About 3 years ago a couple of friends and I went to fish the Sharjah Corniche. The high winds and rough water stirred up the bottom making the water not only muddy, but almost impossible to fish in. While the crashing waves mercilessly pounded the breakwaters, the biting cold and receding tide made this morning a real challenge to fish, not only for us but also for the others fishing around us. An old adage rang true to the dot that morning: “The best time for man to fish, isn’t necessarily the best time for the fish to bite.”
The only reason why we “risk” each weekend is because the obligations of life make it hard for us to do the things we love on a daily basis so we do what we can, when we can.
Trudging back to the car, I noticed my friends sitting idly on the rocks at the edge of the beach. 
One asked if I was able to find a fishable area, my answer was a cold and flat “no”. Surveying the area immediately near where we were parked, I saw a possible place. “It’s time to change tactics, I’m done playing around…time to catch some fish!” Harry, a big red headed German guy I grew up with in the Philippines, laughs and said “I’ll give you 50 Dirhams for each fish you catch. “Ok, you’re on!” I said with a sheepish smile. “This is almost like taking candy from a baby” I said to myself.
I gingerly walked the wet rocks and got pounded by the crashing waves twice before I found a suitable casting platform, an arching cast sent my small Yo-zuri crystal minnow close to the rocks, the winds made it especially challenging to cast, but my cast was true and hit the mark I wanted to hit. On my second cast, a fish inhales the lure. From the tussle that ensued, it felt like a good fish, the fish gave me a few scares by running close to the rocks.Normally, with heavier tackle, I would be able to pressure the fish towards deeper water, but with thin diameter monofilament, a light rod and fishing dangerously close to rocks, it was a task even a titan would have trouble with.
I somehow managed to tire the fish out and out of the murky waters came quite a surprising catch: A 2kilo Golden Trevally. Harry, being the wise guy he is, said it was luck and it didn’t count. So I would have to catch another one to win the wager.
My lure flew back to the same area and almost instantly, I hooked up again. This was followed by a few more fish until finally, I said I had enough. Harry said “ok, I owe you 50 Dirhams…but that’s it because you were cheating.”
Is it Luck or skill?
Being able to find fish in challenging conditions isn’t a matter of casting out your lure on a prayer. It takes some understanding and knowledge to be able to consistently get the results you want, in our case, it’s to get a fish to bite.
The reason why I was successful that day was because I knew that the highest probability of finding fish was in that single area I found. Amidst the turbid water, I found a “crack” of clear water near the rocks, going towards deeper water. This area had a patch that could hold some fish. In that situation 3 years ago, I was right.
Fish aren’t as dumb as a lot of people think, they have brains too. They have habits and it’s up to us to understand and capitalize on those habits.
Fish are opportunistic and love to ambush their prey
The murky water that day made it ideal for them to hunt in the shadows and “peek” into the clear water where baitfish gathered. As the waves pound against the rocks, smaller fish will become disoriented, before they know it, bigger fish would have eaten them. Predatory fish know when and where these situations happen and cannot pass up the easy meal.
Structure, structure and more structure
Fish need structure; much like how women need malls.
Structure gives them shelter,security andan abundance of food.More importantly, structure breaks the current flow and helps them conserve energy, energy that they can use on their afterburners to chase down a worthy meal, like your shiny new lure.
Fish are lazy
It doesn’t matter if you’re fishing in 1 meter of water or water that’s 1 kilometre deep, the story remains the same, fish would want to spend less energy fighting the current and will spend it more on chasing down a meal. This basically means that if you cast your lure and it that lands a meter away from where a fish sits; your chances of catching it will be higher than a cast that lands 10 meters away, because it would spend less energy chasing the closer one than one that’s farther down.
The boils and the birds
The most common way of finding fish is following the birds. Although this could sometimes be challenging because birds travel very fast and the boils don’t last very long. If you do encounter birds diving around boils it could sometimes be quite magical. At times, you would find yourself casting almost anything at them, and you get a strike!
If you do get a chance to get a cast in while fishing from a kayak or boat, you often get rewarded with some surprising catch, like an occasional bottom feeder such as a grouper coming up to hit your bait or lures.
Fishing really isn’t that complicated than we make it. You just have to understand a few things to 
make it work for you. Obviously, it won’t always go our way but that’s what makes fishing such a great sport. The hunt for fish that could outsmart us gets us going back and looking forward to our next trip.
It’s a never ending cycle that we enjoy and only a few can understand.
I hope you can find use for the things I’ve shared here this month.
Email me if you have questions: thefishingkit@gmail.com I’ll answer some next issue.
Till next tidechange,
Kit
Published in June 2012
