Fishing With Plastics

[tinman42]

I have for the last 30 years always fished with bait. I want to get involved with the soft plastics but do not know where to start. How did all you guys who are having so much success with soft plastics get started?

What kind, what weight, what area suits what kind, and I guess most importantly, how?

I read many posts about different kinds (Gulps, Squidgees etc) and different weights being used but I'm afraid it all goes over my head (might have something to do with age???)

What do you recommend as the basics I need to get started for general central/southern bay fishing, whiting, flathead, bream, squire etc without spending a million dollars? Is there someone/somewhere I can go to get this info?

Thanking you in advance.

[kevvie]

Without writing a full article i will try to condense it as much as possible. When i first started out i had no-one to show me apart from books and mags on the subject...i hated reading 'only practise will teach you', 'just get out there and give it a go'...and other demoralising cliches' that didnt help me out. Im a viual person a benefit greatly from seeing how its done...but i didnt have that luxury 6 years ago. So here's my must know things to plastic fishing for a beginner...stuff i didnt know but wish i had b4 i started.

1) Gear- U must use a graphite rod. I dunno what fish you are after so recommending one is a little diificult. Around sydney a 2-4kg 7' stick is the most versatile...but if you live up north where small GT's and other speedsters are present a 3-5kg 7 footer is better. The graphite is more sensitive and sets hooks better when used with gel-spun line(fireline). Mate the rod with an appropriate sized reel loaded with braid and use a flurocarbon leader. Ask your local tackle shop for advise on rod size, reel size and leader strength to suit your local conditions.

2) Lures - All soft plastic lures work. Don't get caught in the trap thinking only a certain lure or brand works. Fact is every day is different. It best to have a selection of different tails and colours. The various are fish tails (squidgy fish, bozo's etc), paddletails (atomic paddletails, sliders etc), grub tails (atomic fat grubs, squidgy wrigglers etc) and jerk minnows/stickbaits (Gulp jerk minnows, Berkley power minnows etc). Each lure has its own characteristics but all require twitching from the angler. Play around with rod manipulatiuon till something works. Keep in mind what you are trying to imitate. If you are usuing a fish tail, visualise what a dying or wounded fish will do and try and mimic it with the lure.

3) The Retrieve - When starting out always bounce the lure off the bottom. Cast the lure out till it hits the bottom and commence the retireve. What you should be trying to achieve is a series of hops along the bottom all the way back to the boat. Play around with it. Somedays big aggresive hops will be better, other days small subtle hops will produce fish. Always and i mean always be patient and let the lure flutter back to the bottom. Invariably its the flutter back to the bottom that will produce the strike. Now i like to let the lure flutter back to the bottom on semi-slack line. This is done simply by holding the rod tip high after the flicks off the bottom. So simply flick the lure off the bottom with an upsweep of the rod and hold it up vertical. The lure will sink back down on semi-slack line and go limp when it hits the bottom. Lower the rod tip, take up the slack line and do it all over again. This way you will feel the bites as the lure drops to the bottom.

4) Don't Give In- It took me 3 months to land my first fish on plastics, cause i had no guidance. Now 6 years on i catch more fish than i ever had on bait (true story) better quality, and heap more fun. They work really well but you need to observe the basics i have outlined and build you own mental database.

Good luck mate...wanna hear you donked your first sp fish soon.

[Pete62]

Init great that when a fellow Ausfisher asks a question there is always someone willing to share information that has taken years to acumulate. Well done Kevvie, good karma to you.
Keep reading Tinman I am sure there will be other words of wisdom shared. My 2 bobs worth on SP's, different situations command thinking outside the square, if one tail, head or method is not working try another one, lighter is better( jig heads, braid & Leader) stand up, look around and keep moving, trying new spots, spots u would never dare throw a bait into. Learn some new knots, doubles, braid to leader, loop to jig head. It's a whole new world and far more stimulating than soaking a bait.
Cheers and good luck, Pete.

[SummerTrance]

Keep reading as much as possible on the subject. Use the search function on this site.

