Timing
Although traditionally thought that the best time to get a clown featherback to bite are during the wee hours of dawn or in the dying light of the sun, most of my bites have come between the 10-12 am mark in the morning. As soon as the water heats up, they seem to be more active and tend to rise or “boil” more often, making it easier to target and cast at. However they are not exactly picky eaters and strikes can be gotten throughout the day, irrespective of the heat.
Trolling vs Casting
While smaller clown featherbacks are usually found in groups, bigger clown featherback are usually loners. That presents a dilemma for us anglers. Should we just stop to cast for one fish? In my opinion it is quite pointless to do so, as the rises are few and far between, making it hard to determine the general area in which the fish is located, and casting blindly would be then both a waste of time and energy.
The same also applies to times when the clown featherbacks are not actively rising or are not congregated in area. In such times, trolling crankbaits are the best bet, as it can cover water both fast and efficiently, without the need for us to make cast after cast under the hot sun. The past trips in Lake Heaven using an outboard engine to troll has shown that clown featherback are not that skittish/ afraid of the loud noise that the engine makes, and will still grab the lures that are dragged past their faces.
Another advantage of trolling is that this method also produces a higher percentage of bigger fish compared to casting, due to the fact that larger clown featherback are not found in groups that we would usually aim and cast at.