Exploring different water forms for fishing can sometimes lead to uncommon areas like gutters and channels on saltwater, at different beach locations. Uncovering these unexplored areas may yield some medium to smaller fish and make for a great catch.
These fishing gutters on beaches can be challenging to scour and explore, but the right conditions can yield surprisingly good amounts of fish. They are created from moving waters that displace sand below, creating a deeper gutter area that becomes a possible prime spot for fishing. It just takes some patience and the right spotting techniques to use these unusual beach spots for good catches, and the less explored, the better.
We offer you this basic guide on looking these spots up and trying your luck and gut instinct in making some good fishing.
Finding Your Fishing Gutters And Channels
Most gutters are spotted from a raised or higher position, and are signified by darker patches below with a slightly dark blue or green colour and a low-rise backbank area nearby with wave activity. These colour deviations mean there is a certain depth in it compared to the shallower waters around. They are near the beach edges and can hold smaller fishes and worms where medium-sized fishes to catch will spot for food.
You might also encounter holes, which have deeper bottom areas, and much darker colouration to easily spot them. If there are easy entrance points, they become fishing haunts by Australia Salmons, bream, flathead, and mulloway fishes, usually during nighttime high tide.
Channels are longer paths that stretch out in the same direction as the shoreline of the beach. These channels can also host many fishes, but they are equally challenging to check. They stretch out in longer gutter-type extensions, serving mostly pelagic fish who hunt for smaller fishes. Outer channels may also form from these areas, facing closer to the shore and also running horizontally in the same direction. During low tide, they may form and serve host to bigger pelagic fishes.
Proper Timing for Fishing
The abundance of fish in these possible prime spots is affected by the total size of the gutter, clearness of the water, and time of day usually in the afternoon and high tides, with no signs of whitewash and wave-breaking until it hits shorelines from the gutter and its shallow back bank areas. This nearby area which are wave-breaking points near the shore is also a good spot to hunt anywhere from bream, whiting, and flatheads.
Many of these areas are just around beach shore areas and in the middle near the beach edges. An easy entry point from your north is a good sign, as it becomes an entry point from the ocean to these deeper and darker-coloured parts of the water, signifying a bottom area for fishes. Surrounding wave activities usually from a low part back bank that leads back to the gutter area, and then breaking back to the shore will help trace and track these gutter areas for exploring.
The conditions and factors will constantly change when doing some fishing in these shore areas. It is important to remember that there are no exact spots for return sessions and they will always change. You can observe the tide periods and times of the day, which are usually low tides and nighttimes, and have the best possible yield of fish in these areas,
Getting a Good Spot for Gutter or Channel Fishing
A good gutter spot can is sometimes tricky to use for fishing, but some rough guidelines are used to maximise the possible catching of big darts, bream, tailor, and salmon. Gutters are near the edge of the beach, with an entry point or two at your north, and a back bank nearby. These types of gutters are the ideal combination of formations. However, general gutter areas with only one entry point at the right times can also allow decent fishing yields.
During rainy days with darker overcast-skies or during high-tide-periods in the night, these entrances are used by sharks and mulloways as well to feed on smaller, usually pelagic fish coming in from the nearer middle areas to the gutters and channels. Fishing channels on beaches provide larger, stretched-out areas with longer pathways for fish to feed on, often with salmon and tailor fish as common hunters in these long parts.
There is a technique you can use called burley the gutter in which you carefully position small fish pieces as bait, such as pilchards, mackerel slimies, yellowtails or yakkas, and tuna, which can keep inside these gutter areas constantly feeding for an easier time for fishing and catching. At certain times, you can possibly spot the occasional shark or mulloway as well.
Final Notes
Exploring gutters and channels can be tricky for many newer anglers on the beach. The combinations of times and the unpredictability of these deeper spots can be difficult in the beginning. The first step is finding and identifying a spot at an elevated location, and going for it during the preferred times mentioned in this discussion. You also have to look at other formations in the gutters as they are key positions for fishing, especially entry points leading to the deeper centers of gutters and holes.
We recommend going with an experienced beach shore angler to help you identify these spots, and changing up your locations for better chances of finding good spots for better catches. With experience, you’ll be able to find good gutters, holes, and channels, and optimise these tips for better fishing.
How to find fishing gutter or channels on beaches