I'll try giving you a brief explanation on jigheads. Jigheads come in different weights, with different size hooks.
The weight is all about how fast you want the jighead & plastic to sink. So in deeper water or strong current, you'll need a heavier jighead to get the plastic to the bottom. Jighead weights are measured in ounces, or part thereof. So when you see a jighead that says 1/8th, that means in weighs 1/8th of an ounce. You want to be using as light a weight as possible (that still gets you to the bottom) as the plastic will look more natural with a lighter weight.

When it comes to choosing which size hook, it depends on the size of plastic, and the size of fish you are targeting. You should also be aware, that the two main brands of jigheads (Nitro & TT) size their hooks differently, which can be confusing. I use Nitro jigheads and have never had a hook straighten. Hook sizes are named such as 1/O, 2/O, 3/O ans so on as the hooks get bigger.

So for example, in the bay chasing snapper/squire I use a Nitro 1/8th 2/O jighead. Which means the weight is 1/8th of an ounce on a 2/O size hook. If the current is strong, i'll change to a 1/6th 2/0.

With those jigheads, im using gulp 5" jerk shads, or 4" minnows.

Hope this helps.

[Gagga08]

I've been fishing with plastics for almost five years now and I now only fish with plastics. The most important information that I can share with you, that Kevvie hasn't already touched on, is to use the lightest possible jig head that will get the plastic to the bottom. Use quality jigheads with SHARP hooks and ALWAYS use mono or flurocarbon leader. And the most important thing is to just have a go. You may not experience success straight away, but stick with it and you will see more and more fish on the end of your line!

[Kleyny]

Dont take bait out with you.

neil

[Outsider1]

The importance of getting your lure to the bottom has been mentioned. And it has also been mentioned that it is important to keep your jighead weight as low as possible but still enough to get the lure to the bottom.

It was never clear to me when the lure had hit the bottom till someone pointed out that your line will go limp when it hits bottom. By limp I mean if you watch your line (from your rod tip to where it enters the water) you will see it "collapse" and drop onto the water as the tension created by the jighead weight is unloaded as the lure hits bottom. Braid makes this more obvious and is another reason for using braid over mono. It is harder to see when it is windy but practice will enable you to identify when its happens.

I found that this little snippet made a huge difference to my soft plastic results after I had twigged. It is so much easier to know that you are hitting bottom and enables you to lighten up the jighead with confidence. It also enables you to confidently jig the lure across the bottom. Rip it up, let it flutter back down, see it hit bottom again, let is sit for a few seconds and then jig it again. It becomes second nature after a while and having the visual of watching the line adds to your "feel" of the lure.

The other thing I would add is that you can never jig the lure too slow. If you think you are working the lure slow, then halve you speed again and you might be amazed at the difference it makes.Note: you can still rip it hard and fast, but let is flutter and settle slow and don't worry too much about long pauses between your jigging.

Cheers

Dave

[kevvie]

good bit of info mate...definately will help the cause.

[BtotheM]

Yer as kevvie said MUST get a graphite rod, MUST use braid and a good smooth reel, as for which one (go the best you can afford), but really do it. WWhen i started out i went and bought a 250 setup (wasnt happy with it) and within a month went and bought a 400 setup and a month later a bought a 1000 setup (this is for bream) and havent looked back (would have saved heaps of money if i bought the good gear straight up). The cheaper stuff just didnt work for me, casting all day, small lures, small touches and bumps) but you might be different.

Lures - if your fishing estuarys the best lure (i and many people reckon) is the berkley 2 inch shrimp (just great), but there are many good lures around (powerbait minnows, other gulps, squidgys, atomics). The gulps are prob the best lure for building confindence.

Kevvies got the retrieve down pat and as he said DONT GIVE UP. It can be tough starting out, but its worth it (my boat has never had any bait in it)

Yer and dont bring bait

[tinman42]

There would appear to be a common thread amongst all the replies - don't take bait!

[SummerTrance]

Thats right tinman, leave the bait at home.
If you take it, and your not getting anything straight away on sp's, you'll be too tempted to go the bait aswell. You need all your focus on the softies, and sooner or later you'll start getting fish. Then you'll never have to clean stinky bait off the boat ever again.

[BtotheM]

Yer and as said before use flurocarbon as leader

[Kleyny]

There would appear to be a common thread amongst all the replies - don't take bait!

Why i said no bait is i found it very distracting when you have a bait rod out at the same time as trying to learn the art of plastics.
i also found when i took bait and left it in the boat i was tempted to say stuff it and go back to bait.

