Laurie Woodbridge - picture taken in the NQ Fishing Museum early 2007
The Moon Controls The Lot
Looking back over the years I couldn’t imagine how many fishing articles I’ve read. Some are interesting
but havn’t really taught me anything, whilst others have given me such insights into our sport and will never
be forgotton.
Writers of such calibre as Mc.Sea himself have been read over and over so as to reinforce the many pertinent
points he makes, his attention to detail is unsurpassed! Another writer of note who has not in my opinion put
pen to paper as often as I’d like is Laurie Woodbridge, or ‘Wood’ as he is known to his friends.
‘Wood’ has an uncanny sense of observation and whilst some of his talents are inherent he has without doubt
put in the hard yards to learn his craft. He kept diaries for years noting his observations of every fishing
trip. Details recorded included the weather, tides, moon phase, areas fished, methods used, captures etc.
These diaries formed the basis for many of his opinions in relation to predicted times of good fishing, and
of course the most consistent methods of catching fish.
Before his foray into game fishing, where he earned the accolade of ‘International Game Fishing Captain of
The Year” from the I.G.F.A. Wood was, and still is a fanatical Barra fisho. Now retired from his role as
master of the Sea Baby 1V he makes a number of trips to the bush each year chasing barra, with consistently
good results.
One article written by Wood in 1985 titled “The Moon Controls The Lot” has been invaluable to me, and no
doubt many other keen anglers over the years. It is a compilation of his thoughts and observations in
relation to which species are more active at various phases of the moon, it’s accuracy is uncanny! This
article is reproduced here with the kind permission of Laurie and I only hope it helps you when to target
various species, and answers some puzzling questions about why some fish just don’t seem to feed or remain
inactive at other times of the month.
******
In my distant memories of school days I recall a very frustrated teacher staring at a sea of vacant faces
trying to convince them that the moon revolves around the earth.
Literally he was correct, but as I advanced into a fishing career I realised that all things on earth
revolve around the moon!
Plants grow, humans go mad, (some die), artesian bores change flow, primitive New Guinea women get ‘moon
sick’ and of course fish become active.
All these things can be related to a phase of the moon!
Take any month and you will notice it has a Full and a New moon in it. To me this means there will be
approximately
14 days in that month that I have a better chance at catching a fish than the other 16.
So you may say “let’s go fishing every other day and we must get it right”. I think we can get a little
closer than that.
First thing we must do is select a species of fish to go fishing for. Far too many anglers go and cast
lines in every direction hoping to catch anything that swims. These guys are easy to to identify, just
look for the line of stubbies floating and the arched back stance at the back of the boat. They are having
fun but usually not catching much.
I like to put species into three categories - Demersal, or bottom feeders, Inshore Pelagics, surface feeders
and Ocean Going Pelagics.
For example say we have selected a demersal species, be it mangrove jack, fingermark, grunter etc. If there
was a Full Moon on the 30th, use this as day 1 and count back 9 days, that would be the 22nd.
Using this day as the first day of the Good Period count forward towards the Full Moon 7 days. Thus the
period to fish would be the 22nd To the 28th.
The same applies if there was a new moon on the 30th. If I was pinned down to an absolute peak in this time
I would choose the 25th, 26th, and 27th. Sometimes this system can go wrong, but on average you will be
fairly safe.
Spanish mackerel and other inshore pelagics are slightly different! The best phase of the moon for mackerel
is the New Moon period, but that doesn’t mean stay at home on the Full Moon.
Again, if the New Moon fell on the 30th. Count back 5 days, thus the 26th is the beginning of the good period.
Come forward 7 days and the last day of the peak is the 31st or the 1st respectively.
Using the same count for the Full Moon will produce results. At this point you will have noticed that, as a
general rule, the First Quarter to the Full, and the Last Quarter to the New is when it all happens.
Sorting out the exact days in relationship to fishing conditions only comes after years of observations.
The Waning moon is generally a disaster where line fishing is concerned. Using lures it is especially
noticeable how fish react at this period. Boils behind the lure or halfhearted mouthing which results in
one fish caught out of every ten seen!
Fish the same area four or five days later and they’ll rip the rod out of your hands.
Weather conditions can sometimes be predicted by the moon phases. Watch the synoptic chart and you will
notice as the moon builds to either the New or Full the high pressure systems that move across southern
Australia will gain intensity.
