Gayford with a yellowfin tuna caught pulling plastic. Photo / Mike Bhana
Gayford with a yellowfin tuna caught pulling plastic. Photo / Mike Bhana
Don't be afraid to embarrass yourself.
Every summer in Gisborne I embark on my annual "take a dad fishing" trip. It always starts out well — good bonding time — but before long the sojourns typically slide into the same old arguments around his archaic depth-sounder and "old school" fishing techniques.
Now, I owe my dad everything when it comes to fishing and foraging. His introduction and patience helped me develop the Kiwi way of life. But, over time my passion expanded as I pawed religiously over every-single-big-print edition of Fishing News. This meant Dad's approach to fishing stayed staid while junior here went fad-chasing.
It was a shiny, classic silver grim-reaper jig that first strayed me from the more traditional hook/bait path. This slippery slope led me then to succumb to softbaits, bend to bottom-ships, itch for inchikus, spend on speed jigs, before slipping into sliders. And that's just bottom lure fishing. Don't even start me on poppers, stickbaits or dare I mention it, pulling-plastic. (Apologies to anyone who hasn't understood a word of this last paragraph, but let's just roll with it.)
Don't get me wrong, one of the best pieces of fishing advice I've ever had is, "don't ever think you are too cool to use a flasher rig".
(If you don't know what a "flasher rig" is, here's a hint: It's nowhere near as sexy as it looks in print.)
But by adding different techniques to your bag of fish-catching tricks, you not only improve your odds, but I find it makes time on the water that much more interesting.
Each trip becomes like a good puzzle that, as an angler, you are forever trying to figure out. A warning, however, that the search for the magic fish-pulling combination is endless, addictive, and filled with constant contradictions.
The main failure that I've witnessed people make when trying something new, is that it often happens as the last resort on a day when you've tried everything else. A miracle cast, a pitch into the wilderness, a last resort-roll of the fishing dice.
The trouble with this approach is that if the fishing's bad, well, often the fishing is just bad, and nothing will fix this.
The other problem some have is not spending the time needed to give it a proper go. Sometimes, especially with lure fishing, patience is tested as you don't feel the nibbles you may get with bait to tease you along. Of course the flip to this, is that you do eventually get the big fat wallop of a fish hitting your lure at pace and screaming off into the sunset. I got excited writing that.
So if you are like me and keen to get your Pops to change his spots (never going to happen) or perhaps you would like to try something new yourself, the most important advice I can possibly offer is to: fail.
Or at least be prepared to fail.
Early morning lure casting from a beach. Photo / Supplied
I became convinced on soft bait fishing only after leaving all fish bait at home on several trips — forcing myself to try it properly. It was really frustrating at first but over time, as you figure out what works and how, it becomes an extremely user-friendly technique that often lands bigger fish more consistently. Not to mention how much tidier it leaves your boat. It's also something you can try quickly if your sounder lights up with action and a rod is in reach.
Another piece of advice I'd offer is: don't be afraid to embarrass yourself.
New techniques can look and feel odd while you get used to them. Things like casting lures at marker buoys, getting your wrist action right on a micro jig, or the worst: "speed jigging", which at best looks like you just touched an electric fence, and at worst are having a seizure.
It's an odd mechanical rhythm to learn, but it can be lethal in the right conditions. Last summer I gave an inexperienced angler, who had never caught a legal kingfish a land-lesson on a balcony.
With this new set of skills we went out the next morning and on her second drop she landed a fine 12kg specimen. She released that fish and later went on to become Prime Minister. Coincidence? Maybe not.
Fishing really is a lifetime pursuit of piscatorial cat and mouse. As you develop new techniques, the mental challenge of how best to approach each trip only improves with your expanding arsenal.
