As our guest writer this week, Tom fills us in with all the essential tips you’ll need to go fishing off the beaten track.

There comes a time in most of our angling careers when we feel the need to explore new areas in hope of finding less fished waters. There can be great satisfaction, as well as great fishing, if you use a bit of forethought and planning to turn your curiosity into successful fishing.

Once you have picked an area you are interested in, head down to your local outdoors store and pick up some topographic maps of the area.

Sit down and study the maps carefully. There will be a legend on the sheet showing what the symbols on the map represent. The shape of the land is represented in contour lines, which show areas of equal height above sea level. These are one of your most useful tools as they allow you to picture the landscape and the steepness of various slopes. Hills, valleys, cliff-lines, and gorges can be identified at a glance. The density of the vegetation is marked with different colours or shadings. Watercourses are usually shown as blue lines and the thickness gives you a rough idea of the size and flow. Rapids, waterfalls, sandbanks and swampland can be identified by referring to the legend symbols.

Before embarking on your excursion a bit of further research helps things go smoothly. What is the access like? Will that road be negotiable in a two-wheel drive? Perhaps there’s a locked gate on that 4WD track, particularly if it is within a national park or reserve. Is there private property to cross? Obviously it is important to ask permission from the landholder if this is the case. Just remember that many topographic maps may have been printed from surveys of 20 or 30 years ago. The date should be printed on the map. Be aware that old tracks disappear, new ones get made, bushland may get cleared, and cleared land could grow over.

Try and avoid exploratory trips into unfamiliar areas on your own. It’s all too easy to become disoriented.