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Fishermen tell themselves all the lies under the sun about why they can’t catch fish. The fish were not biting! The fish were not there! The fish were shut down! The tides were wrong! The weather was terrible! There was too much fishing pressure! I have even told myself some of these same lies on my toughest days fishing.
I recently took two days off work so I could spend a four day long-weekend fishing, and you could not write home about how poor the fishing was, or at least, that is what I told myself to make myself feel better. Another lie. A fisherman’s lie.
The reality of it is, the fish were there, and the fish were as hungry as they always are, but I just did not do the right things to convince them to eat my lures and bait. I did not put my casts where they needed to be, I did not match the hatch, I did not fish to the conditions, I did not cover as much fishable ground as I should have, and I did not spend enough time on the water figuring out what the fish were willing to eat on the day. I did not do all the things that convince fish to eat an angler’s offerings.
"You could not write home about how poor the fishing was, or at least, that is what I told myself to make myself feel better. Another lie. A fisherman's lie."
Session One
The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different outcome. When it comes to Jewfish fishing, I am slowly starting to go a little insane because I have done the same thing each time in an attempt to target them.
I have been trying to catch a larger model Jewfish from the shore in recent months. Each time I head out bait fishing for large Jewfish, I have high hopes of catching more than a mere soapie; I have hopes of catching a true monster. So far, there have been no monsters in sight, and I have not managed to even catch the humble soapie sized Jewfish while targeting them. The only Jewfish I have caught have been out of a boat, or as bycatch when bait fishing with my partner (both times, I fluked it).
Day one of my fishing weekend started out catching live poddy mullet on bread to later use as bait to try and convince one of those truck sized Jewfish we all see on social media, to come spend a photoshoot with me, but alas, the plan did not come together! The poddy mullet did not play the game and they were mouthing my bread bait offerings and failing to swallow my small bait hooks. Two hours later, I managed a haul of only six poddy mullet, and I thought to myself with frustration, “it will have to do!”.
I later headed out fishing for the evening. I headed to a spot where I have caught Jewfish as bycatch. I pulled up stumps. I rigged up, set up my fishing rod holders, pulled up my camp chair, and proceeded to do nothing more than watch the sun set before commencing my stargazing. Apart from one poddy mullet being attacked and killed by bream, nothing. Absolutely nothing!
Insanity. Total insanity! I fished this exact spot, in the exact same way, that I have done many times in this season’s winter months, each time expecting a different outcome. Jewfish, and especially monster Jewfish, are a fish that takes hours and hours of patience to catch, or so I hear. After clocking up nearly 30 hours in this same spot, it would be rather foolish of myself not to call myself insane for continuing to try the same thing, in the exact same spot, over and over again, expecting a different outcome. Next time, I will change my location and hopefully the new spot yields a different outcome. Hopefully, next time I get my sanity back, and get my dream photo shoot with one of those truly large Jewfish.
"Insantiy. Total insantiy! I fished this exact spot, in the exact same way, that I have done many times in this season's winter months, each time expecting a different outcome."
Session Two
I ate humble pie on session two. Nothing. No fish caught. Not even a hit.
Session two saw me target a species I have previously had good and reliable success targeting - the dusky flathead. I set out for session two at midday. I went to a spot where I have caught a 90cm model, among many other smaller specimens. This spot is a hike to get to, so I set out full of optimism for what the day may hold, but this day only beat me down too.
I started the session targeting flathead with Holt Production Swim Prawns even though it was a New Moon phase. I had convinced myself the prawn imitation had worked so well for me in the past that I needed to use them. I quickly realised the flathead were not feeding on prawns because it was the wrong moon phase for prawns, but even quicker, I started to tell myself, maybe the fish are just not here. Another lie!
With a dwindling outlook, I changed over to a paddle tail soft plastic before also throwing an abundance of other soft plastic variations. I fished a total of two pressure edges with deeper drop offs running through them, which have produced good fish for me in the past. Upon reflection, maybe two pressure edges were not enough. I should have put my feet into 4wd mode and hiked a bit further up the creek to cover more ground.
With all the lies I told myself, I convinced myself the flathead were uncatchable and so I decided to walk through the mangroves looking for mud crabs. I was trying to do anything to take my mind off the fact the fish were winning, and I was fishless. No mud crabs either; the double whammy.
