Soft plastics advice?

[jamescott]

Hi all. After reading through many of the recent posts, I've decided to enter into the world of soft plastics as a lot of you have said you prefer them to bait. What I was wonderin was:

1 - any suggestion on best brand

2 - is there a better design?

3 - what is the best line to use when fishing with plastics?

I am only likely to be throwing a line in from the shore around the brisbane river and Nudgee region. Any advice would be appreciated!

Cheers.

[flatty_catcher]

ok I will give a little input, however I am sure later on there will be a tonne of stuff posted here.

first you need a rod suited to soft plastic fishing, whippy but stiff, they vary in price from 100 -500 mostly (of course some pro stuff is very exy).

then a nice reel say 2000 -2500 size and make sure it is matched to your rod, (this is important)

then some braid, I started out with the plain old 8lb Berkely Braid and vanish 10lb leader, caught a tonne of flatte,bream and even an 80cm jew on it, I still have it on one reel and I will continue to use it.

I just got a spare new spool and put 6 lb sun PE braid on it with 6 lb nitlon leader (very expensive and havnt tried it yet).

Soft plastics - Berkely -3-4" minows,nuke chook,lime tiger,pumpin seed

squidgy -bloodworm minows

jigg head 1/4, 1/6, 1/8, 1/16, 1/32 depends on your tactic.

So hope that a start.

[namyau]

really depends on what fish you wanna target.

i only have bream orientated lures - i like tt jig and nitro bream pro jig heads ranging from 1/32 - 1/8th with hook size #2,#4, my go to size would be a 1/24 tt head hunter with #2 hook

lures brand wise cant go wrong with gulp as a beginner things like the gulp shrimp in 2inch - natural, new penny, banana prawn, pearl white are all good or 3inch gulp minnows in the same colours.

for other brand plastics cant stray away from the squidgy wriggler 80mm in bloodworm and evil minnow colours - killers on a wide variety of fish, also look at atomic guzzlers 2inc,3inch shrimps are proving goods. also the fat grubs from atomic are pretty good

if you can find ecogear paramax is another wriggler which i have caught a few nice fish on esp the pink colour.

[Leighton]

If fishing from the shore its hard to go past Berkley 2" Banana Prawns atm Most land based fish species will take them. Depending on current and depth 1/16th - 1/8th jig heads will do

I would grab some 6-8lbs Stren micro fuse and some 4-8lbs leader

[kiwifisho]

Its all been said mate all ya hav to do is go hard n catch fish now:)

Dean;)

[namyau]

personally im straying away from those gsp lines like fireline and stren stuff - once you have used "true" braid its harder to go back - cheaper stuff like sunline super pe is only about $30 for 150mt and is more then enough for 1 spool and will last quite a while. if you look around you can sometimes pick up good quality brand braid for cheap - recently i got some nitlon pe for $10 at bcf

[flatty_catcher]

namyau wrote:

personally im straying away from those gsp lines like fireline and stren stuff - once you have used "true" braid its harder to go back - cheaper stuff like sunline super pe is only about $30 for 150mt and is more then enough for 1 spool and will last quite a while. if you look around you can sometimes pick up good quality brand braid for cheap - recently i got some nitlon pe for $10 at bcf

I paid $59.00 for my sunline PE?

guy said it was the best you could get

was just enough for a 2500 spool with backing mono.

doubt you will get if for 30 dollars

cheers

[Cowfish13]

You would've bought 300m, he only got 150m, hence the cheaper price

Everything's basically been said, but have a look through the "Soft Plastics" forum for heaps more details

[Angus]

In my opinion, I would start with 2,3 & 4 inch gulps in varying patterns.

They are:

a: Good.

b: Easy to use.

c: Good.

Some people think its like biat fishing due to the scent. But the important thing is youll get the jist of how to work the plastic.

Good luck mate!

Angus

[Angus]

Oh and the $99 combo at Tacklewarehouse (Shimano Sienna and Katana combo) is in my opinion the best value beginners plastic set up you can get. It was my first and I still often use it a secondery rod and reel when im in my kayak.

Load it up with some 6 or 8 lb braid (fireline will do) and some 8 to 10 lb leader and you will be off to a good start in those locations you specified.

Cheers.

Angus

[Leighton]

namyau wrote:

personally im straying away from those gsp lines like fireline and stren stuff - once you have used "true" braid its harder to go back - cheaper stuff like sunline super pe is only about $30 for 150mt and is more then enough for 1 spool and will last quite a while. if you look around you can sometimes pick up good quality brand braid for cheap - recently i got some nitlon pe for $10 at bcf

I know what you are saying but I still prefer Stren for lines under 10 lbs.

As far as a newbie using a True Braid I would suggest against it. I have seen plenty of Rookies come to grief with the Softer Thinner Braids. IMO its best to learn the craft of plastics on a more forgiving line

[flatty_catcher]

Cowfish13 wrote:

You would've bought 300m, he only got 150m, hence the cheaper price

Everything's basically been said, but have a look through the "Soft Plastics" forum for heaps more details

nope i bought the amount for js enuff to fit on a 2500 reel,

It was the orange stuff, I am curious to know, I mean I buy gear from these guys all the time?

surely they are not charging double ?

can't quite remember but it may have been bass PE or somthing?

cheers

[TUR82]

If it was orange it would've been "Bass Hard PE". That is about the right price for that.

[flatty_catcher]

yeah sorry

its not sun PE at all its Line System Braid

very light and a bugger to tie the leader too, but I eventually got one tied with a few extra loops.

bit expensive but I only filled one reel so it might be a bit of fun.

Dan

[namyau]

Cowfish13 wrote:

You would've bought 300m, he only got 150m, hence the cheaper price

Everything's basically been said, but have a look through the "Soft Plastics" forum for heaps more details

unless it was sunline castaway or rock fish of pe jigger. the normal super pe is normally around the 30-40 mark in most places that ive seen

[namyau]

Leighton wrote:

namyau wrote:

personally im straying away from those gsp lines like fireline and stren stuff - once you have used "true" braid its harder to go back - cheaper stuff like sunline super pe is only about $30 for 150mt and is more then enough for 1 spool and will last quite a while. if you look around you can sometimes pick up good quality brand braid for cheap - recently i got some nitlon pe for $10 at bcf

I know what you are saying but I still prefer Stren for lines under 10 lbs.

As far as a newbie using a True Braid I would suggest against it. I have seen plenty of Rookies come to grief with the Softer Thinner Braids. IMO its best to learn the craft of plastics on a more forgiving line

good point there leighton and yeah there is nothing wrong with fireline and the likes (thats what i started on) but yeah now its just personal preference