Finding new ground is the best way to guarantee a good days fishing.
Much to the annoyance of my wife and kids, I’m always doing detours and circles. Stopping to look at any anomaly that
appears on my sounder.
It can make a trip from A to B rather long haha.
But if you know
what you’re doing with your sounder, you can find amazing hidden gems that hold great fish.
Some days though I just run out with a goal of doing little more than finding new ground.
Especially when I go to a new area.
Move to Cairns
About a month ago we bought a house in Cairns.
While I’ve fished out of Cairns in the marlin boats for nearly a decade in my twenties.
And I’ve also fished here on and off since then looking for My
passion: Wonky Holes.
I’ve not done a great deal of fishing here.
water boat ramp on a quest to find new ground
Benefits of finding new ground.
Aside from the fact that untouched spots generally hold good fish, there are other benefits.
Fish are not so lure shy and one can often use lures when you first pull up to great effect.
They will also often bite in these locations in less than optimum conditions (not the best tide or wind direction).
Specimens are often bigger in these locations.
My rule of thumb when finding a productive new spot
is not to fish it out.
So I try and limit catches to one or two fish per spot then move on and look for other productive ground.
Sometimes you can find another little gem nearby.
important if fishing deeper water to move on after one or two fish and not decimate the whole school. Otherwise you just
shoot yourself in the foot!
Kane with his first ever Nanny-gai. Third spot found. Third fish caught. Pretty much each fish was caught on the first
drop at each spot. Dinner sorted!
Case in point
With the intention of locating some local honey holes not far offshore, I headed out of Cairns Blue water Marina.
I like to find spots inshore as it reduces the chance of getting smashed when the weather turns crap.
I’m getting old and soft haha.
And as if to prove the point, the day was average in terms of fishability.
In other words it was neap tides with a light northerly breeze.
Because for the average fisho, you can’t always pick the weather on your days off.
Herein lies the benefits of spending some time looking and less time fishing.
It will pay off by finding new ground holding big fish.
Sometimes not too far offshore.
Watch the video below as we head off finding new ground and catching good fish.
Gear Used
- 20 lb Noeby Jig stick NBSJ631M (no longer available). Try a Salty Dog Custom rod instead.
- Quantum Smoke 40
Spin Fishing Reel - 20 lb Rovex braid.
- Twitch 80g jig (no longer available). Use Levitator 80g instead.
I hope by now you can see the benefits of finding new ground.
To do so it will also help if you have a good grasp of your sounder settings.
We offer a comprehensive course on how to best use your sounder called Sounder Skills 2.
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