These tips can improve your catch rate after a big storm has rolled through
Despite early forecasts of a likely return to dry, hot and drought-prone patterns, much of the country instead has been hammered by successive lows, troughs, cyclones and record-breaking rainfall.
The result is minor to major flooding, and rivers that never seem to clear up entirely from the previous big “flush” before being belted once again.
It can all be rather frustrating!
Catching fish under these trying conditions can certainly be a chore, but it can be done. Here are my five top tips for fishing after the flood:
Use bait
As much as I love my lure and fly fishing, bait tends to work much better in dirty water.
If you insist on sticking to artificials, choose something that can be worked very slowly, and douse it with a proven fish attractant like good old Squidgies S-Factor (yep, it works).
Work the tides
Incoming or making tides tend to push slightly cleaner, more saline water into our lower estuaries, bays and harbours.
Concentrate on these areas and fish during those incoming tides.
Fish deeper
Freshwater is less dense than saltwater, so it tends to form a layer on the surface.
Sometimes, the discoloured run-off from floods is only a few centimetres thick, other times it may form a layer of several metres. Either way, try fishing deeper, to get under the muck.
Pick your targets
Some species cope much better with a big fresh than others.
Flathead and most pelagic fish are not especially fond of dirty water and lowered salinity levels.
Bream, blackfish and mullet don’t mind as much, and mulloway will actively hunt in the post-deluge colour changes.
Gear up
Finesse becomes much less important in flood waters.
Fish are far less likely to detect, or be deterred by, thicker lines and leaders or heavy sinkers when the water is dirty.
So, beef up your tackle to deal with the debris and strong flows… and hopefully handle that trophy-size fish!
No one loves a flood in the short term, but over a longer time frame, they need to be seen as a critically important part of the natural ecosystem: nature’s enemas, if you like!
They provide a valuable flush, an input of vital nutrients, and a trigger for fish movement and reproduction.
In the bigger picture, floods are good news for the future of our pastime.
Even in the short term, they don’t have to spell an end to your fishing, if you adapt your approach to suit.
Steve ‘Starlo’ Starling is one of Australia’s best-known and most respected fishing communicators.
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