0
0
Subtotal: $0.00
No products in the cart.

FISHMAS EXTENDED ENDS IN...

Days
Hours
Minutes
Seconds
BLACK FRIDAY SALE ENDS IN…
Hours
Minutes
Seconds

FINDING FINGERMARK SALE ENDS IN...

Days
Hours
Minutes
Seconds
Ben-G-barramundi_-600x300-1-qj3ppguesbzqkjolo5gm57jydtzqsb9q9pz0sqi8hs

Advanced Fishing Techniques: Casting Angles

Barra Basics students Ben Weston and Ben Gilbertson had a cracker session on the barra using some advanced casting techniques we teach in Barra Basics. 

Changing the Angle of the Dangle…

Barramundi can be a fickle or somewhat frustrating species to target with consistent results.  And I should know after 35+ years as a barramundi fishing guide.

As one of the pioneers of the fishery (catching the first ever metery on braid and the largest fish caught on Australian TV) I have piled hours and hours of time and frustration into these things. Years of trial and error and observation have resulted in some amazing insights and joining the dots of the barra jigsaw puzzle. 

If you’ve completed the Barra Basics (BB) Course you will know my Barra framework, but those who may be sitting on the fence and contemplating participating in the course, this framework has been developed in short to put you in the right place at the right time, using the correct techniques to maximise your results.  Or ‘Fish Smarter’!

When you target barra on a regular basis, both on lures or baits you will continue to learn and grow in knowledge of the species.  Environmental conditions differ from place to place, so fish in each location may respond to differing techniques.  The long and the short of it is the more you fish, the more you learn. 

As Ben writes, “During my last trip before the close of the 2016 season, while fishing with a good mate of mine and fellow BB student Ben Gilbertson, we implemented a very valuable tool which we learned from Ryan Moody’s Barra Basics that could be the difference in making your results luring for them somewhat more fruitful.”

Simply, Cast Angles!

Typically most anglers anchor behind the school of fish down current and cast forward of the school (into the current).
 
The disadvantage is, fish have a smaller reaction time in the dirty murky water they typically inhabit. Especially when they are in a dormant state in holes and on ledges. It’s like facing a Dennis Lillee bouncer. It comes at you so quick that the reaction time is minimal and the bite rate is reduced.
 
However there are other ways to present lures to fish when they are in a dormant state, that allows the fish to see the lure a lot longer and gives them a bit of a heads up. 
 
Lures with contrast can also be a bit of an advantage (stripes) in these areas. 
 

DONT BE AFRAID TO CHANGE IT UP.

Ben offers this advice…

“As humans we can sometimes get stuck into what we have always known, after all we are creatures of habit.

During this session we caught 14 barra, ranging from 65 cm to a beautiful 104 cm specimen and it wasn’t a fluke.

Applying the Barra Basics framework and changing up my cast angles from the conventional casting forward of the boat and hopping the lure back to the boat with the current, to changing the position of the boat to give them an alternative look at my lure (in this case using an Ecooda Live Shrimp). This produced far more consistent hook ups or bites.

Ben Gilbertson catches big barramundi in Rockhampton_
Ben Gilbertson catches nice Rocky barra among many others
Westo with a Rockhampton barramundi_
Westo with a Rockhampton saltie barramundi
Westo with nice tagged barramundi
Yet another barra tagged during the “tagfest”.
Cast angles helped capture this metre plus barramundi for Rockhampton angler
Cast angles helped capture this metre plus barramundi for Barra Basics student Ben Gilbertson

It became pretty obvious to us after a couple of fish that a lure presented differently made it more appealing or realistic to this particular school of fish.  It became the norm that every 2 casts resulted in either a hook up or bump, which I think one would agree pretty solid evidence that there was something in changing up the cast angle.”

MASTERY OF BARRA TAKES TIME AND EFFORT.

Mastering estuary fish is a lot more challenging that bottom bouncing on the reef as many people chasing their first metre plus barra will attest.

The key to my success has been to continue to learn and don’t rule out anything, try everything. 

Admittedly, this was probably easier 30 years ago, when fish numbers where abundant and changing things up was noticebable. e.g. a white lure with one angler and dark lure with another, catching 5 fish vs 17 fish – is an evident win for the dark lure.

However when the ratio is only 1 vs 2, its not a pattern you can build on. You need the numbers. 

Hence the Barra Basics framework was developed based on thousands of fish caught and now our students are winning from the shortcut the course provides. 

If you’d like to know more about the Barra Basics course, putting people like Ben Weston and Ben Gilbertson onto quality fish consistently, click the button below.

Additional posts on casting and luring can be found on the links below;

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Picture of Ryan Moody
Ryan Moody
Ryan Moody started his fishing career on the reef boats before catching bucket list marlin for the likes of champion heavy tackle angler Johnno Johnson, INXS and the King of Sweden. Branching out in the late 80's to guided barramundi fishing, Ryan has made a name for himself as a Big Barramundi specialist and to date has put clients onto over 2000 metre plus barra. That is over 2 kilometres of metre plus barra! With attitudes changing from 'keep all you can' towards catch and release, Ryan has decided to share his extensive knowledge and hopefully inspire people of all ages to get out from behind the computer screen/TV and into the fishing outdoors lifestyle he has spent his life perfecting.
Picture of Ryan Moody
Ryan Moody
Ryan Moody started his fishing career on the reef boats before catching bucket list marlin for the likes of champion heavy tackle angler Johnno Johnson, INXS and the King of Sweden. Branching out in the late 80's to guided barramundi fishing, Ryan has made a name for himself as a Big Barramundi specialist and to date has put clients onto over 2000 metre plus barra. That is over 2 kilometres of metre plus barra! With attitudes changing from 'keep all you can' towards catch and release, Ryan has decided to share his extensive knowledge and hopefully inspire people of all ages to get out from behind the computer screen/TV and into the fishing outdoors lifestyle he has spent his life perfecting.

Sounder

SKILLS 1

SEARCH

FILTER BY CATEGORIES

FILTER BY CATEGORIES

FIND POSTS USING TAGS

FREE

TRAINING

ONLINE

COURSES

TACKLE

SHOP

SHOP NOW