Hey Langer, I have a few things I really focus on when fishing the river mouth. I don't mean to sound like a know it all, and I totally appreciate there is an element of good fortune when fishing, but these few things have helped me be successful more often than not. I would love to hear others thoughts as well.
1. Speed. Throughout the season I always keep my speed between 2.3 and 2.9 mph, but when fishing late season it is critical to slow down and keep your speed between 2.1 and 2.4 mph.
2. Gear. Despite this being the year of the irish cream spoon, when it comes to river mouth fish the only spoons required are for eating soup
. Anchovies all the way, with a possible exception for a pink squirt with all these shakers around. When it comes to the anchovies I like medium size bait with a really wide and slow roll. Teaser head colour certainly can make a difference so play around a bit. Flasher colour is less important, but I personally like purple and gold this time of year. One other note with gear is I personally only ever fish two rods. I find three or four rods leads to far too much time with gear out of water and increases the likelihood of a tangle when you do hook a fish. I also check my gear very infrequently, even if I am fishing in weeds the gear stays in the water. The weeds will hang up on the release clip and not impact your gear and when fishing this shallow you will notice even a small shaker. Its all about more time with gear in the water.
3. Depth. Fish shallow, the deepest I ever fish at the river is 65' and I am often as shallow as 18'. I always fish within the 98' contour and I spend the majority of my time along the 65'
contour. Move around until you find fish, but when you do mark it and do tight repetitive tacks over the same spot...where there is one there will be more. ( Be sure when doing this not to cut off other boats).
4. Smell. This one goes for all year but I think its something that often gets overlooked. Whatever you do, NEVER wash your gear or bait cooler with soap! It should go without saying, but unfortunately its a practice Ive seen far too often. I go as far as to put my flashers and gear in my bait cooler while my anchovies brine over night. I also make sure as to only rinse my hands off with salt water and never put sunscreen or other scented lotions on my hands prior to or during the trip.
These are a few of the things I think are very important, but as I said I would love to hear differing opinions.