Which Lure/soft Plastic For Which Fish Options

[hustler57]

hey fellow fishos,

ive always been a bait man when it comes to fishing and only just started to play with soft plastics and lures,

and when i walk thru the tackle section i become amazed and confused,

so can fellow fishos tell me what in your opion is the best soft plastics and lures for fish like

1 flattie

2 bream

3 whitting

ect ect

and also what is the best way to rig up a softplastic
ive been told 2 totally different ways of rigging them up ?

[Jumpus GooDarus]

and when i walk thru the tackle section i become amazed and confused,

You haven't seen my tackle box's then

Mate they'll all virtually work& peeps tend to have their favourites & that's what they tell you is best.

No good really asking it's more a case of getting out there & forming your own opinion as to which work best in the area you're fishing

and also what is the best way to rig up a softplastic
ive been told 2 totally different ways of rigging them up ?

I tie leader onto mainline just under 1 1/2 rod lengths then a clip to leader this allows for a very quick swapping of lures

[hustler57]

ok thanks jg ,

ive been told to just tie on a swivel which has those clips on them and then just clip it onto the lure ??

what do u think of that way ??

and id like to get other fishos opinion on what works for them ??

[Spudly]

Yep, rod lenght of leader and a snap swivel. Get decent ones and yuo wont have any problems. Buggerd if im going to r-tie knots all the time..

[hustler57]

ok thanks Rum,

now got that question ot of the way ,

whats lures and soft plastics work for fishos ??

as i reckon there are way to many on the market to try every 1 , and also i havnt got that much time on my hands to experament

[Spudly]

Ive been using the pre packadged ones like the fireballs and the slick rigs. I havnt had alot of luck myself with em, but am getting there.

Will get myself a decent set of jig heads and plastics soon enough, but at the moment just using the limited supply of what ive got and trying to match what i think the fish will be easting..

[Jumpus GooDarus]

Hustler like I said earlier just about all the SP's will work just a matter of picking the right colour etc onthe day that's why those little snaps come in velly handy.

Some days you need to keep changing the SP or the jig head till you get the right formular some days you need more weight it all depends species of fish targeted.

By that I mean certain fish like flathead are on the bottom others are nmid water etc etc

You're prob best off starting with a few of the popular SP's like the squidgy's & berkley's affter that you can make up your own mind what works for you.

Most of the tackle shops will have someone on hand to point you in the right direction as to which SP's are the popular fish catchers

[Mully]

Here are a variety I use for trout through to Cod from 1 kg to 100kg








the speed clips and snaps are less intrusive to the lure swim ability and dont weigh as much either.I still tie mine with a loop regardless but everyone has a prefered style id do it for more fluid movement.


I never run a clip on plastic as it always screws the actions if its a big plastic then probably would not matter much but smaller lures will snag up on clips plus tying a knot for a plastic doesnt require a trail loop so its easy anyway.

For lures and plastics I run a double uni from my braid to flurocarbon of around 8-12 lb depending what toothy critter im after.If im after a jew ill use a 20lb leader but good quality that is fine diameter and casts well.


as far as lures the most successfull for me are [sp] soft plastic [hb] hard body lure

Flathead, Scrounger [SP] Bozos shads 3 inchers [sp] larger squidgies shads and fish [sp] as far as hardbodys go select a silvery/yellow or even red lure as the flathead will smash whiting and mullet color without a second though.The hardbody will depend on water depth go with a lure that will sit close to the bottom or even hit it on retrieve.

Whiting, most worm [sp] will do the trick in natural colors, squidgy bugs and prawns also work well [sp] shallow water poppers like pop r's work a treat as do the bassday and river2sea poppers the blue and silver color patterns being the most productive in all states.

Bream, bozo 2.5 inch smelts [sp] squidgy bugs and prawns [sp] squidgy fish [sp] and heaps of other hardbodys too many to mention..my favourite producers for me are ,,yo zuri slavko bugs [hb] megabass baby griffons [hb] river2sea snubs [hb]

[Mully]

BOZOS smelts [bream and flathead]










Bozo shads 3 inch [flathead]

[Mully]

Yo Zuri slavko bugs [bream] and whiting










Megabass baby griffons [Bream]


BABY GRIFFON MEGABASS TAMAMUSHI


BABY GRIFFON MEGABASS

[Mully]

River2sea snubs [Bream]




Berkley shrimp [awesome flathead catcher and big bream]




Squidgy fish [flathead mulloway bream most fish will have a go at them]




River2sea phanton vibes [flathead and bream magnets]

[quintrex101]

berkley bass minnow in pumpin seed are great for bream good luck

[catchnrelease]

I'll be brief...

I hate snaps, they mate the presentation look unnatuaral.

Anything Gulp! works well. So far the new 2 inch sandworms and shrimps are working well for bream and yting. 5in Jerkshads are great for flatones. 4in Turtleback Worms are good for flatties too. Squidgy Flickbaits are a great little innovation, the bigger ones are great for pelagics and the smaller 70mm are good when the bream are actively feeding.