If you have no bait on board at all your stuck with using the dreaded plastics:P

Once i left the bait at home i got my first fish on plastics.

neil

[Horse]

All good replies above.

I tend to work my plackys a bit different to most and usually let them trail behind (deadsticking). I will often work two rods with one in the holder and working the other gently. The one in the holder usually gets just as much action. If it is very calm then I will work the lure a bit more

If you are new to it and want some action to build your confidence then i would use Gulp P/seed 3" minnows or grubs. If you want trophy fish use 5" or above

Around Green & St Helena I use 1/8 but go to 1/4 at West Mud and 1/2oz in the deeper Bay areas. If there is any breeze I will up these weights

I use larger than average TT jigs with 3/0 the smallest and normally a 5/0 in a 5" bait.

Give it a go and I reckon you will be suprised at how well they work. I work mine as if they were baits and get most hits on the drop

[nufin_flash]

hey mate ive recently started to get the hang on plastics around the sunnycoast targetting jetties. i've found the lighter jig head you use the better, tt have hiddent weight jig as light as 1/60 these are gold, wack on a 2" shrimp cast near a jetty and often gets hit pretty quickly.

[BtotheM]

thats awesome stuff, i love fishing that style

[stonecold]

The young bloke caught his first snapper on S.P last week....his comment was "I love this sort of fishing dad it so easy!" Yeah right. But seriously it was. As all the above gents have said light as possible and stick with it. His technique on the day was to just chuck it out and let it sink to the bottom. When it hit the bottom give it a few rips then let it sink to the bottom again. Seriously it was easy. He caught 3 in as many casts.
I guess the one thing many of the above havnt said is make sure your fishing where the fish are, I had caught several snapper on bait at the spot where he had his success only 10 mintues earlier. I could see the fish on the colour sounder so I knew they were there. Learn to read your sounder, and trust what it tells you. Apply the techniques the above gents have given you and you will catch fish given time.

[Scalem]

The young bloke caught his first snapper on S.P last week....his comment was "I love this sort of fishing dad it so easy!" Yeah right. But seriously it was. As all the above gents have said light as possible and stick with it. His technique on the day was to just chuck it out and let it sink to the bottom. .

In many replies I have given attempting to help, I have said " forget that it is a lure, treat it like a bait", but occasionally move it to grab the fish's attention. Then others would correct me and say "but it's a lure, not a bait" - MAN!! Some people just don't get it! But stonecolds' youngin has it right there!! If you are on the drift, and the boat is bouncing up and down, there's more than enough movement for species such as flathead and snapper, the rest is easy. It then becomes a heck of fun when you start experimenting. "For Steve" and I have a spot we call T.I.G.S which is short for This is Getting Stupid. We caught fish after fish of small 35ish size pinkies which were in a feeding frenzie. Casting and waiting for the plastic to get to the bottom was unnecessary. We were casting, then ripping the rod tip up violently within 1 or 2 seconds after splashdown, and BANG! Another fish!! The school of Snapper were rising up to within 1 or 2 meters from the surface to smash it. Awesome fun. Same happened with Poodroo on another trip. We arrived, I cut the motor, through a placcie on and cast all within about 30 seconds after arriving. 2 Seconds after the plastic hit the water, I was on to a 60cm fish. Poo could not beleive it!;D He wasn't in the water yet. This method is more like fly fishing than anything without it being fly.
The downside? If the fish aren't there, it's no different to any other style of fishing, just keep trying!

Scalem

[slyman]

I'll have to agree with the comments about action, sometimes very little action or no action needs to be done by you, it is surprising how many fish will grab the lure when you are doing nothing. The action of a rocking boat is great for imparting movement to your plastic. The number of times I've caught a fish while the rod is in the holder is evidence enough for me that it works. In fact have a look in the video forum at the video called Hot Snapper bite.

Snapper feeding on the surface are great, closing the bail arm and finding yourself hooked up is a blast. Around Peel I've heard them feeding at the surface, and have seen them swimming around with tops of heads poking out of the water, and I've had one memorable one were he slashed at the lure on the surface 2 or 3 times before hooking up. Try the 1/8 or 1/12 TT hidden weights for this.

