DerekD

@Fisherlady I can see a few more outfits in your future.... Specifically 2-4kg range. When we catch up bring the outfits mentioned above with you and we can show you what we can do with them and where you might be a bit limited. I'm familiar with the Quickfire and have been impressed by the bang for buck. As said before do not buy anything more (unless you really need it for a specific reason) at this stage till you understand the why for each of the outfits.

Hi FL, This is the opening report from one of the people I mentored last year during lockdown and we still fish together.

Hmmmm..... Good news is that you will have an excuse to buy some more fishing gear. Depending on what the 7 foot rods are most of what you have won't be suitable for lure fishing. Bad news is your bank balance will take a hit but it is only the kids inheritance that you are spending and in a way they will be getting more out of it now. Trying to cast and work a lure with a 12 foot rod is not something I'd like to be doing. The gear you will be learning with are graphite rods and braided lines. I have all the gear. I own several outfits including gear I use to teach people and while relatively inexpensive compared to what is out there it is all gear I'd happily recommend to others.

Slightly off track. Call it paying the favour forward. I've been fishing since I was a kid and it has bought a lot of joy into my life over the years. It is the people I've met. The places I've gone to (I get to interact with nature and find places I wouldn't under normal circumstances). Putting fish on someones table (I don't eat fish). The lottery aspect of it - fishing for a flathead and then hooking a king. Over the decades people have taken the time to help me grow my various fishing skill sets. I've refined or worked a lot of it out myself but if they hadn't helped me with a new aspect of fishing I wouldn't have half the skills I do now. It would be poor thanks to those people if I don't pass the experience on to others. I see someone like yourself with a great attitude but little experience and believe that with a bit of guidance we can increase your skills dramatically. The best part is that down the track you'll help others and make a positive difference to their lives. Can discuss the school holidays (late April??) pver the next few weeks. Try not to invest in too much gear before you head out with me as what you think you might need will probably not be what I'd recommend. PS. Try not to blame me too much for any gear you decide to add to the collection after heading out with me.

Hi FL. Feel free to reach out. If you and your hubby can make it down to Sydney for the day then we can give you an introduction to lure fishing. We cover the gear, the casting, various retrieves. Usually these are a pretty long day but it will short cut the learning process by years in most cases. Regards, Derek

There are a few topics on Fishraider which often trigger rather opposing views. Rigging plastics straight is one of those. For those I mentor I will keep hammering home the little details relating to the gear, casting and working lures. Part of my philosophy is that it is almost as easy to learn good habits as it is to learn bad habits so put that little bit of extra effort in to get the optimal result. A long while back I worked out a way of creating a subsurface walk the dog with certain plastics and squid jigs and my catch rates went up – especially for the pelagic fish such as salmon and kings. I thought about it and over time realised why it was so effective. I then taught others and the catch rate of everyone who really took the time to learn it and use it went up too. Most of the time I use it with 3 inch minnows but the technique scaled up to 4 inch minnows and 6 inch and 9 inch slapstix. I did have to up the rod size for the larger plastics but the principal was the same. When I teach I go into the psychological/mental aspects of fishing and argue that on a basic level a fishes' reaction is very similar to a human. If I hobble past you you’ll probably come to the conclusion that I’m injured and probably an easier target – an injured fish would also be an easier target. If I put a freshly made burger in front of you and you are slightly peckish there is a good chance you’ll eat it even if it is not breakfast or lunchtime – the easy meal. If I walked past you and punched you on the shoulder hard enough for you to feel it you might let that first one go but I wouldn’t get away with many more before you hit back – think about the reactive bite of say a Murray cod as someone keeps dropping a lure on its head. The animal world is good at sensing weaknesses, finding the easy meal, can be territorial. Each one of those tendencies can be the Achilles heel if you know where or when to exploit it. My favourite one is using the chase against them. Think about the high five game – I move my hand each time you try to slap down. The more you can’t get it the harder and faster you try till I make a mistake and leave it sitting there for too long. SLAP!! In this case the pause is what made the difference and it also works on fish. I want you to think about any documentary about schools of baitfish being harassed by predatory fish. Do you notice how they twist and turn and separate and join back together in formation to fool the predator. Now think about the defence mechanism of a single fish broken out from that school. Watch them dart from side to side to evade the predator. Over time the predatory fish will also recognise this movement and focus on it. This is what we are doing with the minnow type lure – we are raising a flag to get their attention. I am a huge fan of the minnow type lures as they are effective, they replicate the baitfish and are very versatile as they can be worked through the full water column. The TT bullet jighead is a big key to this retrieve and while I prefer Berkley 3” minnows I can get this action with most minnow type soft plastics. You will have to work out the retrieve for yourself but the slack between the flicks of the rod tip is the key – essentially we are creating an over correction each time we get the plastic darting. Both the following videos have been slowed down to half speed. We would also be fishing the lure slightly more sub-surface so it doesn't pop out of the water but it makes it very difficult to video properly with the current water clarity. We also haven't put the pause in which makes it so effective as we wanted to show how well these lures can move when rigged poorly or properly. This is a poorly rigged minnow with a slight bend in it. The plastic will have a bias to swim to one side and looks less natural in the water. This also swims unnaturally when we pause due to the way it twists. https://youtu.be/AgD9OS4FiOQ This is how well a properly rigged minnow type soft plastics can swim. To be clear - the ability to get the plastics moving like this is why I keep hammering home to anyone I mentor why you should rig a soft plastic straight. Doesn't cost me much more effort but the positive difference in the way it swims is easy to see. https://youtu.be/WjGS6SjfDUs Which one of those two plastics looks more realistic in the water. I believe fish have and rely on their instincts so if it doesn't look right it will probably reduce your chances of catching them. I've hooked enough pelagics over the years using these lures and the retrieve while others alongside me are not that I have confidence that it works. It is not to say that you can’t catch fish on a poorly rigged plastic – you can and will. For some plastics (like the grubs) it is less critical but you would be surprised at how well you can get a lot of the plastics moving if you take the time to rig them well. The choice is yours. PS: A video of a fish bait ball in the wild being splintered apart so the fish become an easier target.

