Fishing Techniques: Bait, Lures, Reading Water and Tides

The angler who goes home with a feed is rarely the one with the dearest gear. It’s the one standing at the right gutter, on the right stage of the tide, with a bait or lure moving the way local fish expect food to move.

This guide covers the main methods used around the country, then spends real time on the two skills that tie them together: reading water and fishing the tides. It finishes with fighting, landing and handling fish. New to all of it? Start with fishing basics and tackle basics.

Which Fishing Method Should You Start With?

Start with bait for quick bites, then add one lure style once you can read water.

Bait works on scent, so it keeps catching in dirty water, at night and on slow days. Lures work on movement and flash, so they shine in clean water and low light when predators are hunting. Most good anglers carry both and switch with the conditions.

One light spin outfit covers bait, plastics, small metals and surface lures in estuaries and on calm beaches. Specialist gear can wait.

How Do You Fish Bait Well?

Use the lightest sinker that holds bottom, the smallest hook that suits the bait, and fresh bait.

Heavy lead lets fish feel resistance and drop the bait, and it pins the bait in place when real food would roll with the current. Too much lead and too big a hook cost more bites than the wrong bait ever does.

• Running sinker: the sinker slides above a swivel, so fish take the bait without feeling weight. The default for estuaries and calm beaches.
• Paternoster: sinker at the bottom, baits on droppers above. Good on reef and in surf.
• Float: holds bait at a set depth for herring, garfish, mullet and luderick.
• Strayline: little or no weight, so the bait drifts down a burley trail. Deadly on snapper and bream.

Rig builds are in our fishing rigs guide, the knots in fishing knots, and bait choice in the bait guide.

Strike or wind? With a J hook, lift firmly once the rod loads. With circle hooks, don’t strike. Wind steadily until the rod bends and the hook rolls into the corner of the jaw. They also cut down gut-hooking, which matters if you release fish.

Burley little and often. A small handful every few minutes, drifting the same way as your bait, beats a bucket tipped in at once. You want to feed the fish, not fill them. The pilchard cube trail in our Shoal Bay snapper guide shows how.

How Do You Fish Soft Plastics?

Cast, let it sink to the bottom, lift the rod, and let it fall again. Most hits come on the drop.

A plastic falling back to the bottom looks like a prawn or baitfish trying to hide, and flathead lying half-buried facing the current can’t resist it. So watch your line on the drop: a tick, a sideways twitch or the line going slack early all mean a fish.

Jighead weight controls everything. Use the lightest one that still reaches bottom:

• 1/16 to 1/8oz on flats around 1-3m deep
• 1/4 to 3/8oz in channels and moderate current
• 1/2oz and up in 10m or more, or strong tide

Then pick a retrieve. Two short hops and a pause suits flathead. A slow roll just off the bottom suits mulloway and snapper. Bream like a small grub left almost still and twitched every few seconds. For soft vibes, a sharp lift so the lure shudders, then a flutter back down, is the go-to around wharf pylons at night, as in our Queens Wharf mulloway guide.

When Should You Use Metals, Hard-Bodies and Surface Lures?

Metals for distance and speed, hard-bodies for a set depth past structure, surface lures for shallow water and low light.

Metals and slices. Cast a 20-60g metal long, let it sink for a count, then wind fast. A quick retrieve triggers a chase from tailor, salmon, herring and mackerel; slow it down and they inspect it and turn away. It’s the standard method in surf gutters like those in our Bunker Bay salmon guide.

Hard-bodied minnows. The bib sets the diving depth, so pick one that runs just above the bottom or the snags. Bream on rock walls, bass and cod on timber, and mangrove jack in snags all eat them. Bump the structure, then pause. That stall looks like a stunned baitfish.

Surface lures. Poppers spit water when you snap the rod; stickbaits walk side to side with rhythmic twitches. In shallow water prey can only escape upwards, so predators push it to the surface. Whiting chasing 50-60mm poppers over summer flats, as in our Swan River topwater whiting guide, is hard to beat. Don’t strike at the splash. Keep the lure moving until you feel weight.

How Do Jigging, Trolling and Fly Fishing Work?

Jigging works fish deep under the boat, trolling finds roaming pelagics, and fly presents small, light flies.

Jigging. Drop the jig to the bottom and work it up with fast winds and rod sweeps, or short lifts that let it flutter back. Keep the line close to vertical, because a jig at an angle stops working and snags. Kingfish on offshore reef need heavier jigs, as covered in our Gold Coast kingfish guide. Inshore, 20-60g micro jigs catch snapper, trevally and flathead in 10-40m.