The trick to gulps is to fish them SLOOOOWLY. Almost like a bait (when you feel them you'll see why some peeps refer to them as bait). 100% biodegradable too which is great.

[Mully]

Gulp is bait sorry,,plastic is not biodegradeable.
I have never seen a corn lure as yet except for gulp....
But this does not mean they are no good or cannot be fished as a lure.

I recal a question regarding the first lure ever made the first production lure was -Quote- Fishing folk lore has the first wooden lure invented quite by accident. "In the late 1890s, James Heddon took a piece of wood, carved a frog lure and added hooks,"

[Mully]

QUOTE FROM GULP MANUFACTURERS===Berkley gulp fishing lures are made from 100% Natural ingredients and not soft plastic, although Berkley practically the same consistency as soft plastic lures and can be fished exactly the same way as soft plastic lures however given the natural ingredients and the powerful scent that comes in each pack of Berkley gulp lures these lures can be also used as fake bait. Simply place on a hook chuck it out and leave it as you would a natural dead bait or live bait. In fact Berkley gulp lures have been known to be just as good or if not better than live bait. Gulp is the result of years of research and testing. Gulp releases 400 times more scent than plastic baits and is available in a huge range of shapes and sizes and has been proven effective on just about every Australian species of fish.

[Mully]

Some finesse lures require a tie on but most bream and other larger lures dont really need it.

The clips are so small nowadays that presentation and action of the lure is not noticable in being detremental to its hookup rate.
I use Italian snaps 10-20lb which are tiny.

I still tie on some lures as with rapala and a few others they were designed to be tied direct to the lure without loops or anything and in fact just by moving the height of the knot on the eye you can adjust the swim...

Every one to their own styles but it wont stuff up your catch rate try it for yourself and see [ I did ]

[jasonb]

so what ya saying is there are really none better than others ,they all work ,virtually just like pickin what lure is gonna work on the day

[Sir Reel]

Great wright up Mully, Thanks for taking the time to post.

The bozzos look great but how do you rig a hook through them. I saw somewhere that you can cut the head off & use a jig head but I feel that those eyes on the bozzos look great & would work a treat.
Can you show me what hook and waight you would use to have it swim correctly.

[Christos]

This is turning out to be a very big topic for hustler57.

I have just started to try soft plastics and currently reading up on them. The thing that I am getting is that I need to be having a wide variety of soft plastics depending on what the environment is like.

I also see that Rum mention that he only has a limited supply. The question would be what is limited and how much should we have for our fishing outings.

[Christos]

I think that you should also wait for the specials. They will come.

[Sir Reel]

Great wright up Mully, Thanks for taking the time to post.

The bozzos look great but how do you rig a hook through them. I saw somewhere that you can cut the head off & use a jig head but I feel that those eyes on the bozzos look great & would work a treat.
Can you show me what hook and waight you would use to have it swim correctly.

bump

[Mully]

You can use the same style as my improved texas rig but not down the body of the bozo rather start from the head add your own weight or even used the heads with the weight on the shanks so as to be able to hide it within the shad itself like below

 jig_head_internal_weight.jpg ( 4.26K ) Number of downloads: 5
using this you can push the weigh right up inside the shad making it look more lifelike..


This is the Texas rig but at the front...

 texas_rig.jpg ( 25.92K ) Number of downloads: 13



use the method down the very bottom to rig to do the same style as above....


Another jig head utilising the actual shads head sits very neatly also...

 rig_shad.jpg ( 13.72K ) Number of downloads: 9




# 1. Slide the "worm weight" onto the line, and attach the line to the hook.
# 2. Insert a rigging or sewing needle with line attached up ther length of the worm until desired point of entry is achieved then exiting the worm and pulling through the line...
#3. Attach the weedless worm hook to your line and push the hook eye and knot up into your pre made needle hole so it is invisible
#4. With the hook end push the hook up into the body until it almost comes out the worms top side but not through..

This style is almost snag proof and having the hook further down the tail increases your chances of hook ups especially with bream trying to pull your pants down,give it a go and find some nasty structure to test it out....











hope it helps if not just ask ill post up a video of the riggingfor you,,,ill make one up for you to follow...

[Sir Reel]

Thanks for that Mully, Top effort. I will have to get myself some bozzos now ond try them out.

[Jumpus GooDarus]

Hey Mully !

To bad I didn't recal that setup last couple of days may have come in velly handy.

Had a bit of probs with floating weed on the SP's so tell me do you get much loose floating weed caught up on the jig head ??

