Episode 177: Geraldton Brassy Trevally With Leigh Murdoch

Leigh’s Top Tips For Brassy Trevally Fishing

• Brassy Trevally are fast, aggressive hunters but they become quite easily spooked in the shallow water of less than two metres where Leigh fishes for them. Leigh reckons that stealth is the key, don’t rush in but stay back and observe, then carefully place some strategic casts.
• Brassies are school fish. On the flats where Leigh fishes for them large numbers of fish stay just out in the deeper water, with small pods breaking off and moving through the flats at a time. If you watch long enough you’ll see a pattern and can quietly move into position where the next pod will come through.
• It’s important not to chase the fish or try to present lures directly to them. The key is to cast a long way ahead of where you know the brassies will pass by, then crank hard when they are near the lure, giving the impression that the Trevally have spooked a baitfish.
• Brassy Trevally fishing in the Geraldton area is best during the warmer months. An incoming to high tide fishes best, especially around a full moon. Low and outgoing tides are to be avoided. Time of day is less important than tide, although an incoming tide at dawn or dusk is good. A little wind ripple on the water surface is good..
• Look for areas where the shallow flats (<2m deep) extend out to 200m or so from headlands and then into deeper water. A broken, rubble bottom is ideal, the structure favoured by brassies is much more forgiving than that favoured by their big cousins, the GT.
• This species has a habit of running out into deeper water when hooked, rather than diving into structure. This allows anglers to fish lighter and position their boat so that they can let the fish run.
• Leigh prefers treble hooks to singles for this species, as you might not get a lot of strikes for the day and he wants to maximise the number of those that convert to hookups.

Leigh’s Brassy Trevally Fishing Tackle

• Leigh likes spin gear for this style of fishing and typically uses a medium action 7 foot spin rod coupled with a Shimano Stradic 5000 reel, 30lb suffix braid and a short fluorocarbon leader of around 60lb.

Best Lures For Brassy Trevally Fishing

• All lures are fished in the same manner…… watch the fish to determine their pattern and position yourself quietly in position to cast ahead of passing pods as they move onto the flat. Let the lure sink right to the bottom and wait until the fish are within range, then crank as fast as you can. The idea is to create the impression that the pod of Trevally has startled a baitfish. Trying to cast to the fish directly is likely to end up with the school becoming spooked.
• The Halco Twisty in 40g sizes is a great lure for this style of fishing. silver is best.
• Leigh also likes Halco C-Gar and the Rapala Long Cast sinking stickbaits in the 100mm size range for targeting brassies.