One thing I find important is to keep the belly out of your line while your lure is dropping after casting. I overcome this by opening and closing the bail arm a few times until I know I've hit the bottom. Leaving it open lets it sink without resistance, but also allows for the current to put a belly in the line, so I'll close the bail arm occasionally to let it drop to take the belly out. I hope that makes sense? A belly in the line allows for a fish to pick up and drop the plastic before you have felt any tension through it.

Different lures have different profiles so they will sink at different rates even though the same weight may be used. Jerkshads are slim and slender and have little resistance through the water so drop quite nicely, paddletails and other bits hanging off lures slow them up a bit. Jig heads with internal or hidden weights will drop a bit slower than those with all the weight at the tow point. They drop your lure more horizontally than vertically and this creates more drag on the lure. This allows for a slightly longer presentation.

One thing I used to do when I started to help me work out where my lure is, was to count it down. When I was ready to fish I'd check the depth on the sounder, then drop the lure straight to the bottom beside the boat and count how long it took to hit the bottom. That way I'd know how many seconds it took per meter, and I could work out in my head where it should be no matter what depth i was fishing. Have a look on the back of the Nitro packs of jigheads, some of them have drop rates for each weight, but you have to consider the drag your lure profile has in the water too.

Swim your plastics alongside the boat to make sure it swims straight and doesn't spin. Also give a bit of action to see what movement it makes and how much effort is required on your part to make it move. I've heard of blokes casting into their pools at home to see them in action too.

[SummerTrance]

I've heard of blokes casting into their pools at home to see them in action too.

Hahaha my old man used to do that and I used to laugh at him. Funny thing is, if I had a pool now myself, i prob be doing the same thing :P

[BtotheM]

Yer i always test my bream plastics in the pool great way to test retrieves styles etc

[2manylures]

It's been said by a few here that you MUST use Graphite rods & you MUST use Braid.

WHY? when plastics were invented there was no such thing as braid & graphite rods were in development stages at best in Australia. In the US soft plastics were around for decades prior to graphite & braid

It's also been said you MUST allow your lure to hit the bottom. WHY?

None of these make any sense especially when mono doesn't stretch until a certain amount of pressure is placed on it depending on B/S & a couple of other minor factors. Jigheads & softies won't stretch mono on their own.
When fishing for suspended fish sitting in the thermoclyne at say 30ft deep in even 40- 100ft of water why would you suggest a lure must hit the bottom?

This can apply to any suspending fish at any depth. The bottom doesn't enter the equation.

I'm really gobsmacked by some of these "MUST DO's" when they aren't even factors in more than many fishing situations.

Totally disagree with these comments as they've bypassed the simplistic basics of what angling is all about.

I've got a lot of "FLOATING JIGHEADS" Why I wonder would these have been made?

[2manylures]

I have for the last 30 years always fished with bait. I want to get involved with the soft plastics but do not know where to start. How did all you guys who are having so much success with soft plastics get started?

What kind, what weight, what area suits what kind, and I guess most importantly, how?

I read many posts about different kinds (Gulps, Squidgees etc) and different weights being used but I'm afraid it all goes over my head (might have something to do with age???)

What do you recommend as the basics I need to get started for general central/southern bay fishing, whiting, flathead, bream, squire etc without spending a million dollars? Is there someone/somewhere I can go to get this info?

Thanking you in advance.

Tinman: Please bear in mind that ANY ARTIFICAIL lure is basically only representing a natural bait in a majority of cases whether it be a fly representing insects or small fish, soft plastis the same & hardbodied lures representing in a majority of cases fish whether it be minnow style or other. Skirted lures used in salt are basically squid imitations.
This is why the yanks call them all “BAITS” after all, that’s all they are.
After 30yrs of baitfishing I dare say you have it down pat.
The best advice would be to imitate a moving natural bait & keep it SIMPLE.
For example:
If fishing a yabby or shrimp imitation chasing Cod you would try & impart the action of the imitation in the depth frequented by the natural prey.
If using a minnow imitation for suspending fish the same applies. Imitate the action in the correct depth of water.
Keep in mind that fish will rise to take a bait but will rarely descend to take one. Their eyes are in the wrong place to do so in most cases.
Surface lures will bring fish to the surface from many feet down. Rarely will you bring a surface fish to the bottom!
Far too much Bull**** has come into the equation in recent yrs along with as it appears, far too much technology when it isn’t necessary or called for. All this does is confuse people & turns fishing from what is pretty simple into something so outrageously complex.
Far too much emphasis is placed on technology plus a handful of other ingredients by those who are being PAID to write about different products or styles of fishing in order to SELL products, NOT catch fish.
Natural simplicity will always catch many more fish than complex B/S &/or technology after all, no-one’s told the fish to get with the times!