"I started to tell myself, maybe the fish are just not here. Another Lie!"
Session Three
Session three saw me down and out, needing my fishing confidence restored. I set out bream fishing with bait. A mere confidence booster is all I was after.
I headed to my local Marina with a bag of prawns and the hopes of catching an abundance of bream. The abundance did not come, and I landed a meagre two fish haul for my efforts.
The fishing proved difficult. Dropping a prawn with a running sinker down the face of the Marina pylons got no attention from the bream. I was forced to resort to floating unweighted prawns down the water column, which saw interest from the bream straight away. I caught two bream in quick succession, when fishing with the unweighted prawn before they clued onto what was happening. Shortly after the second bream, in the distance I noticed a flash, and then soon after, I heard the crackle of thunder. Yes, that is right. It started raining for the first time in weeks. Of course, it did!
The weather was terrible for fishing. Another lie!
Session three ended with me wet, miserable, and not at all with my confidence restored.
"The weather was terrible for fishing. Another lie!"
Session Four
Session four saw me mix things up completely. In recent months, I have found myself obsessing about catching a very good-sized black fish. Do not ask me why - I just think they are a cool looking fish. I have searched all the forums, all the social media pages, and have even asked the occasional black fish fishermen where they get their supplies of blackfish weed/cabbage from. All my efforts came up trumps. Blackfish weed/cabbage spots are apparently a hot commodity.
In the heavy rain, I headed out to my local BCF retailer and bought floats, float stoppers, split shot sinkers, and tiny blackfish hooks. I knew the young gentleman who served me was a keen fisherman, so I thought I would try my luck and ask him where blackfish weed/cabbage can be found in my local area. To my surprise, the BCF employee pulled up Google maps, and pinpointed me a location. I was off. Off on an adventure in the pouring rain to find the black fish weed/cabbage which I had obsessed over for now the past couple of months.
I got to the spot, it was raining, was high tide, and the swell was up. I spotted the vibrant green moss coloured weed on one singular small rock which of course, was in waist high water right where the breakers were. I shimmied my way out into the surf, with my bucket in hand, and plucked piece after piece of cabbage off the rock, while breaker after breaker nearly knocked me off my feet. I would not recommend getting your blackfish cabbage in this fashion. I got back to shore, and I had a limited supply of cabbage, not nearly enough for a fishing session.
On my walk back to the car, I thought I would poke my head around the headland corner to see what was there. I found a pond. The pond connected to a saltwater creek which was hidden behind thick vegetation and trees. You beauty, the top layer of the pond, was full of blackfish weed.
With my supply of blackfish weed/cabbage, I set out to my local marina rock wall in the hopes of seeing my float sink below the surface so I could rip the lip off a black fish or two. The water was so crystal clear I could see each and every fish that swam past, but yet, there were no black fish; a rarity for this location. The lies started to creep back in, yet I fished spot after spot for the next two hours and still nothing. Absolutely nothing. Session four broke my spirit so I went home utterly defeated knowing the fish had won! For the coming hours on the couch, the lies consumed my mind, and I doubted my fishing ability.
"Absolutely nothing. Session four broke my spirit so I went home utterly defeated knowing the fish had won!"
Closing Message
The day after session four, I went back to work and told myself all the above lies. I told myself the fish should have come easy because they have so many times in the past, but that was the wrong assumption to make. Another falsity I told myself. The reality of it is, I did not work as hard for the bite as I should have because I became complacent.
"I told myself the fish should have come easy because they have so many times in the past, but that was the wrong assumption to make. Another falsity I told myself."
Now I have had the time to assess the lies I told myself, I can see I spent my four day long-weekend fishing with what I call “fisherman’s ADHD”. I wanted to catch all the different species, all at once. If I had my time back again, I would wave my magic wand and spend the four days chasing one species. Patience is key. I know I would have convinced a good-sized flathead to eat a lure if I persisted in targeting them, so maybe they are the species I should have spent my time chasing.
I learned many things from my four-day struggle, but what I learned most, was that fishermen will tell themselves all the lies they can, to make up excuses for why they cannot catch fish, when more often than not, it is ourselves who are to blame. After all the struggle and the lies I told myself to feel better for not catching fish, I would still trade my office desk with four hard days of fishing any day of the week.
The Finatic Blogger...
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