Scott Loudon | Thursday, 28 April 2016
The best way to get to know your area and your waters is to get out there, explore and fish, fish, fish. However another skill that’ll likely help that learning process is to apply the knowledge you’ve learned somewhere else to that water/situation. A friend put this one to me, along the lines of “What have you learned abroad that translates to fishing at home”
My answer is almost everything!
Some scenarios have perfect carry over like trout fishing across the globe. A brown trout in New Zealand is the same beast as a brown trout in the UK, he’s just a younger, cooler, model who’s spent more time in the gym (and/or eating big bugs and mice).
I learned a couple things over there though that really opened my eyes to fishing at home.
1) A dragging nymph spooks fish more often than a dragging dry
2) Trout love coming really close to the banks in both running and still water, so often when we can’t see them I think we walk right over the top of where the lunker may have been. I’ve done it plenty times.
3) This one might cause some disagreement but I’m firmly convinced that other than a few specific times the diameter of your tippet doesn’t matter for visibility purposes (drag is a different matter)
Now it’s not only abroad you learn things but sometimes your tricks from home work well somewhere else. Every man and his dog in the UK knows that pike like to hide in the weed or structure and ambush their prey. Guess what? Many reef species are the same. Cast around structure and floating weed and you’re always increasing your chances.
The next question is how is tuna fishing applicable to any other kind of fishing? Well, number 1 is learning to look for signs. In this case look for birds. It’s a skill that will help even from the shore. The main thing though is you learn how to take a fast shot and be ready. The amount of times you get surprised by a trout rising when nothing is doing or you spot one a few metres away that you can’t believe you previously overlooked… learning to take fast shots is ideal for this!
Bass fishing in the States I learned that you have to slow down the strikes when you’re playing with poppers. That’s exactly the same for big trout, pike and salty species. Let them turn and tighten in.
And the final thing I learned is that it’s all bloody good fun and we should do it as much as possible!
Every day really is a learning day, don’t over estimate what you may already know when faced with a new species or a new water. I bet you guys have some interesting stories of things you’ve learned that could be shared on the Board, someone start us off!