Hi Leonard, MP3 recorder is a viable option. If you get an MP3 recorder to send to him you could also put a lot of music on it at the same time and make a present of it. By the way unless you are like me and despise smart phones (I use a Nokia most of the time but have a Samsung Galaxy too) they have a recording application in them. It might save you buying a MP3 recorder and you could get a player instead. Do you have a smartphone and what type? Do you have a Facebook account. I went through a learning process relating the photography software with another gentleman here on Fishraider and we used Facebook to share screens and walk him through the process. Alternatively I think it might be worth having a chat and see how we can make this work.

Too much thinking now... You are messing with my head....

Hmmmm.... Interesting view... It is a big call rating it at 100%. I'd probably say it is consistently stronger than your terminal tackle knot. Even at 85% breaking strength at the joiner versus say 70% breaking strength at the terminal tackle (I've just grabbed percentages out of the air as I don't want to think too much tonight) you would see this result consistently. I get the same result with the FG as my joiner and the uni as my terminal knot.

That would be my most likely starting point. If you are going to continue using this set up then probably the easiest knot to get around this issue is a 3 or 4 turn surgeon's joiner knot.

Before we get into knot comparisons: What is your mainline (braid) strength? The FG knot works because the smaller diameter braid bites into the leader. So with a 20lb braid and say 10lb mono I would expect it to slip. If you are using a skinny 4lb braid to a 4lb leader then I expect it should work. 4lb braid to 6lb mono works.

Does your friend have an email? This means you could actually send the file and it should be easy to open on the other end.

Probably just ask your friend what they have - it shouldn't ruin the surprise. Consider they may also have USB in their car or a slot which will take an SD card. Are you planning to record your voice or make a mix disc? If you are planning to record your voice then do you have a microphone with your computer. BTW when you say PC I am assuming it is not a Mac? I use Windows for my stuff. MP3s are the usual format for playback used but there are several other options? If they only have a CD player some will play MP3 (like in my car) but others will need to be CDA (CD audio). There should be burning software with your computer but we can get into that afterwards once we know what is available on the other end.

Before you start do you have a CD or DVD burner on the computer. These days with laptops not even having a CD drive you may not even be able to play it at the other end. USB sticks are so cheap these days that might be a better way of doing it.

