Fishing with Tony Lincoln | Lure Fishing to improve catch rates

Published 4:29pm 30 June 2021

Fishing with Tony Lincoln | Lure Fishing to improve catch rates
Words by Tony Lincoln

I REGULARLY field questions from people looking to start fishing with lures and those who have tried lures but struggle with success. So, in the next few editions I'll try and cover some basic tips and techniques to improve catch rates.

Lure fishing is an incredibly rewarding way to fish with the strike usually being significantly harder than on a dead bait. The fish mistake the lure as being alive and are therefore hitting it at a speed they would normally apply to a fleeing baitfish that will escape if the predator isn't fast enough. For me, the attraction to lure fishing is that strike.

I strongly believe that a lure’s action and subsequent vibration in the water make up at least 90 per cent of a lure’s effectiveness, with colour being the icing on the cake. I base my belief in this on my experience of catching, and seeing fish caught in water visibility of almost zero, on lure colours closely matching water colour to an extent that the fish couldn't possibly see the lure until they're almost on top of it. Thousands of barramundi are caught every year on brown or drab coloured lures in water the colour of coffee. Black/dark lures in low light or at night are very effective, and clear/translucent lures fished in clear water also produce good results.

Fish have an incredibly sensitive ability to sense vibrations in the water via either their lateral line or otoliths which are inner ear bones that have tiny cilia on them that are stimulated by miniscule vibrations in the water, similar to a human ear processing sound waves in the air, and it's this ability that alerts them to come in to see if they can eat what's causing the commotion. It's then, that colour can play a part.

Hopefully I've given you some food for thought re: vibration and action and next issue I'll discuss colour before we get into different types and categories of lures available to us.

Thanks for reading again, and remember;

Talk to old people, they know stuff you don't.

Talk to young people, they know stuff you don't.

FISHING REPORT

  • Healthy fishing all round at the moment with the weather cooperating as well.
  • Flathead numbers increasing.
  • Tailor and mackerel off Woody Point jetty, off the rocky points, on the inshore reefs, Ted Smout platform and particularly in Bramble Bay.
  • Squire and snapper on the rocky points, inshore reefs and the odd one off the jetties.
  • Bream on the beaches, jetties, rocky points and on the inshore reefs.
  • Bream, flathead and some whiting in Hays Inlet, the Pine River, Scarborough Spit and foreshore, and the mouth of the canals.
  • Diver whiting off Scarborough into Deception Bay, and across to the Cockle Banks.
  • Squid becoming more consistent off the jetties, points and inshore reefs, plus some great catches including cuttlefish, further offshore.
  • Snapper and tuskies on the artificial reefs inside Moreton.

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