For example; a high over Perth of 1026 mb will generally be up to 1030 mb by the time it reaches the
Tasman Sea. This in turn gives us our strong South East winds.
High tides and strong winds usually go together. After the moon has reached it’s peak and begins to wane,
that 1030 mb high will usually move across past New Zealand, or remain stationary in the Tasman and lose
it’s intensity.
One of the tricks in small boating up north if you are caught in heavy winds is to wait for the neap tides
before you make your move. The reason being, there is practically no tide movement and the moon being on
the last of it’s wane there is an 80% chance that the wind will be at it’s lowest strength for the month.
Off shore pelagics will drive you mad trying to work them out. When you think you have them pinned down
they will come along and shatter any theory you like to present.
I’ve used the word ‘generally’ previously and when discussing these elusive fish it can’t be used enough.
An example is this: Four days after the Full Moon you will see more black marlin than any other day in the
month! Yes, right in the middle of the waning moon there they are.
Behind one bait you have a 900lbs marlin and behind the other you have a 5lbs barracuda. The 5lbs barracuda
wins every time. He will take a casual bite out of your best bait and swim off letting the piece bitten off
float slowly down.
Even though you get this flurry of action on the wane it is still generally accepted that the First Quarter
to the Full and the Last Quarter to the New are good fishing periods offshore.
Summing up, I suggest you keep your ears open, and the next time you hear someone skiting about that big
catch they scored, grab your tide and moon book and work it out!
Some of the more popular poppers, from top right hand, clockwise: Rebel Pop ‘R’,
Halco Rooster, Chug Bug, River To Sea ‘Dumb-Bell’, T.D. Popper, Heddon ‘Baby Topedo’, Manns Chug N Spit,
Rapala Skitter Pop
Heart Stopping Popping!
I well remember a conversation with Vic McCristal many years ago regarding how effective poppers were in our
river and estuary systems. I had just begun to experiment with these water splashing surface lures and was
unconvinced they would be as good as crankbaits or minnows but Vic made his point by stating that ”any fish
that will take a sub surface lure will take a popper” then went on to tell me in detail about his recent
popper sessions on the Murray River where he had encountered good captures of mangrove jack and barra.
Another good tip he gave me was to only take poppers with you thus ensuring that you gave them a fair go
over a full session. The outcome has seen me convert my luring tactics considerably to the point where I
use them exclusively in the freshwater reaches of our local rivers and often use them nearer the estuary
mouths and out on the reef.
Fishing on Joe Joe with Capt. Barry Cross, a master of his craft when it comes to popper fishing for G.T’s,
Spaniards and other pelagics we will invariably start the day with a couple of hours tossing XOS poppers to
the pressure points around bommies and drop offs. Given the right tidal conditions the action is incredible
as massive mouths engulf these ‘blooped’ timber or plastic offerings then give us hell trying to keep them
from wrapping us around coral bommies. Poppers have to be one of, if not the most exciting form of fishing
our waters, and for me there can be no better way of appreciating the ‘take’ of any lure than to actually
see the fish chase, then devour it on the surface.
Terry (Hook em up the bum) Holman with a typical queenie for the day, just big enough
to cause trouble
Sessions with Barry "Cranky" Cross have produced G.T’s to 22 kilos, spaniards to 20 kilos, jobfish to 7 kilos
plus coral trout, various tunas, barracuda and a host of other aggressive predators. The secret is to find
the bait! Calmer conditions make this an easier task as fusiliers shimmer on the surface making way in half
acre schools. When this is spotted sit well back and cast your popper, (and it’s not difficult to cast 80
metres plus with a 7’ magnum rod and a 60gm plus popper), over the school. Just before the popper hits the
deck flip over your bail arm so the line tightens. Your first ‘bloop’ of that cup faced popper is critical
as the element of surprise will see often quite wary fish surge at this water splashing bait fish imitation.
Keep your popper ‘blooping’ consistently, if you miss a ‘bloop’ and there is a follower it will often turn
away when he sees that lump of timber floundering. When you have had half a dozen casts to a bait school
move on and find another school. If there is a marauding G.T. or Spaniard around they will often take your
popper on the first couple of casts - such is their addiction to these lures.