Hi Noob, I think 1-3kg is a little too light as a starting point. Suggest you look at a 2-4kg which will still be fun to fight the fish on but have enough backbone to land the larger bread and butter species. I also think the lure rating is a little too light to start with. Consider 2-12gram region. Halco twisties are a great lure to have in your kit and the 10gram is a great match to the baitfish we see in summer when the pelagics get active. Coincidentally I've been working on an article on and off for several months to help people like yourself with their first lure outfit. Still got a fair bit more writing (it grows every time I think about it) and several photos and videos to add in. I'll copy and past some of what I've done so far in case it helps you: Hi All, So you want to get into lure fishing as you have heard it is a great way to catch fish or the lures in the shop look cool or that is what your mates are getting into, etc. You buy some lures and start using it on your existing gear and realise it seems harder than it looks. There is a point at which you start to get despondent as you are not catching fish and your loved ones are starting to joke about it. Obviously lures don’t worked as advertised. I come across a variation of this scenario several times a year. When I break down the “why” the biggest factor and easiest to fix is usually having the right gear. This is a subjective article in that what works for me may not suit you but there is over 15 years of learning, aha moments and teaching others behind what I’ve put together. What I am trying to do is give you enough information to help you make an informed decision based on your requirements with the final choices being up to you. Like most things in life there is a learning curve and I hope this article will shorten yours by several years. This is intended to apply to spinning outfits. If you told me I could only fish one class of outfit for the rest of my life it would be the light outfits in the 1-4kg range. My preference is the light (say 2-4kg) but the following will also apply to the ultralight (say 1-3kg) gear. My first fish on a soft plastic was on a soft fibreglass tip Shimano rod in the 2-4kg range with 8lb mono off a boat moored at Balmoral beach in the early 2000s. My friend introduced me to a white grub on small jig which I spent a little time working through the water column before hooking up. The fight took a little bit longer than it would these days but I really didn’t want to lose it. After a cautious fight up came a beautiful (and legal from memory) silver trevally. That experience changed my fishing world dramatically in several ways and exponentially revitalised my passion for fishing. The reel was a bit clunky (no infinite anti-reverse) and I realised that the line and rod felt too spongy to properly work the lures so I made some gear upgrades. After a couple of false starts I kind of hit the jackpot with the set up I ended up with and then fished for probably a decade. The rod was a 1st generation Shimano 2 piece (I started with a 1 piece and that was one of the false starts) Raider series Bream Finesse graphite 7 foot 6 inches long rod in a 2-4kg and 3-12 gram lure rating. I still own it but I haven’t used it for a couple of years. The reel (I had a false start with another brand) I bought was a Shimano Symetre 1500 (I preferred the handle over the 2500). The best value braid back then for me was the Berkley Fireline in Crystal (white) in 125 yard lengths. The backing was 8lb mono. The recommended joiner knot according to Berkley was the uni to uni. I still rate that outfit as a great starting point depending on your budget. Before I go into my usual excessive detail I want to give you some things to think about as to “why” you should consider fishing lighter outfits (especially with lures) as a starting point. A lot of what I teach people will scale upwards into heavier outfits. Consider the legal size of most bread and butter species, bream (25cm), snapper (30cm), flathead (36cm for the dusky), tailor (30cm), trevally (silver 30cm), whiting (27cm), luderick (27cm), etc. In the legal size most of these would weigh about 1kg max. Yes they can grow bigger but how many of these would you actually catch over say 2kg. Fishing with a 10kg outfit takes a bit of the fun out of it as you can winch a fish in rather than play it (not really giving the fish a sporting chance either). My theory is that people buy the heavier gear because it was on special or just in case they hook that 1 in a 1,000 fish but forget about the 999 fish they will more likely be hooking up. The follow on from that point is that with the finesse gear I expect to get more hook ups. Yes, I might lose the odd fish but if I am getting three times the hook up rate of someone using far heavier gear then I am still ahead overall. I find I am never bored. I’m focussed on the cast. Working the lure. Thinking about the next cast. Feeling for bites. Thinking about how I can change things up and what to try next. I even get a lot of joy out of seeing the water mist at the reel as I rip out a good cast and then watch the braid slowly float down to the surface of the water on a wind still day. The quality of fish has gone up and at times the quantity too. Think about what happens if you throw a piece of bread in the water. Usually it is the little fish that race in first. The larger