Find the schooling fish, find the bites
Steven Pryke

The winter blues have begun to settle in with frequent days of horrid weather. Fishing has still been reasonably productive with large schools of silver trevally haunting the tidal channel in search of white bait and other food sources. The jetties and deep channels are holding schooling bream, but locating them has been hard. Use a quality depth sounder to help locate the schools.

Our local town wharves have schools of silver trevally and mullet, which are frequently being caught. Anglers targeting these fish have been getting great responses bait fishing with a weighted float and either peeled prawns or pilchard fillets. Fish close to cover and allowing the current flow to move the bait naturally.

Our local bream have started their usual winter patterns of schooling in deeper water usually around some form of structure like a moored boat or jetty. Anglers have found consistent results on a combination of heavy weighted grub style lures and blades in a range of colours. Natural olive and black colours have been the go-to choices.

For good results at this time of year it’s important to cover a large amount of water in search of these productive schools. Once located, these schools can see an angler pull at three or four bream from the same area before moving on. At this time of year it is a great bonus to be in a kayak or boat fitted with quality depth sounders, as they make it easier to locate schools. This means you have more time fish in productive areas.

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