Those interested- maybe you can read this and wonder how awesome twilight really is,,,,or isn't?
90% of my charters are over well before dusk! Coincidence, or are we just scared of the fading light??
FISHING VARIABLES
Where do we start? In a barramundi lake there is a list of endless variables that effect the fishing. Anything from wind direction, air temperature, water temperature, water clarity, water flow such as current direction and intensity, rising or falling water levels, water chemistry such as oxygen levels, aquatic plant life density and condition, cloud cover, moon phase and position, barometer, sunlight intensity and so on and so on. Boating pressure and human interaction list highly as well, natural variables such as food supplies and baitfish feeding frenzies, bird life movements and here we go again on another list that will never stop. Barramundi fishing, well most kinds of fishing actually rely heavily on many variables to come together to help form successful combinations. For example- A lake full of big barra is useless if oxygen levels are low and plants are decaying and water temperatures are dramatically dropping. That's a bad scenario. On the other end of the stick a lake with flourishing weedbanks and oxygen rich waters, warm sunny days, darkened water clarity, constant winds and favourable currents can create ideal fishy circumstances. On their own not one variable will bring results. There needs to be an alignment of several to get things happening. "You can't bake a cake without all the main ingredients", this rings so true. Good combinations can mean success, but without one of the key variables, a combination is as useless as a bad hand in a poker game. Each day Mother Nature deals you a list of variables that align. Some are favourable, some are certainly not. You can only work with what you have, same as the card game. A good hand is a good day. As a day rolls on variables can change, and in turn so can the fishing. It can improve or sadly get worse. Cloud cover can block out the sun, winds can drop off or increase, temperatures can take a dive or a rise. A roller Coaster ride no doubt about it.
We need to deal with the fact that lakes are changing worlds and idealic conditions basically align when they do. Some days this may be at 8-11 am, other times it might be 12-1 pm or even 3-4 am when we are sleeping, and suprisingly enough it may give us a window of opportunity that may only last twenty minutes, or less. There are no best times to fish barra lakes that can be read off a clock face or a lunar phase chart. None of those magical lunar charts take above mentioned variables into the equation. Moon phases, hours of the day, sun rises and sets and water temperature movements are all variables that over time will mesh with more variables that assist or reduce your chances. There is good and bad every day. Some variables align sweetly and the timing of these can see barra change into a feeding mode at the drop of a hat. Feed time can be stopped also by variables that change. Other days variables align to a point where one more trigger is required. It can hang in the balance. A wind shift can make or break you. So next time you are on the water take note of as many variables as you can and write a diary on your findings. After a long while you will discover that simple guess work on when and why is way off track and in time you will better understand what drives fish in lakes and in oceans. I bet we have all gone back to a favourite productive spot the next day and caught nothing. What changed?
I bet you can write a very long list, but only if you were paying attention to fine detail.
Johnny