by John Kumiski
Searching For and Finding Fish
Here's the scenario- two anglers have a boat, and have begun fishing in a large bay in which neither have fished before. Do they have any chance of success?
It depends on how hard they search. A situation like this often requires extensive hunting. Many tips follow which will hopefully make the hunt a more successful one.
Begin the search by moving fairly rapidly, looking for any signs of life, especially bait. An area showing obvious signs of life will much more likely hold fish than a location which otherwise looks good, but has no bait. Sharks and rays may also indicate fish.
Work different types of habitats until you find fish. Points with water movement (especially with fallen trees), creeks, creek mouths, the windy side of bays, the sheltered side of bays, deep bays, shallow bays, drop-offs, channels, and oyster bars, are all locations that could hold fish. Work them all in succession, using common sense to guide your search.
For example, don't try the south side of a bay with the wind from the north and the temperature in the fifties. A more likely location on a day like this would be a mud-bottomed, wind-sheltered shoreline with sunshine warming the shallows. The fish could maintain a comfortable body temperature here, and could be persuaded to eat a well-presented fly. The windy side of a bay might be good on a warm day. The wave action oxygenates the water, and blows baitfish against the windward shoreline.
As a general rule, work creek mouths when water flows out of, rather than into, them. The current carries bait and gamefish know that.
Try around oyster bars or mangrove shorelines on the rising tide. The fish like to hunt in areas not accessible to them when the tide was low. Both the oysters and the mangroves hold plenty of small baitfish as well as shrimp and crabs, all of which your saltwater gamefish hold in high esteem as edibles.
Search aggressively! If you don't find the fish holding on a particular habitat type, for example oysters, don't waste time fishing around other oyster bars unless you actually see fish working there.
Birds have long been used by savvy anglers to locate fish. Anytime terns start diving and screaming, it’s easy to figure out that fish are underneath, piling into bait.
Wading birds such as great blue herons or great egrets also feed on baitfish. Anytime several of these birds work together in one area, they indicate the presence of bait. Most of the time predatory fish like snook or redfish will be there too, and sometimes the birds and the fish play the bait off of each other. Congregations of wading birds can certainly mean more to the fly fisher than simple aesthetics.
One technique which almost always works, but which requires a bit of observation and patience, involves looking for guide boats. Often several guides will be drifting with the current, casting through a productive zone. Once they finish passing through it, they'll motor back upcurrent BEING CAREFUL NOT TO MOTOR NEAR THE FISHY AREA, and make another drift. If you watch what they are doing and closely emulate it without getting in their way or spooking the fish, they will usually not mind your joining them.
Quite understandably, guides get touchy about sports who ruin the fishing. Keep in mind that in shallow water an outboard spooks fish from a long way off. Keep your approach quiet and treat others with respect and you will usually be welcomed.
Sight Fishing
Few angling experiences compare with actually seeing the fish in shallow water, casting to it, manipulating the fly, and watching the fish take. In order to succeed consistently you must have two items of equipment. The first is a billed or broad brimmed hat. The underside of the bill should be a dark color. The dark color reflects less light onto the face, reducing glare. You also need a pair of quality polarized sunglasses. The polarizing filters cut reflection from the water surface, making it easier to see into the water. The right glasses are very important.
The right attitude is even more important than the right equipment. It takes a certain degree of mental toughness and perseverance to get up in a boat or wade all day and really concentrate, trying to read signs that indicate fish. Concentration definitely is the key here, for without it success is impossible.
When you concentrate you see more fish. Seeing more fish means more shots at fish. The odds dictate that with more opportunities, you have more hookups. Now let's discuss what to look for.
Sometimes a fish betrays its presence in shallow water by causing disturbances on the water's surface. Fins, whether dorsal or caudal, are easy to spot, particularly when in motion. Sunlight sometimes reflects off of the caudal fins of tailing reds or bonefish, and you can see the flash from a surprising distance.
A fish cruising in shallow water pushes a wave up above it, a wave known as a wake. To visualize what this looks like, think of a submarine moving through the water only five feet below the surface. Would it make a disturbance on the surface? You bet it would!
