Fishing the Mangroves…Such are the areas…mouth of drains where predators would congregate. Understanding the anatomy of the estuary is of utmost importance. It pays to visually inspect the new area at both high and low tides and carefully survey using a depth sounder. Careful planning will make the most of opportunities. Occasionally snags may get washed off and changing the scene all together. Fishing The Mangroves…we continue our series on the anatomy of mangroves, we covered the topic of “strike zones” & now we should look at fishing techniques that vary with the tide. At High Tide, when fish are sheltering in the mangroves, accurate lure casting is often most productive. At Low Tide, when the tidal movement is slow, predators become inactive in the deeper holes. So you need to know these holes. Mostly, we experienced the bottom half of the tide as the best time to fish mangrove areas, Though, the last of the flooding tide also produce excellent fishing action if you can identify the productive spots. One of our best experience was in Manigrada pulling up 150pcs of “schoolies” Barras in a tiny area between 2 persons. So know the anatomy of mangroves and you are likely to find the Barramundis you are hunting. Accurate lure casting is the key to success in the mangroves. At School of Fish, Singapore…we always practice delivering our lure to the door (strike zone) & not the postbox. Sometimes seeing barras resting in fallen snags can be exciting and if you don’t understand the factors of water flow, wind and we may end up either spooking the fish with a big splash lure or present a lure not close enough to get its interest.
Visit http://schooloffish.com.sg to find our range of lures suited primarily for estuary fishing which we use ourselves. Be it a soft plastic on light jighead/slow sinking or chughead poppers or Reidy’s surface/slow sinking…you are bringing a knife to a gunfight b’cos the “bugger” will twist your lines around the snag & screw up. So hold on to you rod/reel and lock drags…Be ready! Tight lines!