[tunaticer]

One thing that has not been explained through all this sufficiently is how you set the plastic to the jig head.
Basically you need to pay a LOT of attention to how your plastic sits both on the hook and how it behaves in the water, especially while it is freefalling.

Nearly all soft plastics are very sensitive to how the hook sits and the majority of the time it must be as close to perfectly in line with the centreline of the jig and the bait. If by chance the hook comes out to the left a mm or two the bait will most likely spiral down in free fall and most times this is not wanted. Similarly a bait that is too bunched up onto a hook or too stretched on the hook will give undesireable swim patterns.
Once you master getting a bait to sit well on the jig hook to get it swimming and freefalling well you will get more strikes and more confidence in using plastics.

I do disagree with the sentiments of some people giving advice here where it pertains to the cost of a setup being indicative of how good it will be. There are several rods and reels on the market that are moderately priced and are extremely efficient at performing the work required. I have a series of rods ranging from about $75 to about $300 and have used rods to about $500 but my go to rod for snappering in the bay is a $90 Berkley Dropshot 7' 2-4kg one piece rod which is so good at its job i now own 2 of them both set up with 6lb fireline and 8lb stren microfuse on Okuma EFS20 reels. I have ZERO problems with any of these setups and highly recommend them to anyone starting out plasticing.

Persistance will teach you everything to learn about using these baits because with persistance you will invariably be changing tactics for presenting your bait and you will come accross something that will work well for you.

One other piece of advice not yet mentioned that works really well for me. Cast in the direction you are drifting to and work your plastics gently back towards the boat. It is much easier to control the retrieve and let the bait freefall without line drag. Keep control of your slack line to the point where you are not quite tight with the jig and you will see the slightest of bites flicker up the line to your rod tip.

Good luck and enjoy your new addiction, it is worth it.

Jack.

[nufin_flash]

It's been said by a few here that you MUST use Graphite rods & you MUST use Braid.

WHY? when plastics were invented there was no such thing as braid & graphite rods were in development stages at best in Australia. In the US soft plastics were around for decades prior to graphite & braid

It's also been said you MUST allow your lure to hit the bottom. WHY?

made?

my guess in regards to graphite rods is that its easier to cast out an extremley light set up with a graphit rod, when i first started using plastics i didnt use a graphite rod and used non braided line, i found that i couldnt cast anywhere near the distance that i could with a graphite rode , the further you can cast out the more action you can get from your plastic.

as for braid , it takes a lot for braid to snap and is also a smaller diamter compared to most mono for same weight class, so you can put more line on and also fish a lighter line class , lighter line generaly results in a lot more hits.

i agree with you though in regards to lure always hitting the bottom, i believe this to be true for flatties but not always the case for bream. most of my hits are not long after the lure hits the water, i skip cast around jetties with 1/60 jighead so its sinks extremly slowly, it depends on what you are targetting as to if you need to hit the bottom or not.

[BtotheM]

It's been said by a few here that you MUST use Graphite rods & you MUST use Braid.

WHY? when plastics were invented there was no such thing as braid & graphite rods were in development stages at best in Australia. In the US soft plastics were around for decades prior to graphite & braid

It's also been said you MUST allow your lure to hit the bottom. WHY?

None of these make any sense especially when mono doesn't stretch until a certain amount of pressure is placed on it depending on B/S & a couple of other minor factors. Jigheads & softies won't stretch mono on their own.
When fishing for suspended fish sitting in the thermoclyne at say 30ft deep in even 40- 100ft of water why would you suggest a lure must hit the bottom?

This can apply to any suspending fish at any depth. The bottom doesn't enter the equation.

I'm really gobsmacked by some of these "MUST DO's" when they aren't even factors in more than many fishing situations.

