What I find amusing is that most of the people complaining about not being able to go fishing put their fishing gear away as soon as the weather cools down and it stays away until next summer.

Yeah I know the weather was stunning for two weeks but looking out my window now I can see my sheep looking grateful for their warm waterproof coats.

The trick with autumn & winter fishing is to pick your days but doesn’t that apply anyway? Of course part of that is to be prepared for the cold and changeable weather. Snapper especially like the easy food and shelter provided by reefs where they don’t need to use too much energy in their hunt for food as their metabolism slows.

Those reef structures can be in both deep and shallow water. Other species such as gurnard and trevally are abundant in the harbour once the water cools a little.

If it comes to the worst there are plenty of things you can do. For instance learning new knots, I’m sure you will find some how to’s here on this site. If you’re a braid fisherman do yourself a favour and learn the relatively easy FG knot.

It’s the best and easiest knot I know for joining mono to braid. Give your gear a clean – take the reels off the rods and give them both a gentle scrub and spray with WD40 or similar.

If you have a boat make sure there’s no water sitting in the hull and that the batteries are fully charged. Battery life is greatly reduced if they are kept in an uncharged state. Teach yourself how to sharpen a knife, a truly sharp knife makes filleting much easier.

There’s a heap of stuff you can do that will pay off for you.

Take care, Michael

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