What am I doing wrong?

[adri4n]

I've been trying to catch any sort of fish on a soft plastic but with no success. I've finally got the proper set-up, with a light rod and braid and a couple of soft plastics in different sizes. I have some 2 and 3 inch curly grubs, some berkely soft plastics, 3 inch minnows and some other types of plastics. I don't use jigheads but I clamp a small size clasp weight just on top of the hook so its kinda like a jig head. The weight can't be more than 1/8. Now I've never caught a fish on a plastic so I don't know if I'm just not giving it the right action or if the places i go just don't have enough fish around. I've tried plastics near structure, under docks and near rock walls.

Sometimes I let the lure drop and give it small twitches now and then with a big twitch in between. Just want to check that I'm doing the right thing if anyone is going for a luring session please pm me, If I'm free I'll definitely be glad to get some tips. Cheers.

[kevinchen19870316]

get some 1/8 to 1/16 jighead and do some flattie jigging b4 you target any other species.

u can try shultz at the start of running in, cast ur SP close to the other side of the bank, close the bail arm after the lure hit the bottom. give a quick but short jig and watch the belly of the line, it should be getting smaller slowly and suddenly stop or get big, that's when the lure hit the bottom. then give another jig and wait till the lure hit the bottom....repeat the process until u get the lure to ur feet. usually you should get 3-4 flattie if u keep doing this for a good 2hrs

u can add my MSN, it's in my profile.

[pinkey]

Mate if i were you id grab a packet of 1/16 - 1/32 jigheads and use the 3inch curley tail grubs, just cast as close as you can to any peice of structure you can see and you will get a bream, cod or moses perch sooner or later, as you go along you will catch more and more.

[adri4n]

Just wondering why jig heads are a must? I just clamp a weight above the hook so doesn't that make it act like a jighead? plus I don't get why jigheads are so expensive Thanks for the tips guys, I'll try to persevere with the soft plastics.

[kevinchen19870316]

adri4n, u can use sinker+ hook if ur only jigging for flattie or cod.

as well, u can use rigs like split shot to stay away from buying the jigheads.

[benno573]

adri4n wrote:

Just wondering why jig heads are a must? I just clamp a weight above the hook so doesn't that make it act like a jighead? plus I don't get why jigheads are so expensive Thanks for the tips guys, I'll try to persevere with the soft plastics.

jig heads are easy to manufacture - the split shot works great clamped onto the top of a long shank hook and is cheep cheep cheep!!! mate, best advice is persistance. once you break the plastic code (new book by dan brown, you should check it out :laugh: ) you'll find the fish come in a lot easier after that.

[adri4n]

yeah thats what I meant by clamping a weight on top of the hook. I just forgot that they are called split shots. lol. I should try to hit schultz, seems like a great place to try my rudimentary plastic skills

[benno573]

if you have a boat hit up any of the shallow rubble areas in the bay - mud isl is a great place to practise. other than that, shultz is ok, canals at the gold coast are awesome to flick plastics in, there is an awesome creek at coomera that has a very healthy resident population of flatties and the occasional bream.

[adri4n]

I wish I had a boat, but unfortunately I'm just land-based. no sense travelling all the way if I'm still unsure about my technique. heheh.

[Feral]

Adrian,

You need a proper jib head as the hook is actually shaped so the weight holds the plastic upright. They are cheap enough if your not buying big brand names, (some of the brand name stuff is very good but you dont need it for a muck around)also many plastics come already rigged with the hooks in them, often at the same price or cheaper than the big name plastics.

Go to Amart, big W or Kmart, look for wilson or generic jig heads, look for kokoda (about $5-6 a packet), tsunami or squidgee slick rigs (about $8-10 a packet) with the hooks already in them.

[kevinchen19870316]

i use the squidy ones and they r not bad for flattie jigging.

[Cowfish13]

It takes a while to learn how. I've only just begun to catch fish relatively consistently on plastics. Though that is out in the bay:dry:

The best plastics for beginners at Schulltz would probably either 3" Minnow Grub's in Mango Ripple/pumkinseed or 3" Minnow's in those colours as well as rainbow. Match them with some 1/16oz jigheads with a 1/0 hook and eventually you'll get some. Try to team up with someone who knows how to use them:)

Schultz is probably the best spot to hone you skills. The fish are fairly aggressive and there are plenty of species to get:)

For your technique, rather than giving the plastic a big sharp jerk, let the plastic sink to the bottom and then kinda continuously quiver your hand/wrist until your rod gets to about 70-80 degrees to the water. Let it sink back down and repeat. I find that with this retrieve, as it is less agressive, the fish seem to be less tentative towards it:)

Good luck

[Dazzamcgee]

There is no right or wrong when Soft Plastic fishing!

Just what works on that particular day!

Though having said that there is a few basic requirement needed to ensure that the variables are kept to a minimal.

Having the right tools for the job i.e: Rods,reels and line/leader.

Aim to fill your tackle box with a broad range of different SP's and jigheads i.e: styles,colours and sizes,weights.

Most of all "never give up" get out try different locations and lure combinations until ya crack that first fish then remember what u did and repeat.

Good luck....

[namyau]

fyi adrian you can get some cheapo Berkley powerjig jigheads from big w for $4.30 get 10in a pack. cheaper then all the TT jigheads ive been loosing lately

[Dan23]

Different areas require different retrieves on different days. The technique Cowfish mentioned with quivering your wrist on the upstroke is great for Brisbane fish. However down in the northern NSW areas I find a very very sharp wrist flick is much more effective.

As an example the other day I was using my usual Brisbane waterways retrieve of ultra slow and with tiny jerks so as not to spook the fish. My Dad was retrieving much more agressively and getting a few fish to strike. I noticed this and changed my retrieve to match his and instantly began catching fish.

That said, there have been times fishing down there when a much slower finesse presentation has produced the goods.

Just got to experiment with what is working on the day.