new to plastics

[wittyfishin]

hi all my missus and i are new to plastics and were wondering if anyone can share their wisdom and plastic fishing.

the first thing we would like to find out is if our technique is right we cast out into an area and slowly retrieve the line the give the lina a couple of gentle tugs then let the plastic settle again and wind in the slack then a couple of more tugs then do the same all the way in

does this sound like a good technique

any help any one can give us would be much appreciated.

we love our fishing and want to learn as much as we can.

thanks everyone

[ellicat]

[video type=youtube]JXlYck1v6zQ

[wittyfishin]

thanks for that ellicat it was good viewing and let us know we were on the right track

[blairv]

Hi Witty

I started using plastics about 6-8 months ago and had a pretty slow start with them, but now I am getting decent fish quite often which is great.

Your technique is the same as I used, I would add though that the weight of your jigs and the size of bait is also important.

Generally I have found that in tidal conditions a 1/8 or /14 jig head on a 1/0 or 2/0 hook (I use TT lures that have a keel like shape to them) seem to work the best. A bit of bottom bashing (slow retrieve along the bottom) seems to be more attractive to some types of fish such as Flathead.

Also make sure you keep a different range of plastics as well. My all time favoruite for Flatty is a Gulp 3" Minnow in New Penny and Bream love the Grubs in a dark colour. BTW I have found flathead like the brighter colours generally.

Also keep a decent leader on - I have found that Berkly Vanish in 8 or 10 lbs and about 4 - 6 ft long works best (main line is 6-8 lbs braid).

It takes a while to master but eventually you will find you get better and bigger fish. Down at the Tingalpa Creek mouth on Saturday Morning I caught 3 Flathead (34, 42 and 46 cms) on the 3" Minnow in New Penny which the guys with livebaits got donuts - so I my opinion they are working well.

Also make sure that you cover a bit of ground if you can such as walking a rock wall or walking a sand bar next to a channel looking for drop offs.

And get yourself some Polarised Sunnies - they help too!

Hope there is some advise you can use here - from a realtively new Plastics user.

Cheers

Blair

[HookedOnTackle]

in some clear water, be it pool or midday, work your plastic as you would when fishing and see how it reacts. see how the lighter jigs float more, how quick rips make the different plastics react, what looks like a fish, prawn, etc. so you know what your plastic is doing out of sight and in a fishies face (hopefully).

if you can get your hands on squidgy and berkley gulp dvds as well, they have plenty of info. the last gulp one was pretty average though, especially compared to the slick job squidgy did.

[fishguru5]

hey mate

i love my plastics fishing. keechie got me hooked anyways if you have a boat fishing plastics is much easier as you need to cover alot of ground. if you are looking for an affordable jig head that come in the most popular sizes but most importantly they allow the plastic to swim straight then nico who makes his own jigheads and blades would be your best bet you can order at www.nicojigs.com.au but for example. when i fish berkley 2" shrimp with a tt jig head the plastic tends to swim side ways but when using nicos they swim straight through the water giving you the chance to work it more naturally. if you are planning on a decent flathead jew or bream cast your plastics right up to the bank or magroves and work it back double hop and you should produce well.

dunno if any of that made sense but if you understood it good luck mate

[wittyfishin]

thanks guys all the info provided is great we will not be giving up on plastics as my missus landed a 39cm flattie down the pin when we were drifting a sand flat. i cant remember the name of the plastic but i know it was a gulp prawn shape in green and orange and the flattie smashed it.

we are hopefully going down the pin again on saturday early morning and doing a couple of hours aroung flat rock and in cobby passage where we found a 15m hole a couple of weeks ago so we are going to fish the hole with hopefully some livies on my big set up and will also be casting the banks with plastics

hopefully we will get on to some good ones. in the hole when we fished it a couple of weeks ago (were not ready for it and only had some squid i dropped down there and got cut off. was using 30 lb braid and 50lb leader)

will let every one know if we are going and will let you know how we went.

cheers

witty