[Mully]

depends on the rig up the texas styles are weedless run the m through the nastiest weed and you will be ok...
Most floater weed will catch up regardless of which rig you use as the weed will be pushed down onto the lowest point and stuff things up eventually.
floting weed is a bugga plain and simple makes me cringe [lol]

[Breamen]

Hi guys, let me start by saying that i only fish soft plastics, and have done so for a few years now.
For those starting out it's not too hard in chosing which lures to get.
Try to keep it simple at the start and only get one or two packs that 'Match the hatch' in the places you want to fish. You can experiment with others later.
Flatties & Bream will both bite on the same lure and Whiting will take a worm on a regular basis.
Jig heads are simple, start out with size 2 hook on a 1/8th & 1/16 head & 1/24 head weight. Swap the weights depending on water current speed & depth etc, remembering that fish will travel up to catch the lure if it's presented in the right manner. For what it's worth we use TT's as they hold the lure well & don't split the plastic.
Now you have a lure similar to the natural bait available to your area & a varity of weights to suit most conditions you can practise your casting & retrives (how you work the plastic).
We don't use Gulp as it's not a true lure, and yes we have a definite favourite that always work well for us. Minnows & worms from Tackle Craft.
You should be able to get three bags of lures & three packs of jigs for around $50 which is great value.
From there you practise and ask lots of questions.
Send me a PM if you want some help, happy to give out info gained from our Comp's.

[Spudly]

Hi guys, let me start by saying that i only fish soft plastics, and have done so for a few years now.
For those starting out it's not too hard in chosing which lures to get.
Try to keep it simple at the start and only get one or two packs that 'Match the hatch' in the places you want to fish. You can experiment with others later.
Flatties & Bream will both bite on the same lure and Whiting will take a worm on a regular basis.
Jig heads are simple, start out with size 2 hook on a 1/8th & 1/16 head & 1/24 head weight. Swap the weights depending on water current speed & depth etc, remembering that fish will travel up to catch the lure if it's presented in the right manner. For what it's worth we use TT's as they hold the lure well & don't split the plastic.
Now you have a lure similar to the natural bait available to your area & a varity of weights to suit most conditions you can practise your casting & retrives (how you work the plastic).
We don't use Gulp as it's not a true lure, and yes we have a definite favourite that always work well for us. Minnows & worms from Tackle Craft.
You should be able to get three bags of lures & three packs of jigs for around $50 which is great value.
From there you practise and ask lots of questions.
Send me a PM if you want some help, happy to give out info gained from our Comp's.

Thanks for the Info Breamen!

And a big WELCOME to the Site!

[A pirate]

yesterday i poppered for whiting uning a small clear popper, as for SP's i use Tsunami at the moment and come up with results like this


47cm Flathead

[quintrex101]

got myself a pack of berkley shrimp in the colour NP ( look at mullys post) i will try them next time i get out

[jack]

Check out my post

http://www.fishing-oz-style.info/forum/ind...?showtopic=1468

flathead are easy once you find them. just make sure you get to the bottom properly.

bream I have not had much luck on. got some snapper and flounder on a 4 inch green stick bait.


stick baits seem to work best for me sofar, but I must admit I have not yet targetted bream specifically yet.


Oh yeah setup: graphite spin stick 2-4 kg, size 2500 reel and 6 lb braid with 6-8 pound FC trace tied with a double uni and a clip for quick change at the end (thanks jg for that tip)

contemplating getting a 1-3 kg spin stick and a 4 lb braid for going after bream.
Watching the auctions J.G (hint hint)

Jack

[poly]

Hi guys, let me start by saying that i only fish soft plastics, and have done so for a few years now.
For those starting out it's not too hard in chosing which lures to get.
Try to keep it simple at the start and only get one or two packs that 'Match the hatch' in the places you want to fish. You can experiment with others later.
Flatties & Bream will both bite on the same lure and Whiting will take a worm on a regular basis.
Jig heads are simple, start out with size 2 hook on a 1/8th & 1/16 head & 1/24 head weight. Swap the weights depending on water current speed & depth etc, remembering that fish will travel up to catch the lure if it's presented in the right manner. For what it's worth we use TT's as they hold the lure well & don't split the plastic.
Now you have a lure similar to the natural bait available to your area & a varity of weights to suit most conditions you can practise your casting & retrives (how you work the plastic).
We don't use Gulp as it's not a true lure, and yes we have a definite favourite that always work well for us. Minnows & worms from Tackle Craft.
You should be able to get three bags of lures & three packs of jigs for around $50 which is great value.
From there you practise and ask lots of questions.
Send me a PM if you want some help, happy to give out info gained from our Comp's.

thanks for the tips mate and a very big welcome to the sight

[Jumpus GooDarus]

Well guys Breamen gave me a bag of his Tackle Craft SP's to try out the other week I was using them in that spin day report that I did the other week.

I'm no expert on SP's but know how to use fishing gear we did allright in that report & considering the amount of chopper tailer hits that I got on those SP's I didn't have to change a single plastic they withstood the teeth marks velly well.


Think I'll have to swap some of my YFT techniques for some of his Breamen techniques though

Esp this year where I want to land a YFT on SP built the rod for it last year but the fish weren't there in any no's

[quintrex101]

i think he is out of gear jack

[jack]

i think he is out of gear jack

uh............

yeah right


Jack

[Mully]

Those prawns work well mate,also extremely good on flatties, good luck and show us your pictures.....

Caught mulloway flatties and big bream with them working different styles,remember to always vary your style and most fish especially bream and jewies will hit a sinking bait.... go and get em

This post has been edited by Mully: May 15 2008, 07:35 AM