Using berley for better results

by Jarrod Day on 25 May 2011 Aside from being an often argumentative subject, berleying for fish is an essential part of fishing. Berley can be the difference between going home with a feed of fish rather than empty handed and providing you’re in tune with the various techniques required for different species, you’ll be well on your way to increasing your success rate.

Berleying doesn’t have to be a complex method, rather as simple as tossing a few cut pilchards or tossing a handful of pellets over the side is about as easy as it can be.

With that in mind, all species of fish feed differently and favour different foods, but one thing’s for sure, they are all attracted to the smell of a fishy odour wafting in the current.

BERLEY BASICS
It often is the simplest Berleying methods that work the best. Providing you have some sort of fish offal or fish smelling concoction in the water, the fish will come.
Berleying can be done in many ways with the simplest being a cube trail of pilchards. When targeting a larger species such as mako sharks a little more planning and specialised berley techniques are required.
Depending on where you’re fishing and what species of fish you intend on targeting, different berley techniques and different berley’s often work more effective than just the one standard.
When choosing to berley for a particular species you must remember not to over feed the fish. Over feeding the fish you intend on targeting may only impede your fishing experience rather than it being a pleasurable one. Although fish will still be caught, by controlling the level of berley used during a session more fish will take the baits offered rather than gorge themselves on the free offerings.

TYPES OF BERLEY
There are many different types of berley that can be used and more often than not, they all have a fishy odour to them.
Fish based pellets, tuna oil, congealed tuna logs, bran, flour mixed with water, any excess bait from passed fishing trips and even tinned tuna cat food are all worth using to attract fish.
Depending on the species of fish your targeting, one or more of these berley’s can be used, it just comes down to the technique in which to use it correctly.

USING BERLEY
There are many methods in which to use berley but each is based around different fish species and locations fished as which one to use.
When you look at the water, there are three water columns. The top, middle and bottom and each of these columns has different species of fish swimming in them.
Depending on the targeted species, it pays to know in which column of water they feed in order to attract them better.
Bottom species such as flathead, whiting, bream, snapper respond well to berley when it is placed in a berley pot on the sea floor. The pressure of the current will disperse the berley from the pot bringing those species to the source. An exception to this rule, if you’re fishing a location that isn’t affected by current or tide or current, you may need to change tact and berley from the surface allowing the berley to disperse over a larger area. When it does finally reach the bottom, the fish won’t swim to the surface, but scrounge around on the lookout for a bigger meal. Providing you have your baits cast to where the berley is sinking, it will only be a matter of time before the fish show up.
Though this is just one example, below is a list of the recommended berley’s required to catch Victoria’s most popular fish species.

SNAPPER/GUMMY SHARKS
Snapper and Gummy sharks are bottom feeders and require berley to bring them to your fishing location. A cube trail of cut pilchards is an extremely effective technique. Small cut pieces of pilchards should be scattered on the water surface every few minutes and aloud to sink. Once they have, another hand full can be thrown in and the process repeated.

WHITING
Whiting respond well to a fine berley placed in a berley pot that is sat on the sea floor. The most effective berley is chook pellets mixed with mashed pilchards and tuna oil.

GARFISH
Garfish are a top and mid water feeder requiring anglers to berley from the water’s surface. Bran or flour mixed with water into a thick paste and consistently sprinkled onto the surface is effective. Adding tuna oil into the paste will also aid in attracting them as the oil slick will travel further on the water’s surface.

SALMON
Land based anglers fishing the surf beaches for salmon can also use berley to attract the fish to their area. Pellets mixed with tuna oil and placed into an onion bag that is tied off onto a stake and left to wash in the shore break is very effective. As each wave crashes and washes up the beach, as it recedes it will take back a small amount of the berley. Over a short period, this will have fish schooled up in the gutter and along the shore break.

While these are just a few successful techniques, each and every species of fish can be attracted with berley. It is up
to the angler whether they want to bring fish to the area but one thing’s for sure, berley works.