish with bait using 2 rods (both with Alvey reels). One is a light setup for bream, whiting, small flatties, etc. The other is a bit heavier and loaded with bigger baits for larger flathead, jacks, jewfish etc. I also carry a light spinning rod & reel that I hook a bait jig onto to get some livies, and if the fishing is really, really quiet on the bait, I reel the lighter one in, and flick a HB or SP around with this spinning rod.

- Surf - Bait only, Alveys only. Large one 13 ft for tailor, dart etc out far, smaller 10 footer for flatties, bream, whiting in close.

- Rock - Same as surf, same rods, bait only, Alveys only. Only fish with one rod at a time on rocks for safety, usually use the bigger one at dawn til about an hour after the sun rises, then switch to smaller rod to fish in closer for bream, tarwhine, luderick etc.

Freshwater fishing is where I get a bit more excited & adventurous.

- Dams (and rod friendly rivers) - Usually armed with 2 spinning rods one lighter for bass, yellowbelly, trout and silver perch. Use bait (live shrimp / worms) or HB lures - divers, tassie devils and surface paddlers. And a heavier spinning rod for big yellowbelly and Murray Cod, only use larger HB diving lures or surface paddlers for this.

- Proper Rivers - Where we go fishing in rivers there is no room to swing a rod around and to carry one through the scrub to get to our favourite waterholes would only end in tears. So we set a line or two with live yabbies and then we start lure fishing, we use only handlines loaded with big mono and big HB lures. I know what you're thinking here, lures on a hand reel??? How do you put up with winding all that line onto a hand reel with every cast??? Easy, we don't, we find a rock/section of bank big enough to stand on and we cast out the first cast as far was we can, then we pull a few more yards of line off the hand reel, put the reel behind us somewhere and start retrieving the lure, letting the retrieved line fall in a pile at our feet, then cast again. Sounds crazy but is quite effective and tangle free once you get the hold of it. My most memorable and favourite catch was caught using this method, a 6lb yellowbelly on a surface paddler.

Would love to get into a bit more rock & surf fishing, wouldn't mind a tinny to venture out into the bay, and troll around some dams either.

Cheers,

Matt

[fishyman]

me im an artificials person, mainly into soft plastics but dont mind throwing a HB for bream or bass.

at the moment Bream take alot of my time but with the boat coming and from my "inshore plastics Rod' thread i would also like to get into some nice snapper and other reefies out in the bay.

redline finnesse is my thing lol, love takign my tackle and my rods to the limit.

[Shrimpo]

Rarely Landbased, 4-5 times a year problably, Boat the rest and try to get onto the beaches in winter or summer for either big whiting or tailor. Mainly Bait fisho myself but starting to come round to lures, Have been doing ok recently.

Yeah use threadlines in the boat, If going out in the bay usually take a heavy rod 6-8kg with 20lb ready for tuna,tailor,mackerel, A 3-5kg rod for basically anything and maybe a really light rod if i want any diver whiting in winter, In the estuaries mainly use 2-4kg setup for lures and that 3-5kg for bait. have a baitcaster but rarely use that.

Alveys for sure on the beach with a 12-13ft rod

Threadlines landbased.

[MichaelJ]

i love fishing offshore for the bigger stuff and use bait but gona start trying some big sp's this winter

and in estuary and dams i also like to do this a lot and i do best on bait but starting to use lures more often

[Plastic Man]

two words bass,lures lol

[Dan23]

I try to mix it up. There's always the mainstay bream and flatties, but lately I've been chasing bigger fish :cheer:

[kevinchen19870316]

a bit of breaming a bit of bait fishing for big stuff. 90% time lures and 70% HBs.

almost always landbased.

some bassing.

mostly flattie jigging, squid jigging and threadfin jigging

[Dec]

I use lures for anything that will eat them but mainly bass and bream.

[jeff f]

i try anything and like to mix it up

these days i usually fish live baits on very light line and play with lures ,plastics lately, while waiting for the livebaits to go off

i have been fishing fo 40 years and have tried a hell of a lot of different styles and gear

my all time favourite thing is throwing spinners and poppers into schools of feeding pelagics

[Malcolm]

Good thread

I only got into fishing in the last few years so I love it all.

Bait for the main part but also use lures with some success.

Salt, fresh, beach, river, bay the only problem I have is deciding which way to go on a given day.Oh and work is getting the way.

[pinkey]

Lures (not gulp ) most of the time for bream, flattys cod ect.. livies and pillies ect in the middle brissy river for sharks, salmon, bream.. And when not catching anything on lures of feel like my drag needs a screeming on the 2lb gear, unweighted bread or flesh/gut baits. ALL landbased.

[mangler]

Good to see how everyone else likes to fish.

Jeff I forgot to mention that throwing poppers into schools of feeding pelagics is definitely up there on my to do soon list.

