Why was it so slow?

[sunny]

I went out for a quiet fish, in the Pine, on Saturday morning and it looks like a few others did too. I was thinking that with it being early morning and cold and wet, most people would stay away and the fishing should be good, but I had a pretty quiet morning. From the estuary reports it looks like quite a few others did too. So my question is why did the fish go off the bite?

My prime suspects are:

Moon – Few days before New moon
Tide – very small run 0.9m range

Anyone have an idea of what may have been a factor in keeping the fish away?

[agnes_jack]

Thats fishin!!!

Regards, Tony

[shayned]

Good question, what was the barometer doing?

[cuzzamundi]

too many variables and maybe's mate, so i think tony's summed it up really well! she'll fire again.

cuzza

[sunny]

too many variables and maybe's mate, so i think tony's summed it up really well! she'll fire again.

cuzza

Good point. So the question is what other variables should I be thinking about? I'm already convinced there won't be a serious answer, but I'm interested in what conditions other people would consider before going out. If there isn’t a better answer, then I’ll chalk it up to Tony’s answer and call it one of the slow days.


Let’s narrow it down a bit. Looking at the reports it looks like other people fishing in other locations around SEQ also thought the action was a bit slow. So I think we can remove location and my fishing style from the list of variables.

[Gorilla_in_Manila]

Hi Sunny,

Mate, you haven't given too many details of what you were targeting, what gear you were using etc etc so make it a bit hard to pick or exclude a particular variable. But there are so many reasons why not to get fish, that I reckon your better off remembering what you did when you did get fish, and try doing it again.

Reasons for not getting fish could be as simple and obscure as having sunscreen on your hands when putting on your bait or lure.

Other times there just aint any fish there. (which is what Tony was getting at with a lot less typing than I'm doing)

I remember flying back to aus a few years back, as keen as mustard concentrate to catch a fish. The old man tells me that the fishing has been lousy around home for the last 6 weeks or so. That's well over a full lunar phase and all sorts of weather, and still no one was getting anything. Well that wasn't going to stop me, I was there to make the fishing news, not read it.
Well fished my little heart out for three nights straight at a known good fishing spot for not a touch. Dejected, I decided on the pub for the 4th night (friday), and you can guess it, heard from a mate he went fishing at the same spot on that night and got fish (he didn't go with any real expectaions, just doing his normal weekend fishing). I went back the following night and got a couple of fish doing exactly what I was doing before, then nothing for the rest of my fortnight home. So just have to put it down to sh1t happens.

If you are thinking of moon phases and tide runs, have a look at Nuggets prediction calender for wednesday 26th, lunchtime. Not sue if you are able to have a midweek fish, but looks like that would be a good day for a sicky with decent weather. Looks like there is another low and front coming over for later in the week, so next weekend could be a bit ordinary as well.

I haven't been able to put a line in the water for over 8 months now, so you are doing better than me, even without getting fish.

Good Luck.
Cheers
Jeff

[Tinn]

Mate it is all part of the package. Sometimes you will getm other times don't matter what you will do you can't catch a fish. Patience is the key to being a successful fisherperson

[shayned]

I promised not to fish last weekend and give the hugs and kisses a break from the little fella. So we went and scoped out a few spots around the pine and spoke to people fishing and the message was the same, no good. Interestingly in a few spots on the run in tide you could see good bream divots and flattie lies just below the high water mark and people weren't getting a touch. I'm with you Sunny there must be areason for a whole system to shut down at once. Maybe the dreaded Houmous Curse is spreading, (apologies T1).

[Tinn]

Yep I think you might be onto something there Shayned. Make sence now T1 is spreading the curse

[Fishing_Widow]

Hi sunny,

Maybe it was one of those days. What with the weather being cold and wet wouldn't you like to still be sleeping. Maybe the fish did too.

No seriously. It could be a case of the old adage - no run no fun or it could have just been an off day.

Hope you catch heaps next time you go out.

Nomes

[bidkev]

Sunny, see my report in the estuary section. I never fish the pine at weekend as the traffic pisses me off. I always try to fish on a monday as I reckon that if the traffic puts 'em down at weekend then they'll be starving by monday

Today I fished my hot spots and got hardly a touch in 3 hrs, then they went bloody barmy in a spot that I never fish 'cause of the noise

Whether it was the state of the tide or something holding 'em there' I don't know. I just like to get out on the water and I never look at moon or tide as I think that may put me off more than it would encourage me. Just being there is enough for me and the fish is a bonus.

kev

[robersl]

sunny the cenus is coming out on august the 8th to every household to fill in maybe we should ask that queston there we might get the right answer and be able to plan for these sort of days in future.as i had the same trouble at donnybrook no damn fish and i went from one end of the passage to the other looking and a few other boats i spoke to had the same trouble

shane

[Jim_Byrne]

Fishing_Widow's spot on. A very wise old man once told me;
"if there's no run....there's no fun.

Cheers

Jim

[agnes_jack]

Sunny
We often find that on certain days certain species can be very hard to come by.
Usually, but not always, it is worth targeting a different species. This may require shifting location several times, changing tackle and baits, working different stages of tide, targeting fish that inhabit deeper holes and snags, or chasing species that frequent the flats. On quiet days we sometimes resort to trolling lures around to cover a lot of ground. My son and I (sushi-fish) went out on sunday afternoon with great expectations of nailing some of the big flatties that we know are hanging in certain areas at the moment. We tried a heap of different tactics, like casting lures, hardbodies and softies, drifting baits under floats over rocky areas,drifting unweighted baits on the channel edges. Berlying,etc with only 2 missed hits on our LIVE BAIT for all our efforts. As a last resort we had a troll with the old reliable pink micro mullets and Josh had his first flattie on within about 50m!! We continued trolling and managed another four more fish (all only just legal). Many would have given up and gone home fishless. There is nearly always at least something to be caught somwhere, somehow, But it often depends on effort put in.

And sometimes nothing seems to work at all ..........."Thats Fishin"

Regards, Tony

[sunny]

Sunny, see my report in the estuary section. I never fish the pine at weekend as the traffic pisses me off. I always try to fish on a monday as I reckon that if the traffic puts 'em down at weekend then they'll be starving by monday

Great idea Kev, now I just need to figure out how to take a sickie without being missed.

As I’m one of those time challenged desk jockeys, I find the best alternative is to hit the Pine around sunrise on a cold winter’s Saturday and preferably when it’s raining. That way round the majority of the punters have decided to sleep in, I tend to get the place to myself and very few boats have been disturbing the fish.

Oh yeah! And just for the record, I did manage one 30cm flounder. I just thought it was a lot quieter than usual.