Obviously, fish are smaller than submarines, but the principle is identical. Wakes are easily seen when it's calm. They're harder to see if it's windy, but it can still be done. Although a choppy water surface has a chaotic pattern to it, moving waves have a pattern. They all move in the same direction. The heights are all in a certain range. ANYTHING that breaks this pattern, that looks even slightly different, could be a fish and should be investigated, either visually or by casting up ahead of it.
The importance of looking into the water was stated earlier. Most fish on the flats do not put up flags telling their enemies of their whereabouts. Fish enter shallow water looking for a meal, but they still try to hide as well as they can. If you want to see them you have to train yourself to look and to see.
Again, look into the water. This is most easily done when there is little or no wind, the sun is high in the sky and at your back, there are no clouds, and the bottom is light in color. That you need clean water should go without saying. Tilt your head back and forth to find the most effective angle for your sunglasses.
Avoid staring at one spot. Keep your eyes scanning along the bottom, looking for any break in the patterns you see there. Scan in a pattern, back and forth, from close in to the boat to the limit of visibility and then back in close again. Develop your peripheral vision as well. Your skill and ability will improve as you practice.
What do you look for? Not a fish, but anything that might be a fish. Don’t expect to see a goldfish in a bowl. Most of the time you are looking for subtle clues that betray the presence of a fish. There are different kinds of clues. Muds are easily seen and are almost always caused by fish. Although the fish making them may be mullet or stingrays, gamefish frequently follow both. Investigate with a cast or two.
Look for any movement that breaks the patterns. The ubiquitous waves cast moving shadows on the bottom, a pattern that has already been mentioned. Look for any movement contrary to the patterns produced by the waves.
Sometimes you see the movement of the fish itself, or sometimes you see its shadow moving along the bottom as it swims. Either way you know there’s something there. Large tarpon over light sand bottoms are about the easiest of all fish to see this way. They look like big logs cruising through the water. I find seeing bonefish and seatrout the most difficult.
Look for flashes. When fish turn or roll on their sides, particularly while they're feeding, their sides catch and reflect light. This lasts for only a brief moment, but is easy to see and is a dead giveaway to the presence of fish. Tarpon and redfish will both do this for no apparent reason when they're happy. A flashing fish is a good thing to see.
Look for differences in color. The light cream color of their pectoral fins are often the only visible clue to the presence of redfish when they cruise over a dark grass bottom. Bonefish have a peculiar emerald color, unique and sometimes hard to see. Tough to spot, permit have silvery sides that reflect the bottom with incredible effectiveness. They do, however, have a dark outline which can be discerned by careful observation. Check out everything which might be a fish!
Watch underneath any birds like cormorants, pelicans, or great blue herons when they fly close to the water surface. As they pass over fish, the fish spook and jump, as if someone yelled "BOO!" at them without warning. I've taken some fine fish after a wading bird in flight tipped me off to their presence.
Sometimes your ears can direct you to your quarry. On a cold, windy day one winter I had an angler from Buffalo, N.Y. out on what I thought would be a futile search for fish. I heard
a splash and went to investigate, expecting to find mullet. We were happily surprised to see a big redfish tail waving at us in the chilly breeze. Tailing fish splash. Quiet anglers can hear them. The distinct feeding pops of trout or snook are very easy to hear. When a school of jacks jumps on a school of mullet it can sound like someone is dropping bowling balls into the water!
Another thing to look for are fishy-looking shapes. Sometimes the fish lay up. They're not cruising. They're not moving. They may be in an ambush mode, or sleeping, or just sunning themselves, but they certainly are motionless. Needless to say, they're hard to see and frequently very hard to catch when they do this.
If you see something that looks like it might be a fish, cast to it! Many times I have let my curiosity get the best of me and approached too closely. The fish let me know that it was actually a fish and not a piece of wood by streaking off towards deeper water, leaving me feeling fishless and foolish.
You usually can't see the entire fish. Seatrout are one of the hardest of all fish to spot. Their dark backs blend in perfectly with grass. They often lie motionless over grassy bottoms, particularly around the edges of sandy areas. While they do this they are almost impossible to see. Often the only clue you have to a trout's presence is its tail, a little lighter in color than the background, with a darker band along the back edge. Check it out with a cast!
