Soft Plastics... What am I doing Wrong???

[Jason_L]

The last few days i've been giving soft plastics a go, this after noon i went threw 4 Mr Twisters. (1 not being tied on correctly, but i don't need to embarrase myself)

I've got. well. had the 4" long pink/glitter Mr Twisters, the tails keep getting knocked off..

so i went and got the smaller size the 2"... cast again. the tail got knocked off.

all i'm feeling are tiny bumps on the rod, so i pause, wait about 10 secs, then continue winding like i don't have a fish... if i don't have a fish.

i hooked onto one fish, but then the hook wasn't set and it poped out of it's mouth. though the fish would not have been of legal size. prolly a flathead 25cm long.

Whats wrong? what can i do?

[Luke]

Hey Jason,
happens to me to mate. Might be fish knocking the end off but they don't take a lot to tear.
Luke

[Luke]

Doesn't happen a lot with twisters but more with sliders

[Jason_L]

i think i found the prob anyway. i took the plastics into the tackle store and they said it looked like toadfish were making a meal out of the, by the bitemarks.

the lure i used today was like a small fish looking, and the only thing that touched it was the flathead. and it didn't kill the lure. it's almost fine.

[Rumpig]

it might be choppers making a mess of your lure, I've had it done to me before.

Mick

[Jason_L]

choppers?

[Rumpig]

Sorry, small tailor.

Chopper tailor, they have a tendancy of chopping things up ;)

Mick

[Jason_L]

nah. it's not them. as far as i know we don't get them here... i
like i said in the previous posts. most of the time it was toadfish. and i think the one other time when it came back really messed up was from a small 7" flathead.

at the moment. we are getting 5m tides, when 3.6 is usually the average. it's been a bit hard to do any creek fishing with such strong runthroughs.

[Rumpig]

Where abouts are you Jason?

Mick

[Jason_L]

I'm located in the central part of Queensland. It's a little place called Yeppoon, nearest major town is Rockhampton.

[mulletgut]

Can someone tell me how long it takes to get use to casting & retrieving these plasitics.

[Randall]

Here`s a coupla tips for you.....

I know Yepoon pretty well and your probably right in the toads having a meal out of your tails.

Mr Twisters are a crappy plastic not suited to fish with small mouths. If you are chasing Bream, you need to go much smaller. A small grub about one inch long is a great ure for most species.
Here`s the trick though.....Use a really light jig head. The smaller the better. I use 1/16th oz for Trevs, Queenies, Tarpon, Bream, Flathead. Sometimes the 1/16th is a little too light for some of the above fish but if you find the hooks straightening out, go the 1/8th.

Obviously, you will need a sweet little light spin stick to effectively cast these small presentations.

So, the whole deal combined will put you onto heaps more fish than you will ever get with hard-bodies.

Fish with plastics all the time and you will soon get the hang of it.

The little 1' grubs are in reality, just a snack size for most fish and they usually get scoffed in one hit!!! YEAH BABY!!!

If you have a boat, try the causeway on the run in tide. Last two hours. Also work the rock wall.

Last time I was up there I got onto heaps of Flathead just walking the rock wall near the road.

Good luck buddy.

Regards, Randall.

PS....any more questions, email me.

Here`s an image of what type of grub to look for.

[sav]

Randall
Youv'e dipped that grub in something haven't you. What do you find as the best scent for saltwater species esp bream.
Regards
Sav

[Zulu]

hey jason
i go fishing at yeppoon aswell.
where abouts do u catch these flathead??? cause i find it hard to catch flathead around yeppoon, in fact the only one i caught in this area was at the fitzroy at the boatramp???

[Jason_L]

zulu whre about do you live. we might have to meet up one day..


i've caught some of the flatties at the entrance of Ross Creek. and also just inside the creek where you can see the sandbank dropping off into the deeper water.

i've also caught a few nice flathead in the causeway, on the rocks just to the left of the causeway bridge fishing into the lake. i used a small live mullet.

i also know that you can get them, if you walk out to the channel marker in the causeway lake and throw a lure into the deep runthrough part.

use a pink lure.
best of luck

[Randall]

Randall
Youv'e dipped that grub in something haven't you. #What do you find as the best scent for saltwater species esp bream.
Regards
Sav

No mate, thats the way we get em from the States. There`s 16 tasty colours available, that image you refered to is just one. (bubblegum).

Regards, Randall.