Hi peeps and welcome back to Master Watermen. In this video I show how working up and down a long ledge can yield exceptional results even in shallow water (8 to 12m) and in not so great visibility as well.
When there is current and the visibility is bad I will either reef up using a reef hook or a drop weight if the current is not too hectic. What this does is leaves your buoy as a marker for you to look at whilst breathing up on the surface to scout around so as to maximise reef coverage and time in the water. Then you can use the buoy as a frame of reference so that you can consistently stay on the hot spot mark once you have found it.
I like to start up current then work my way down the ledge with the current as I progress through the dive. Once I have found a good hot spot mark on the ledge I will work it from the top of the ledge to the outside of the ledge to find the sweet spot where the better fish are holding.
In general the game fish (pelagic fish) will hold above the reef and outside of the ledge on or over the sand. They will definitely be present on the tide and if there is a prevalent current pulling down the ledge. The bottom fish (dimersal fish) will hold to the structure and caves as much as they can, holding tighter to the structure in a stronger current and poorer visibility.
The ledge in the video was new to me on this particular dive so the advice above definitely holds true!
Remember that quite often you get a series of ledges running parallel to a beach so work them one by one going deeper till you find that honey hot spot on the ledge. Please bear (pun intended) in mind that it is not necessarily the deepest ledge at the spot that makes for a great DINNER!
As always Dive Safe and Straight Spears from the Bear…
https://www.youtube.com/watchv=koWc1AAPauc&ab_channel=MasterWatermen
Link to the full Narrow Barred Spanish mackerel video https://youtu.be/n4q8BTfJrqg