fish haven’t gotten that way by being stupid or at least trusting their instincts. I still get smaller fish but it is the bigger fish that are more likely to engulf that lure if you can convince them they want it. It is a really versatile outfit. I can be working the bottom for flathead and then the mid to upper water column for pelagics. I can throw on a metal slice (e.g. Halco twisty) to cover some impressive distances when fish are feeding on the surface on the small silver baitfish. I can go freshwater and use a popper or celta spinner for bass. Use hardbodies such as Tassie Devils or Rapala CD7s for trout. Use a squid jig to catch bait or a feed of salt and pepper calamari. Put on a MMD Splash prawn or similar to chase bream along the oyster encrusted rock walls inside Sydney. I can even use bait on the same outfit to chase carp on corn or whiting on the flats with yabbies. I can head out pretty well anytime for a fish without a lot of pre-planning. Have an hour to spare and driving past some likely looking water. Grab the rod out of the back of the car, put on the reel and the lure and then start fishing. With lures I don’t have to clean the smell or mess of prawns after a fishing session. At worst I have to clean some of the scale type glitter off my fingers or face (otherwise I look like I’ve been attacked by someone with fairy dust). A packet of lures and jig heads will generally give you more bang for buck than bait which might only be used for a single session before being dumped. It is a bit more satisfying to catch fish as you are fooling them into taking your lure. As a bonus there is some poetic justice in there as the fish or squid picks on something smaller than itself to find something bigger than itself on the other end of the line. If this of interest to you then please read on. Disclaimer: I am a huge Shimano fan for several reasons. I like the gear as I think it is well designed and made. I have had a lot of wonderful memories using their gear. I used to work near their offices and they have helped me with a number of issues (services, replacing broken rod tip, spare spools, upgrades) and because of their after sales support I’ve had no hesitation in recommending their equipment to others. I do use other brands. There is so much competition out there that if you don’t make a competitive product (build quality or price) you risk falling by the wayside. I am not sponsored by Shimano but I’ll often mention their gear because it is a way of setting a minimum bar for comparison and I also don’t have the time or the funding to test every product out there. As you are the one going to be using it take the time to look at other brands. I don’t see an issue if you buy something just because the colour rocks if it meets my other criteria. The rod at a glance: Graphite all the way. Seven-ish foot. 8 guides minimum. Short butt (add measurement here). 2 piece recommended over 1 piece for travel. 2-4kg is a good overall line rating for bread and butter species. Rated for 3-12gram lures. Now in more detail: Graphite over fibreglass due to the reduced weight and fast response. You are creating the movement in the lures and I find the stiffness of the graphite rods means every twitch I send down to the lure is not dampened by the rod. Stay away from the rods with a fibreglass tip for this kind of fishing. There are several downsides to graphite rods but this isn’t an issue as long as you are aware of them and factor them into your fishing. Like for like they are a bit more expensive than their fibreglass cousins but due to improved manufacturing the price difference is getting smaller and smaller. Graphite conducts electricity. Keep away from power cables and thunderstorms. Graphite bruises. If it is going to be a boat rod and banging up against the gunnels or other metal surfaces in time the points of impacts will develop minor cracking which will likely bite you when fighting a fish sometime in the future. People think the rod is faulty when it breaks due to previous poor handling. It is not as robust as a fibreglass rod. If you have ever seen the classic Australian movie “The Castle” there is a scene where they bend over a Shakespeare Ugly Stick rod on itself. You don’t do that with a graphite rod and you don’t need to either. It is referred to as high sticking when fighting a fish and it is a bad habit. Rod tip speed usually translates into lure speed and added casting distance. All other things being equal I expect to cast further with a 7 foot rod over a 5 foot rod. My rods are generally in the 7 foot (213cm) to 7 foot 6 inches (229cm). You can go longer but these are often specialist rods and become a little awkward to handle. To ensure the line loads up evenly along the rod blank look for 1 guide per foot of rod length plus 1. So a 6 foot rod should have 7 guides. A 7 foot rod should have 8 guides. 2 piece rod versus 1 piece. When I started I bought the 1 piece Finesse Raider 761 based on the advice from a friend rather than the advice from the guy in the local tackleshop who said I wouldn’t notice the difference. 