Totally disagree with these comments as they've bypassed the simplistic basics of what angling is all about.

I've got a lot of "FLOATING JIGHEADS" Why I wonder would these have been made?


Graphite rods are super sensitive and have way more feel than non graphite rods this allows way longer casts, greater feel of what the lure is doing and gives the lure a better action, they are fast actioned so you can set the hook well, remove the fish from cover better and less likly to put the hooks. (graphite rods are a absolute must for lure fishing, and i would not even dream of trying to fish lures without one)

Braid is better becaus again you have greater feel over the lure (which is super important in lure fishing), better hook up, less chance of lossing the fish to cover, know if the lure has weed or something on it (again i would never eva go fishing without braid, unless i was using 2lb or similar fluro straight though)

[BtotheM]

But i dont believe the lure must hit the bottom

[Goldfinch]

Hey Tinman,
I like you, only started using SP's about 6 months ago and I still take bait out as well as the SP's as I tend to catch different species depending on the area we are fishing. I have a couple of fishing buddies that are very experienced with the SP's and have been showing me some tricks which work a treat. Instead of dropping the SP straight to the bottom we have been slowly floating the SP down like you would an unweighted bait and we have been getting smashed by the big snapper on the way down in the mid water. Using 1/4 or 3/8 Nitro heads with 3/0 or 4/0 hooks with 5" and 7" jerk shads in various colours. I like Nuc Chooks, Pumpkinseed and Satay Chooks. The Swimming Mullets have also been getting smashed. On my last trip out in 30m of water whilst I was bringing in a 5kg snapper on a SP my other rod hooked a 10kg Cod on a ganged squid. Rules are for fools !!! Bait does stink more though.

[Grunter71]

One point to note about a graphite rod over a fibreglass rod is the weight. Because you are working the rod all day, to get some action in the plastic, as opposed to a bait where you will let it sit, it will be much less tiring with the lighter rod.

[Sevric]

I have to say that all the advice given on this subject is spot on. Congratulations to all those who have participated.
I would add that one of the biggest things that has contributed to my Plastics fishing success has been an electric motor. They are not essential but boy they make a difference in the estuary not so much on the bay or reefs.

[Stottles]

Im also just starting out with the soft plastics, after using baits and hard bodies for quite some time now. from what i can tell mate its all based on trial and error, with a bit of knowledge and alot of experience thrown in. some days they'll hit one colour or brand and others they'll want something completely different. fishing with soft plastics is similar to most things in life, paitence and persistence are very much needed.

I disagree with the MUST BE graphite/braid. even tho im using a graphite rod(managed to pick it up for just $16) i cant see any reasons why the standard fibreglass rod+mono line would be a bad place to start. mite not be as touchy feely as the graphite/braid, but will still get the job done. sure u wont be able to feel what your lure is bumping into as much, but that skill comes with experience, it aint souly based on the gear.

the idea behind the 'hitting' the bottom technique, in my opinion, is its the most basic and easiest to pick up, making it perfect for beginners. not to mention its the perfect technique for flatties, and we all know just how greedy the lil buggers can be. 2 weeks ago i caught a 45cm flattie that along with my plastic, hand half a small squid in its mouth, once i landed it safely in the boat it litterally looked like it had swallowed a tennis ball. wondering what the hell was going on i decided to cut it open and it was stuffed full of food. the greedy buggered didnt even have the room to swallow his last meal and he still hit the lure. i cant think of a better fish to target to build confidence and get the jist on how plastics work.

just my thoughts
Stottles

[JNaumov]

Thanks for all the contributions to this thread.

There is some very valuable information in there!

[fbawlgf]

i use a steve starling 7' graphite rod 4-6kg with a okumo epix efs60 15lb braid.I love it

[topcatch]

As a soft plastic wannabe newbie the information here has been invaluable, particularly the debate on dropping the SP to the bottom v drifting it, braid v mono and fiberglass rod v graphite. A couple of things that haven't been raised that I would be interested in knowing is the 'rigs' used. I mean are you connecting the leader directly to the braid (if so do I throw away all those swivels I have accumulated over the years) and what knots you tend to favour?

thanks in advance.

[fbawlgf]

i use a albright special to join braid to leader and perfection loop to attach lure.
look up netknots.com they have a few that might help you out;D