Trolling. Every lure has a speed where it swims properly, so check each one beside the boat before letting it out. Work edges and current lines: reef edges, drop-offs and bait schools. Use wire for Spanish mackerel, whose teeth slice mono.

Fly. The line’s weight does the casting, not the fly. A 6-8 weight covers estuary bream, whiting and flathead; barramundi and pelagics need 8-10 weight. Learn on grass, then start on clear, shallow flats.

Should You Drift or Anchor, and Fish From Land or a Boat?

Drift to find fish spread over sand or broken reef. Anchor when you know where they are.

• Drifting: start up-wind or up-current and let the boat carry your baits across the area. It suits flathead and whiting on sand and snapper on scattered reef. A drift sock slows you in wind.
• Anchoring: anchor up-current so burley and baits wash back over the reef, with at least three times the depth in anchor rope.
• Land-based: you can’t chase fish, so fish where they pass: points, rock walls, jetties, river mouths and gutters. Timing matters more from shore.
• Boat: opens up offshore reef but adds bar crossings and weather. Read our fishing safety guide first.

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Reading Water

Fish sit where depth, current and structure change, because that’s where food comes to them.

They want to ambush a meal for little effort, close to shelter and close to a current that delivers it. Every feature below is a version of that. Learn to spot them and you stop casting into empty water.

Beach gutters and banks

A gutter is a deeper channel running along the beach between the shore and a sandbank. It looks darker and smoother, and waves roll through it or re-form after breaking on the bank. A bank is shallow sand: lighter in colour with white water on top. Deep holes show as dark patches.

Whiting, bream, salmon, tailor and mulloway travel the gutters. The best water is usually the edge where the bank drops into the gutter, because waves wash worms, pipis and small fish off the bank into it. The ends of a gutter, where it opens to the sea, are just as good.

Rips

A rip is a current carrying water back out to sea. Surf Life Saving Australia’s rip current guide lists the signs: darker water, fewer breaking waves, a rippled surface among smooth water, and foam or sandy water moving out past the break.

Fish rarely sit in the strongest flow. They hold on the edges and at the tail of the rip, where the current slows and spreads. Cast across it and let your bait swing into the edge.

Rocks, structure and shadow lines

The wash, the white water around rocks, gives fish cover and knocks crabs and small fish loose. Salmon, tailor, drummer and bream feed in it. Cast where the white water fades to green, because predators wait just outside the foam. Watch the swell for at least 15 minutes before stepping onto a ledge, and wear a lifejacket. In parts of NSW it’s the law.

Rock walls, bridge pylons, jetties, oyster racks, fallen timber and weed beds all hold fish. In current, predators sit in the slow water behind a pylon or boulder, facing up-current, so cast up-current and let your bait swing past. At night the shadow line under a lit jetty is prime water: bait gathers in the light and predators wait in the dark edge.

Colour changes and edges

Any edge between two kinds of bottom or water is worth a cast:

• Sand to weed: whiting and flathead feed along the sand edge; squid sit over the weed.
• Flat to channel: classic flathead water, especially on the run-out as the flat drains.
• Dirty to clean water: after rain, predators sit on the clean side of the line, ambushing bait pushed out with the fresh.
• The salt wedge: salty water pushes upstream under the fresh, and fish follow it, as explained in our Clyde River bream guide.

Current seams and signs of life

A current seam is where fast water meets slow, often marked by a line of ripples, foam or debris. Fish hold on the slow side and dart out to grab food. Points, river bends, pylons and river mouths all make them. Drift your bait along the seam at the current’s speed.

Birds diving, bait showering, nervous water on a calm day and oily slicks all mean fish are feeding. When birds are working, cast to the edge of the action, not the middle.

Tides

Tides move water, and moving water moves food.

For most saltwater and estuary fishing, the hours of strongest flow and the turn of the tide fish best. Which stage is best depends on the water you’re fishing.

How tides work around Australia

• East and south-east coasts: mostly two highs and two lows a day, each arriving about 50 minutes later than the day before.
• South-west WA: around Fremantle, mostly one high and one low a day, with a range often under 1m. Wind and air pressure can shift the level as much as the tide.
• The Kimberley: ranges over 10m in places like King Sound, with currents like a river.
• Estuaries: high and low water arrive later the further you are from the mouth, and current can keep running past the predicted turn.

Run-in, run-out and slack water

• Run-in (rising, flood or incoming): water flows into estuaries and up the beach.
• High water: the top of the tide, when current eases and goes slack.
• Run-out (falling, ebb or outgoing): water drains off flats and out of mangroves and estuaries.
• Low water: the bottom of the tide, another slack before the turn.