Canoe fishing the upper reaches of our rainforest rivers has produced some fantastic popper sessions for
sooty grunter, jungle perch, tarpon, jacks and barra over the past twelve months with that magnifiscent 1.5
kilo J.P. taken by my son Matthew last January in the Mulgrave River being the high point. We visited that
same area a few weeks back, and although cold, windy and drizzly still managed a dozen good fish using poppers.
I couldn’t imagine many other stretches of any river producing such a good result in those conditons. Given
patience and practice poppers will improve your catch rates in many situations.
One of the many double hook ups on queenies, we even had three triple hook ups,
and all using poppers. Note the overcast drizzly conditions.
The key to success is to match the size of your popper to the baitfish in the area, and, when waters are
crystal clear cast at a distance to overhanging vegetation, timber snags and backwaters as fish are easily
spooked. The same scenario regarding action applies to fishing any waters with poppers - keep the action
short, sharp and not too fast, even when you are using fizzers. It’s much easier to impart this action with
a spin outfit in my experience, and you can cast a much larger weight range of poppers with spin outfits.
My most recent popper session was on the Russell/Mulgrave River system with my old mates Terry Holman and
Les Marsh. The ‘Three Amigos’ managed to get out on the water again and did we have a fantastic day!
Awesome would better describe the queenie action we encountered as these speedsters pounced on almost
anything we cast their way, they were thick!
Using light spin outfits loaded with 5 to 8 kilo Amnesia fine diameter braid we tied on a metre long 15
kilo mono leader via a spider hitch double. This gave us the desired ‘shock absorber’ in the system and
allowed us to present poppers with a ‘clear’ leader rather than coloured braid, an important tip! Arriving
at our spot where a creek entered the main channel there was a defined current line as the tide was till
moving in. Terry’s Custom Craft sportfishing punt is well laid out with centre seating that can be moved
around so three anglers can have their own space so we all spread out, dropped the anchor and began to cast.
Young Les Marsh with his first queenie of the day, he was using a slightly bigger
‘Barra’ popper
Using 7 to 9cms poppers such as the Manns Chug'n Spit, Team Daiwa bloppers and Rebel Pop R’s we began
casting towards the current line, the action was instant. C R A S H, I was monstered after only a few
bloops as a leaping 3 kilo queenie strutted his stuff, he went hell for leather around the boat before
coming alongside to be ‘tailed’ then gently released. No sooner had I let him go than Terry was on, the
Les. I made a cast to the other side of the boat and soon became attached to another aerial acrobat. A
TRIPLE hookup, it was a long time since I’d experienced this, and to make matters worse terry’s fish was
hooked up the bum and was giving him all sorts of curry! Les and I had a chuckle and passed a few comments
on his method of hooking fish and how we were beginning to worry about the lad!
All three fish were brought to the boat, photographed then released. You can never short change queenies,
no matter what size they are they always give a good account of themselves. We switched poppers trying to
see if we could tempt those ‘metre-plus’ specimens that are often found down the Russell system with bigger
offerings but it didn’t work and we had to make do with queenies in the 2.5 to 4.5 kilo size bracket, which
on the lighter spin gear and smaller poppers we still quite a challenge.
We barely moved from this spot for over 4 hours, and when the fish became a little wary we had a cuppa or
something to eat then got back into them. Amazing stuff and something we rarely experience. We made a rough
tally of over 25 queenies caught, all on poppers. Wow!!
The author pointing the business end of that ‘hodlum’ sportfish we call a ‘queenie’,
our most acrobatic performer!
As the tide continued to run out several sand bars and drop offs were exposed. This is ideal small G.T.
country so we moved over and began the same popper routine. B A N G, it was on again as these hard pulling
tropical rogues gave us heaps, one after the other. Sizes ranges from .75 kilo to 1 kilo but can they pull!
Again we didn’t have to shift, and the beauty of lighter spin outfits with such fine braid is that you can
cast a small popper a country mile allowing us to explore several gutters and sand bars. What a days fishing!
Making our way back to the ramp - yes it was still drizzling as it had been most of the day - we were
bragging about our three triple hook ups on queenies and the 15 or so small G.T’s we’d caught but most
importantly how much we all enjoyed popper fishing and the good laughs we had. Vic McCristal was right,
there’s no fish in our local rivers that won’t take a popper and to see the ‘strike’ is one of the ultimate
sport fishing thrills.
If you havn’t tried fishing with poppers all I can suggest is to ‘give it a go’, you’ll have a ball!
