Got Nothing!

[Zzzzzzz]

Went fishing at Marks rocks last night, got there cast net sum live bait. I then set out three rods in 9 meters of water. live hering on the bottom , live prawn on light sinker an a live hering under a float! fished low tide 2 high tide, with not a touch? an I thought 2 my self, what am I doing wrong? still not sure maybe just bad luck? Does any one have a suggestions?

[rogersto]

that's nothing compared to my weekend of fishing.

Almost $40 worth of berkley gulps gone, 3 and a bit packs, a pack of 3" shaky shads, a pack of 3" swimming mullet and a pack of minnows, beach fishing and off the rock wall, each and every one had their tails chewed off.

On the breakwall I could see some decent sized bream hit the little buggers up the rear end, every 2 casts another one of those pesky little rip-off things gone.

Did manage to hook a little lizard which i tossed back, on a shaky shad, just out from main beach at the crack of dawn, but only after having 5 shaky shads' tails thrashed.

Drove across to Budds Beach disgruntled, pulled the yabby pump out of the boot, sucked a couple dozen and went back to the same spot and landed a couple of good sized flathead and a dart within a 45 minute time span.

SP's are grossly over-rated. They're probably great when fish are abundant and go "nuckin' futs" when you toss something at them, but when there isn't a great number of 'em around and you're peppering the area covering a spot, and a flattie, bream, or worse still a little toadie, sees your little plastic thingie and goes for it. wham up the ass and bye bye tail.

Watched these couple of 20 cm or so size bream follow my pumpkin seed coloured wiggly tail SP (swimming mullet) fishing off a bridge, they just whack whack whack the ass end of it, and 2-3 nips and the tail's just about gone.

couldn't they make 'em just a little bit tougher ?

[Scalem]

that's nothing compared to my weekend of fishing.

Almost $40 worth of berkley gulps gone, 3 and a bit packs, a pack of 3" shaky shads, a pack of 3" swimming mullet and a pack of minnows, beach fishing and off the rock wall, each and every one had their tails chewed off.

On the breakwall I could see some decent sized bream hit the little buggers up the rear end, every 2 casts another one of those pesky little rip-off things gone.

Did manage to hook a little lizard which i tossed back, on a shaky shad, just out from main beach at the crack of dawn, but only after having 5 shaky shads' tails thrashed.

Drove across to Budds Beach disgruntled, pulled the yabby pump out of the boot, sucked a couple dozen and went back to the same spot and landed a couple of good sized flathead and a dart within a 45 minute time span.

SP's are grossly over-rated. They're probably great when fish are abundant and go "nuckin' futs" when you toss something at them, but when there isn't a great number of 'em around and you're peppering the area covering a spot, and a flattie, bream, or worse still a little toadie, sees your little plastic thingie and goes for it. wham up the ass and bye bye tail.

Watched these couple of 20 cm or so size bream follow my pumpkin seed coloured wiggly tail SP (swimming mullet) fishing off a bridge, they just whack whack whack the ass end of it, and 2-3 nips and the tail's just about gone.

couldn't they make 'em just a little bit tougher ?

Can be very frustrating Rogersto, depending on how you fish the plastic might make a difference, but I tried recently under the main highway bridge in the Pine River, and quickly did a whole packet of gulps. I learned it was a plague of toad fish that will do that, and these buggars love following a slowly retreived placcie. So if you can, move to another spot - which is easy in a boat, but not easy on land I have to admit.

Try the Snapback range. They are not totally immune, but tend to last a lot longer. My all time favourite is the electric chicken in a 4" or smaller for bream.

Scalem

[Poodroo]

Can be very frustrating Rogersto, depending on how you fish the plastic might make a difference, but I tried recently under the main highway bridge in the Pine River, and quickly did a whole packet of gulps. I learned it was a plague of toad fish that will do that, and these buggars love following a slowly retreived placcie. So if you can, move to another spot - which is easy in a boat, but not easy on land I have to admit.

Try the Snapback range. They are not totally immune, but tend to last a lot longer. My all time favourite is the electric chicken in a 4" or smaller for bream.

Scalem

And further to that Snapback have also introduced a pumpkinseed to the range of placcies.

Poodroo

[Jeremy]

Almost $40 worth of berkley gulps gone, 3 and a bit packs, a pack of 3" shaky shads, a pack of 3" swimming mullet and a pack of minnows, beach fishing and off the rock wall, each and every one had their tails chewed off.

SP's are grossly over-rated. They're probably great when fish are abundant and go "nuckin' futs" when you toss something at them, but when there isn't a great number of 'em around and you're peppering the area covering a spot, and a flattie, bream, or worse still a little toadie, sees your little plastic thingie and goes for it. wham up the ass and bye bye tail.

got a case of sour grapes mate? Can't do it, so it must be the SPs, not yourself? The attraction of lure fishing for many people is it is an active form of fishing, you fool a fish into taking an artificial, and got have the rod in your hand and the line tight when it hits so you feel everything. Sometimes it can be more successful than bait, sometimes less. For me and many others, the reasons above outweigh the success or otherwise. That said, I have alot of confidence in them and catch quality fish with them.

Here is a suggestion, maybe you were winding too fast? Fish will actually bite at a SP again and again. Let them have a couple of goes at it until they take it properly. Slow down your retrieve and even let it stop dead regularly. Sounds like you might have been fishing in the kindergarden area anyway.

As for Zzzzzz, can't help you mate. Hardly ever fish that area. I do know the tide races through there though. Maybe you were fishing the wrong tide stage?

Jeremy

[bushbeachboy]

Jeremy,
Take it easy mate. You don't need to defend the SP's, their performance speaks for itself. I guess they work better for some people than others. Personally, I'm a bit shy of them, but I haven't used them much and don't have confidence in them or my usage/methods.

The cost of SP's can be a bit daunting, but I spend a fair bit on my bait. Being a lazy fisherman, I don't throw a cast net, I buy the bait. I usually put the rod in the holder and sit back and talk or just take it easy. So that I get the best possible bait, I buy prawns from the local fish co-op at around $18.00 per kilo. They are eating quality prawns so the results are there. I commonly go through a kilo on a day's fishing, which alone adds up to a couple of packs of plastics.

Then there are cost for other bait like squid etc. It all adds up. I think if I was competent with SP's, I would use them almost exclusively with no bait smell, less cleanup etc.

Zzzzzzz,
Mate look for a bit of structure on the bottom, or a rock bar, or mangrove snag etc. Fish your baits near the structure, using all the usual methods and that might help.
Cheers mate.