Estuary Fishing Basics
Estuaries are partly enclosed coastal bodies of saltwater. Most estuaries have a free connection to the sea within one or more rivers or streams flowing into it. Estuaries are great for fishing and diving because some species exist only in this zone whilst others move through them at some point depending on the season. Here are some key points to remember for spearfishing in estuaries:
Check Legal Restrictions
Check your local regulation because in a lot of places, particularly in New South Wales, you cannot dive in the estuaries, so make sure it's legal before you go ahead and do this.
Locate Your Fish
If it's legal in your area, find a little sand edge. You'll probably see some mangroves on the edge of the river. It’s a good idea to start your dive an hour before high tide, to get a good hour of moving water. You won't have to do any kicking, you'll just drift in with the tide. You will feel no water movement, and that's the peak of the tide. From there, dive probably the last half hour after high tide, start being pulled back out, and you can probably get out of the water at the same spot you came in. But what you'll see is, in amongst mangroves on that little gradient of sand edge coming off the sides of the river, that's where you'll find flathead, bream and luderick up in the shallows, and whiting as well.
How To Catch Your Fish
In situations like this, it’s better to have a nice short gun, a one meter or a 90cm. For some species, you'll just need a standard speed spear, which can be really hard for whiting or flathead, it's really easy for them to tear out after they’ve been shot. So having an estuary set up is really nice. You can change your spear to a threaded spear with a pranger head. That is effectively six barbs, and once you've hit that fish, they open up and they've all got six barbs on the inside of them. That holds onto the fish making it a lot easier for you to land a fish like a flathead.
A big thing to think about is shot placement with these fish as well. The closer you hit it to the head, the more likely you’ll be to stone the fish, making it much easier to retrieve. Make sure your shot placement is correct. There's nothing worse than losing a fish or shooting a fish and hurting it for no reason, so taking your shot placement seriously is important.
If you need additional tips and guidance on how to properly get started with spearfishing, visit theAdreno Spearfishing Blog now! You can also check out our massive range ofspearfishing gear at the lowest prices!