Malcom sounds like we have the same problem, too many choices and not enough time.

I too have only recently got back into fishing, was a real keen young fisherboy and used to go quite often, until I moved out & discovered alcohol & women, that sought of put a stop to fishing for about 6 years with pubs getting most of my weekends & money. It's scary to think how nice a boat I would have dranken away in that time whilst I was adding to the rising sea levels through my bladder. However going camping with the other half a bit over the last couple of years has got me back into fishing, and has definitely sparked an interest in her as well (she often outfishes me in size).

So keep them coming fellas, lets see what floats ya boat.

Cheers,

Matt

[brisfisher]

as for me mostly artificials,but mainly plastics will baitfish occasionally but usually wit livies.usually fish landbased(more challenging n i dont have regular access to a boat:P)

[namyau]

im landbased, i fish for fun mostly and would only take about 10% of what i catch. im trying to get into the habbit of using plastics and hbs more. ill normally take a small amount of prawns along just incase the fish arnt interested in the lures or just to test if there are any fish around

[Angus]

I love it all!

Bottom bashing on the reef, platics, surf, kayak, sharks whatever.

Absolute favourite though:

Prob a location like Straddy, Noosa, Ningi Creek using Plastics targeting quite bread and butter species on the lightest gear possible. A bit dull but great memories.

There is always time for bass as well

Angus

[benno573]

it's all good... i'm 95% bait, live, dead don't care. usually only use poppers and "slugs" when luring, occasionally flick a plastic or troll some HB. my favourite fishing style... well... cruising the flats of hervey bay throwing poppers at huge golden trevally in 3 ft of water is good, there is a certain magic about trying to catch big whiting in summer time on uber light gear on soldier crabs/yabbies as bait, floating a live grinner out under a balloon in the rainbow channel ahs led to many exciting battles with our toothy friends, dropping a bait down on a deep reef, who knows what will come up...

all time favourite would probably be live baiting off headlands/rock walls, always a lottery as to what you get and a huge challenge to land them, even on 50lb gear. i have 19 rods which i select from for various purposes.

[flatty_catcher]

well im traditionally a bait fisherman,live bait too

havn't got a boat yet so im land based or beach.

I usually concentrate on time and place ( and fresh bait) rather than gear and tecnique.

To me I love the salt air and if I catch a feed its a bonus.

I just purchased a little rod and reel setup for bream,flattie ect and I may try different methods than bait only.

yes but overall fishing to me is so much about getting out and breathing in all that life and fishing goodness

[pcsolutionman]

Well im pretty much 100% artificials these days very rarely use bait. I fish mostly from my kayak for everything from bass to bream to Tuna ans snapper. thats the great thing about a kayak I can get up into the skinniest little creeks chasing wild Bass or offshore 5-10klms chasing big pelagics.

Lee

[Woodlaz]

Bait fishing for me... (landbased) 2 rods, a chair and some beer - 1 rod with light gear and the other a fair bit heavier. If i get some good livies in the cast net i will throw out a 40-100lb handline depending on size of livie. (in the boat) all depends how many others are with me but generally a light rod and a handline. The handline (in both cases) rarely go off, but when they do its a good time.

I too will take mainly enough for my wife and to have a feed of fresh fish, but if i get a good one and have to freeze some of the fillets, i will - doesnt matter what fish, it always tastes good in a curry.

Cheers

Woody

[Terry H]

pcsolutionman wrote:

Well im pretty much 100% artificials these days very rarely use bait. I fish mostly from my kayak for everything from bass to bream to Tuna ans snapper. thats the great thing about a kayak I can get up into the skinniest little creeks chasing wild Bass or offshore 5-10klms chasing big pelagics.

Lee

Ditto.

+1 for Kayaking:)

[Nastymind]

My two favourite types of fishing would have to be....

# trolling wolf herring and smiths jigs for Spanyiards

# trolling hardbodies for sw Barra

[Feral]

Well since joining this site, I have initially converted to soft plastics, then gone the whole hog and converted to hard bodies.

I've also changed from handlines to spinning reels to baitcasters for my boat fishing. Likewise I've changed from mono to braid.

So yeah you lot have totally corrupted me!

I will use still use live bait occasionally for bass, particularly when I have my kids with me, or am on a AFO Hinze trip!.

My main target fish is impoundment / stocked fish, bass Yella's and cod.

I generally catch and release, use circle hooks (wide mouth hooks) if I bait fish (never had a gut hooked fish with them). I also generally use bronzed, then galvanised hooks. The only stainless I use is on spinnerbaits.

All thats my choice, and I respect anyone else's right to fish in what ever method they wish that is legal. IE You will never see me whinge about someone taking a legal fish or 20 home!

[big dyl]

well my fav way to fish on kayaks is lure and boating is bait (live)