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Attracting Fish
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Berley to get the fish to come in to you.
Carefull not to over berley.
You are attracting fish, not feeding them.
A small amount often.
Makes a continual trail down the current.
Brings the fish into where you are fishing.
Use pilchard heads, and bits of the bait you are fishing with.
Oily fish like Tuna make great berley and bait.
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Finding Fish
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If you are new to an area drifting is a good way to cover some ground and locate fish.
Keep an eye on the sounder for likely looking structures and fish.
Might be a good spot to anchor.
Try to position the boat in the wind and current so that it drifts sideways.
You then fish from the side that faces where you have been.
This keeps the lines out from directly under the boat, and saves on tangles.
Be carefull to pull your line a few winds out of the coral when drifting.
Otherwise you will keep on hitting the coral and getting snagged.
Also be aware when drifting that the line can drag and lift the bait out of the strike zone.
Pay attention to the line, and let small amounts out if needed so you stay down near the bottom.
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A Trout Tip
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You need to move around a bit to target trout.
They seem teritorial and you only find the one or two in one spot.
If you are anchored, you can let 10 meters or so of anchor rope out.
This will move you over another area of coral.
Might be another couple there.
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Using Braid
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If you are fishing with braid always have a mono leader on the end.
Gives something to break off if you get snagged.
Never grab the braid directly to land a fish or break off a snag.
It will cut right through your fingers.
When spooling up with braid, always have a backing of mono line on the spool first.
This stops the braid from slipping around the spool.
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De Snagging
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When you fish around reefs, you will get caught on the bottom from time to time.
You have to break your line off so you can continue to fish.
Never try to bust of the line with the rod.
First try giving a bit of slack line, a running sinker will sometimes pull the hook off the reef.
Point the rod directly at the line, hold the reel so that the line cannot come off, and then pool backwards.
If this does not break the line, get something like a donger and use that to break the line.
Pull the line and wrap it around the donger.
Saves having the line cut through your fingers.
Keeping on pulling and wrapping the line around the donger until it breaks.
It should break down near the bottom of the leader if you do it this way.
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Preserve Your Catch
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Bottom fish provide excellent table fair.
To get the most out of your catch you need to treat it properly after you catch it.
Have a box or bucket you can put the fish directly into when landing.
Don't let them flop around in the bottom of the boat.
This can cause bruising of the fish, as well as coating the bottom of the boat with fish slime.
Makes the deck very slippery and dangerous.
Kill the fish quickly, with a donger or spike.
Do this before taking the hooks out, especially with agressive toothy creatures.
Bleeding the fish, especially tropical species, upon capture greatly improves the quality of the flesh.
To bleed cut througth the throat area and gills.
Keep fish out of direct sunlight.
If you cannot ice the catch immediately, a wet heshian bag over the fish will keep them cool for a while.
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Releasing Fish
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When you plan to release a fish, try to keep it in the water when you remove the hooks and release it.
If you have are releasing it from in the boat, spear it head first into the water.
You can revive a fish by moving it headfirst through the water, forces water over the gills.
For large fish, hold them and motor the boat forward to get the water moving over the gills.
Fish caught in deep water can have trouble returning because of their swim bladder.
This is what they use to control their depth.
The air in the bladder expands rapidly as you pump the fish up to the surface.
You will sometimes see parts of the fishes stomach coming from its mouth or anus.
To release these fish, you have to let the air out of their swim bladder.
The bladder is located just behind the pectoral fin.
A sharp pointy knife or spike can be used to pierce the bladder.
When you get it right you will hear air escaping.
The bladder will heal in time, and this gives the fish the best chance of making it back down.
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Baiting Up
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Cut baits of fresh fish are great for bottom fishing.
Either using small fish caught from the bottom, or small pelagics caught trolling.
Most of these fish have tough skins and some have scales.
The point of the hook must be exposed out of the skin and scales.
Trying to set the hook in the fishes mouth through that extra layer just makes it harder for you.
Sometimes when forcing the hook out through the skin you push so hard you mush up the bait, ruining it.
You can cut small holes through the skin of the bait, and then thread the hook through the holes.
The oily flesh of tuna is excellent bait, though the flesh is very soft.
This can make it easy for the smaller fish to steal your bait.
Using the parts with skin still attached can make the bait stay on longer.
Other parts of the tuna can be used as berley.
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