I’VE spent my entire fishing life taking various factors into account when planning a trip. Back in the ’70s and ’80s I think we looked at the nightly news on TV to get a weather report and probably a tackle store tide chart to get the tides or moon phase. Weather was and has always been the deciding factor and is, for most serious anglers. It’s obviously dangerous to go rock fishing or take a boat out in bad weather. You just don’t go rock fishing in a 3 metre swell or go boating in 30 knot winds. But what other factors do you look at when planning a fishing trip? In the past several years I’ve put a lot more importance on several weather and lunar aspects. Let’s look at a few these and some apps to explore them.
Now, most serious anglers use their smart phones to access all the information they need prior to a trip. I use a heap of apps. But believe it or not I have a mate who doesn’t even have a smart phone. He hates technology so he uses the nightly news and a wall mounted barometer to get his weather. My first consideration is what the weather is doing and the wind strength and direction in particular. The direction determines where we fish and launch the boat. The strength determines where we fish and if we even go at all. If the wind is less than 5 knots all day I’ll probably stay away from the flats and fish deeper water or duck outside. I like a 10-15 knot breeze for most of our estuary fishing so we’ll sometimes put in at 10am when a NE breeze has picked up. I’ve got spots all over the place that I can fish in any wind direction as long as it doesn’t get over 20 knots.
I use the Windfinder app on my phone most of the time. It gives me wind speed and direction “predictions” for the week ahead, along with tides, swell and barometric pressure. There are a heap of weather apps. out there but they all collect their data from the BOM and present it in a way that they think is easy to read or relevant to particular water sports. Most weather apps are free and the content is paid for by advertisers. They are not infallible and we’ve been caught out many times when they’ve been completely wrong as far as wind direction and strength go.
For the past several years I’ve been paying more attention to other factors in my fishing. These include barometric pressure, moon phase, tide size and moon set. All of these play a role in where and when fish feed and when it’s easier for anglers to catch them. I use several apps. to get all of that information and I try to make sense of it all. I don’t write it all down and collate it after every trip but I do keep various factors in mind that I know may have some consequence on the outcome. I do know we catch more fish on a high barometer, less fish on a full moon and on the odd occasion we’ve had better fishing when the moon has set and isn’t in the sky. It certainly pays to be aware of the above factors and know what’s happening. One of my fishing buddies is very switched on to all of this and can tell you what the tide, moon, water temperature and barometer are doing on any particular day. He’s very observant and always looking at the weather and how it changes during the day.
Another factor that I’ve just started to take into account is water colour, water level and salinity. I’m sure these all have a bearing on fish activity and feeding but trying to put it all together is a work in progress. I fish a couple of reasonably large estuary systems with limited tidal flow due to narrow inlets. The water level in these systems can rise and fall up to 450mm due to spring tides and rainfall. When the water levels are down the flats are shallower and don’t fish anywhere near as well. This can be during periods of no rainfall and neep tides. Tidal flow and rainfall also change the water salinity and clarity but measuring this is difficult for your average fisho.
Now, all fishing situations are different and some of the of the factors I’ve mentioned above may be completely irrelevant to your particular angling efforts but I’ll put money on some of them being very relevant. My advice would be to think about the factors that play a part in what you fish for and where and try to at least take them into consideration when planning a trip or while you are fishing. You might just find that your results improve if you can work out what is actually happening when you have a good day. Google or search some apps that give you the information you need to help plan a trip – you may just find it makes a big difference in your results.