Seatrout, especially the larger specimens, are one of the spookiest of all fish. They seldom let you get very close, and rarely eat after they flush. A good cast is the best form of investigation, unless you'd rather see fish than catch them.
One time I spotted what I thought was the motionless tail of a redfish in Mud Lake, a shallow, brackish Everglades pond. I cast beyond where the head should be, and was rewarded with a strike. It turned out to be one of my most unusual catches ever, a sawfish of about twenty-five pounds. Never ignore anything. You're a hunter and have to behave like one.
Try these techniques and practice. Practice a lot! As your seeing skills develop, you derive a lot of pleasure and pride in being able to see things that others can't. Not only will you catch more fish, you will get more enjoyment from all of your fishing. You'll be amazed at all the sights you were missing!
Blind-casting
Imagine for a moment in your mind's eye the perfect bonefishing scene. On a lovely, warm day you stand on the bow of a guided skiff. A gentle, cooling breeze ripples the surface of the shallow, crystal clear water. Bright sunshine illuminates the white sand bottom, clearly displaying the school of hundreds of bonefish greedily tailing for crabs and other crustaceans. The biggest bone of all time devours your perfectly presented fly, and you're off to the races.
Now let's talk reality. The highest tide in ten years picks the same weekend as your bonefishing trip, covering the flat with three feet of water. A heavy overcast with intermittent rain squalls combines with a hard wind blowing at 20 miles an hour with gusts. Can bonefish still be caught?
Both of these situations have happened to me, from heavenly to hellish and everything in between. With perseverance and some luck, bonefish can be caught in all of them.
Let's face it, most of us would rather sightfish. It's more interesting, and more exciting. But Mother Nature doesn't always cooperate. Wind, clouds, and high or dirty water can conspire to make sighting conditions less than ideal. If you want to hear the magic song of a reel in stress, you fish anyway. Simply deal with lousy conditions by blindcasting.
Let's discuss a few general rules for blindcasting. It really does involve more than just mindlessly casting a fly out into the water. If fishing a flat, pick one where you know fish feed. Obviously you won't catch any fish where there are none. All other things being equal, the fish feed on their favorite flats whenever the weather conditions allow. If you're there, you just might get a few.
Use the tips described in the sightfishing section to search the water you can see into for fish. If you see any, cast to them! There's no sense in turning down any good opportunities.
Keep casting your fly into the water where you cannot see. Although it depends on your direction of movement relative to the position of the sun, this will usually be the deeper water. Believe that fish are in there, and just keep casting.
Make long casts. You cover more water this way, giving more fish the chance to see your offering. You may periodically line fish, and you'll see the boils and muds they make as they flee. You may look at it as a fish you won't catch, but instead look at it as proof that you are working the right area. Spooked fish mean the fish are there! If you just keep casting you'll eventually get some.
As always, fly choice here can make the difference between success and failure. While sight fishing you usually want to use a fly that resembles a typical food item of the targeted species. When blind casting a brightly colored (or noisy) attractor pattern is often a better choice. Poppers, flies with rattles, flies that push a lot of water, or a fly rod lure like the Dupre SpoonFly would all be appropriate choices.
In many locations in the state you may not be fishing flats. Bass fishermen in freshwater tune in to the concept of structure. Many saltwater fish relate to structure, too. Stumps, docks, oyster bars, rocks, wrecks, points, fallen timber, drop-offs, creek mouths, seawalls, edges of grass beds and sandy bottoms; all of these types of irregularities and more attract and hold many species of fish. In snook country, points of land extending out into a current often hold fish, and if a fallen tree lies there so much the better. Experienced anglers recognize fishy looking areas. Use your judgment and trust your instincts.
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This excerpt was written by John Kumiski of John Kumiski Outdoors and Travel. Contact him at his website www.johnkumiski.com or via email at john@spottedtail.com. Copyright 2007 John Kumiski.
John Kumiski 's most recent fishing guidebooks are How and Where to Catch Redfish in the Indian River Lagoon System (Argonaut Publishing Company), and Fishing Florida's Space Coast (Argonaut Publishing Company).
John Kumiski's newest book is Redfish on the Fly- A Comprehensive Guide.
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