Moving water carries prawns, crabs, worms and baitfish, so fish switch on when food is delivered. During slack water they often spread out and rest. The exception is deep, fast spots like bridges and harbour channels, where the turn is the only time you can hold a bait down. That’s why many mulloway anglers fish the hour either side of slack.

Which tide is best?

Local patterns beat general rules. East coast estuary anglers often chase flathead in the last two hours of the run-out and first hour of the run-in, and bream as they push onto the flats on the run-in. Port Stephens locals prefer the run-out for snapper because it carries burley further. Note the tide stage for every fish you catch and within a season you’ll know your own spots.

Tide height and the rule of twelfths

Height matters as much as direction. A flat with 30cm of water won’t hold much until the tide covers it, and some gutters only fish from half tide up. Scout at low tide; fish shallow cover at high.

On a regular six-hour tide, the rule of twelfths shows when water moves fastest:

• Hours 1 and 6: 1/12 of the range each
• Hours 2 and 5: 2/12 each
• Hours 3 and 4: 3/12 each

The middle two hours move half the water, so that’s the strongest current. It works well on the east coast, less so in south-west WA where tides are small and irregular.

Spring tides, neap tides and the moon

The moon’s main effect on fishing is through the tides:

• Spring tides come around the new and full moon, often peaking a day or two after. Bigger range, stronger currents. Nothing to do with the season.
• Neap tides come around the quarter moons. Smaller range, gentler flow.

Big springs flood mangroves and drains and empty them hard on the run-out, which is why barramundi, mangrove jack and mulloway anglers plan around them. The cost is dirtier water and current too strong for deep spots, where neaps fish easier. Moonlight matters too: fish can feed all night under a bright full moon, while dark nights make lit jetties more effective. Beyond tides and light, most moon theory is anecdotal.

How to use BOM tide predictions

The Bureau of Meteorology publishes free tide predictions for hundreds of Australian locations.

When Is the Best Time of Day to Fish?

Dawn and dusk, ideally lined up with a moving tide.

Low light gives predators the edge and gets baitfish moving. Be fishing before first light, not arriving as the sun comes up.

• Night: mulloway, bream, snapper in shallow water, and anything around lit jetties.
• Middle of the day: fish deeper water, shaded structure or sea breeze chop. Overcast days keep the bite going.
• Weather: many anglers find fish feed hard as the barometer falls ahead of a front, then go quiet for a day or two after it passes.
• Season: water temperature drives runs like autumn salmon in WA and winter tailor on the east coast. Our species guides cover the timing.

How Do You Fight and Land a Big Fish?

Set the drag before you cast, keep a steady bend in the rod, and plan the landing before you hook up.

Drag first. About a quarter to a third of the line’s breaking strain is a good rule, so roughly 1.5-2kg on 6kg line. Pull line off through the guides by hand to check it, and set it to the leader if that’s lighter than the main line. The drag is your shock absorber: lock it up and a head shake snaps you off; set it too light and the fish reaches the reef. I’ve lost more good fish to a drag left where the shop set it than to anything else.

Pump and wind. Lift the rod smoothly to about 45-60 degrees, then wind as you lower it. Don’t wind a spin reel while the fish is taking line, because it only twists the line. Use side strain, the rod low and to one side, to turn a fish’s head away from snags. Snag dwellers like mangrove jack, cod and reef kingfish must be stopped in the first few metres; in open water, let the drag tire the fish.

Landing:

• Beach: walk backwards and let a wave wash the fish up. Never drag it against the backwash.
• Rocks: use the swell to lift the fish onto a flat ledge, or use a long-handled net or gaff.
• Jetties: use a drop net. Lifting a heavy fish on the line breaks rod tips and leaders.
• Boat: net the fish head-first. Don’t chase its tail.

Handling. Wet your hands and support big fish horizontally under the belly, never hanging them by the jaw. Cut the line on a gut-hooked fish instead of ripping the hook out. Reef fish like snapper from deep water can suffer barotrauma, a swollen swim bladder, so return them with a release weight. Fish you keep should be brain-spiked, bled and put straight into an ice slurry: quicker for the fish and far better eating. Check size and bag limits on our fishing regulations page first.

Your Questions About Fishing Techniques

Is it better to fish the run-in or the run-out tide?

What is the best time of day to go fishing?

Does the moon phase affect fishing?

Should a beginner use bait or lures?

How do I find a gutter on a beach?

Is slack water worth fishing?

Why am I not getting any bites?

What drag setting should I use?

How far out should I cast from the beach?

Can you catch fish in the middle of the day?

Put these fishing techniques to work at one of our fishing spots, match your bait with the bait guide, and check your rigs against the fishing rigs guide before your next session.