1 piece is a pain to transport and store. I bought the same rod (762) in 2 piece asap after I found it for a good price. The 1 piece has lived in the garage ever since. The problem with the two pieces is that after an extended casting session they can sometimes separate and you will see the top of the rod flying off. You can also get 3 or 4 piece traveller rods if you need something even easier to transport. They will fit in your suitcase on say a business trip or with your gear when hiking. The reason I like a short butt on my rods is that the longer ones bump against the meaty part of my forearm when working the lure rod tip down with the grip I prefer. As per the photo below I prefer a reel leg to butt distance of XXcm or less. The line at a glance: Braid and not mono. Stick with major brands. Colour up to you. Highly recommend 0.06mm diameter for casting distance. As a starting point consider Berkley X5 4lb (0.06mm diam.) or Shimano Kairiki 8 6lb (0.06mm diam.) or Daiwa J Braid 6lb (0.06mm diam.). I’ve been also pretty happy with Shimano Power Pro 4lb (0.08mm diam.) Now in more detail The transition from monofilament to braid in the last 20 years has been a game changer. I’ve been advised that mono has a 10% stretch versus the 1% stretch of braid. This lack of stretch means any bites or twitches of the rod are transmitted directly up or down the line. Braid is skinnier and lighter than an equivalent breaking strain mono so it mean you get better casting distance out of the light lures. It is often more susceptible to nicks and cuts than mono hence the use of a leader at the working end. It is stronger than you think so go lighter for added casting distance. I think the reason that most braids overtest is that it puts a safety margin in to allow for the strength reduction factor of knots. These days I’m mostly using X5 in Crystal and the breaking strain shown on the box is 4lb USA or 6.4kg (say 14lb) Europe or 14lb Asia. If you are concerned about the strength of the braid unroll out about 60cm and wrap it around your fingers then gradually load it up and try and break it before you cut yourself. Don’t snap your hands apart as this is not a real world scenario. When a fish hits your lure in the real world that shock is taken up partially by the leader and mostly by the rod tip flexing. Essentially in the real world that load up is smooth and consistent. I haven’t had anyone break the 4lb braid I use when demonstrating the strength of braid. This guideline also applies to testing knots, gradually load the line up to what you consider a fair breaking stress rather than snapping your hands apart. Backing: Unless you get a deal to fill your spool off a bulk roll at the shop that 125m to 150m of braid will not fill up a spool fully. We use mono backing to top up the spool to within 1-2mm of the inner lip of the spool. For my 4lb braid I use 8lb mono. The leftover 8lb mono can be used as leader material. The nice thing is that if you set the backing up properly the first time the next time you have to replace the braid you just strip it back to the joiner knot and load up another spool of the braid you had before. The reel: Suggest a 1500 to 2500 Shimano or Daiwa sized reels (not all manufacturers use the same sizing so I’m using these brands for a size comparison not specifically saying buy one of those two brands – they are however an excellent starting point). Biggest thing is make sure it has a smooth drag and it should have infinite anti-reverse (no matter where you stop winding there will not be any play backwards such as happened with the older reels). Check that it balances well on the outfit. It has to feel right is the best way I can put it - if I put a Shimano size 10,000 reel on a bream rod it will feel off. Alternatively, once you put the reel on the rod the centre of mass will generally be where the grip of the rod meets the blank. General advice: The gear you are buying is mass produced and shipped in bulk. There may be some manufacturing or transport issues. Before you walk out of the store check everything you can. Are the guides all aligned and not bent. Has the top guide been broken off (it happens). Is there a problem with the finish. Do the pieces go together smoothly and tightly. Pick up the reel and look for dings. Wind it fast and slow to feel for rough spots (close your eyes if you have to). Do several fast start and stops during the winding (as if you were working a lure). How much play is there. It is far easier to sort that out in the store than argue later that it wasn’t your fault. If you do find an issue please do me a favour and raise it with the staff to help the next person coming along and not catching the problem. More fishing gear is damaged by poor handling or transport than to fish. Most of my rods go in a soft case and then into a hard case which I can then leave in the back of my car. The soft case stops them rattling around which helps if you store more than one rod in a case. I use Seahorse rod tubes but found over time the handle broke so worked out a way of replacing those. I put a different sticker on each case at one end as it allows me to identify which rod is which and it lets me know which end is the butt end of the rod in case I decide to store them vertically. Shimano make some nice rod tubes with a sling. I’ve also made my own for one of my larger traveller outfits by heading down to the hardware for some pipe, end caps, foam and PVC glue. My reels go in a neoprene cover so they don’t bang against each other. Mostly I use Shimano ones as their current design allows you to keep the reel handle in working position and it suitable for left or right hand applications. More to come....

