Holiday Family Fishing Fun

By Joey Urquhart

Christmas holidays are one of the busiest times on the water but given it’s normally a break away from the hustle and bustle of daily life it’s good to wet a line regardless. With a few simple tips you can maximise your chances of catching a feed of fish over the summer break and get the kids hooked on a fantastic past time.

Dodge the crowds

Dodging the boat traffic would have to be number one rule while fishing at this time of year. I recommend hitting the water first thing or last thing during the day while most are back at camp. If this doesn’t work for your family, try and head up a side creeks or back channels were the traffic may be less. Not only will there be less traffic, but you may find that you will be able to dodge that afternoon sea breeze.

Location is key

No matter the area you decide to fish try and locate a drop off where the water depth changes. This time of year, your bread and butter species are bream, whiting and flathead so hunting these drops offs definitely increases your chances. Like always just after and before a tide change can be the best times to concentrate on these areas. Having the water moving up on to the flat or when it’s draining off pulling the bait with it can cause the fish to school up where it’s moving through, and this is where you can experience some great fishing. Not only do sand flats hold great fish but it’s great fishing for kids with minimal structure for them to get snagged on so they can enjoy their time more. 

Tackle talk 

Keeping your tackle simple is key to some great success. A 6’6”-7’, 2-5kg rod matched up with a 2500 reel spooled with 6-10lb mono will do everything you need in your local estuary. Fishing with kids can be “interesting” at times so fishing with straight-through mono takes the stress away of having to retire leaders constantly so you can concentrate on enjoying the day. You don’t need to spend a fortune on a set up for this style of fishing, the Daiwa D-Shock combos come in three sizes and are a great starting point and fantastic value already coming spooled up ready to roll.

Now you have your rod and reel sorted rigging it up is where people over complicate it. A simple sinker above a swivel with a 30cm trace of around 10lb down to a size 4 or 2 bait holder style hook is all you need. The sinker size can vary depending on the water depth and current but a size 1 is a good all-rounder.

Bait choices

Now you have your spot and tackle already to go selecting the correct bait can be crucial. Prawns are a hard to beat as an all-round bait that will work in almost every estuary. If you’re wanting to be more species specific opt for worms for your whiting and whitebait for your flathead. If the estuary has recently had some flood water come down and is quite dirty squid can also be a great go to all round bait.

Using fresh caught yabbies can sometimes be very hard to beat on any system and it also offers hours of fun with your kids pumping them of the flats.

Well, I hope this helps your family catch a few more fish over the holiday break and remember most of all, As long as the kids are having fun that’s the main thing.