Tropical Estuary Tricks Tropical Estuary Tricks A run down on the basics of fishing estuaries north of the Tropic Line. For southerners, and the vast majority of this country's population are southerners of one sort of another, a tropical estuary is somewhere they would genuinely like to try fishing. For those who live north of Capricorn, an estuary is just one of the places they can choose to go, but Tropical estuaries do have a special attraction to most anglers, because barramundi and dozens of other prime species live in them. Places that have heavy fishing pressure will be harder to fish than places which don't, and some estuaries fish better than others for a range of reasons like habitat, currents and available food. However, no matter what location is fished some principles in the tropical estuary equation never change.
Tidal movement is the most important factor in tropical estuary fishing.
The tidal differences can be far greater than that experienced by southern anglers, with three to four meter ranges being quite common. This can mean huge volumes of water moving in and out of an estuary or river during spring tides. Such large water movements can make things hard for the fish, and the angler. Often, on big tides the water becomes stirred and milky or highly discoloured, which puts many of the fish off anyway. Knowing the state of the tide, what it is doing and what effect it will have on the fishing area is the first part of the tropical estuary equation.