Dude.... You just wanted another badge to add to the collection.... You seem to spend so much time on here that becoming a moderator was just a little step... Slightly more seriously, I'm impressed that you stepped in a the role that keeps this site family friendly and somewhere it is a real pleasure to spend time. Thank you (and to the other moderators too).

My experience has been they kind of work for a while but after some use you get some flatish spots on the cutting surfaces and they can struggle a bit. Braid scissors have worked better for me long term.

Hi Mate, Think I might be able to help you. If you ever get down to Sydney I'd love to head out with you. If you can't then I think a phone call might help solve some of your issues as I think I know where you might be going wrong. It is simple physics when you break it down. While the technique can be learned quickly in one session you will find you will tense up your muscles. All up it will take about 3 short sessions to get it nailed down to the point where it is not tiring out the muscles but once you have it then it it can be used for multiple lures. Regards, Derek

Hi SP, Do you have a budget to work to?

OMG - to have the land and resources to do something like this in Sydney would be amazing. Building a bass pond from start to finish over in the U.S. Too good not to share although you might want to jump to the last link where they add the fish and then work backwards as per your levels of interest. Building a 5 acre pond for our two pet bass! Subscribe for weekly pond build videos: http://bit.ly/Bama_Bass Watch Day 2 here: https://youtu.be/eb-WwV3FB1o Watch Day 3 here: https://youtu.be/Ii_C0gu14Wg Watch Day 4 here: https://youtu.be/QmG8dmtany8 Watch Day 5 here: https://youtu.be/iL8-RPtT9ck Watch Day 6 here: https://youtu.be/MOGtGnccRGw Watch Day 7 here: https://youtu.be/Ho4AJF3NlJk Day 8 Pond Build: https://youtu.be/8yt0heEw_CU Day 9 Adding Structure: https://youtu.be/bF-ObQ-tl5k Filling it with Water: https://youtu.be/PXcCzL_rgxo Hurricane Pond Update: https://youtu.be/iQuiaWysdsI New Pet Ducks: https://youtu.be/iCm7uHmej_Y The Last Chapter: https://youtu.be/hqhBLwQUb-8 Big Problems: https://youtu.be/jOz8JIn4krw Turning the Water On: https://youtu.be/4oxkuPGt3rU Filling it with Water Part 2: https://youtu.be/aBjs9iwNe50 Filling it with Water Part 3: https://youtu.be/oFNzSq4pyOM Filling it with Water Part 5: https://youtu.be/pPUm6HCF97s Filling it with Water Part 6: https://youtu.be/YfdIG7LHYf4 Filling it with Water Part 7: https://youtu.be/jSUAmIraAtU Filling it with Water Part 8: https://youtu.be/SALU9KG0l1U Hydroseeding: https://youtu.be/ReI_vZcjtQk Fixing a Leak: https://youtu.be/MeNjGeXtvqc Finished: https://youtu.be/u3FFzwKHV_E Adding 12,000 Fish: https://youtu.be/sT9TEEgaHCI

Sorry mate. Couldn't view it. Seems I need to download some additional Codecs from the Microsoft store to view it. Can you load it as a JPG.

I really enjoyed reading this report and that photo is gorgeous.

Most of the ferry wharves at dawn or dusk should hold some. When I used to chase them I used to go into the butchers and ask for coarse mince. The great stuff from the seventies that could clog your arteries just by looking at it. I keep them in golf ball sized clumps and unfreeze them before I use them the next day. The mince is both the burley and the bait. The fact that it is coarse means it sits on the hook better. I used either a handline on the old cork cylinder or a fishing rod. I prefer size 12 long shank hooks as they can swallow the shorter shanked hooks and that gets annoying. I use a small sinker to help it get down. Unweighted works really well but I find it takes too long to get down. The trick is to find the depth they are at. I like using the rod because I can lift them out quickly in one smooth motion but I often have to use a technique with small lifts to try and set the hook. The advantage of the handline is that it is a little more sensitive and thus easier to feel when they hit the bait. If they are being picky I drop down a small clump of mince to fire them up and then send down some on the hook in amongst the burley and they usually hit it as they are feeding.

PM sent so check your inbox. I'm taking a Fishraider out in the Five Dock area to cover topwater bream tomorrow (Saturday) morning if you are available and interested.

I'm a huge fan of the Berkley Power Minnows as they are so versatile for the way I fish. Assuming the 3 inch minnows I use the following TT Tournament Jig heads (yellow box) with the bullet heads. 1/8 oz size 1H (slightly heavier wire) for the longer hang times 1/6 oz size 1H for a balance between hang time and casting distance. 1/4 oz size 1H for casting distance (when chasing flathead and pelagics) The words "power bait" are on the back of these soft plastics and the hook will generally come out around the "R" in power. Rig them as straight as possible to avoid a bias to swim to a particular side. For pelagics work them with a quick flick and put slack briefly into the line to get them to dart from side to side.