Plastics Vs Bait

[wettingaline]

I went fishing in port mac with my old man last weekend and he uses both!, i laughed when i first saw it but he absolutely cleaned up. he was using little grub style plastics but instead of using a jig head style, he threading a small whiting hook all the way threw and let the hook sought of just hang about in the wriggling tail of the plastic and put a worm on the hook, also tied a knot in the line so the plastic wouldnt work its way up the line....he put the sinker above a swivel about 45cm up the line. he didnt jig it about just let it sit there, i know this sounds like a crazy set up but geez he cleaned up on the bream...

[gibodfisho]

Great topic. I have got most of my better fish on plastics including 2 species that I have not managed on bait Jewies and Estuary Perch. But some of my most memorable sessions have been on bait, in particular white bait. Plastics can be a little more hit and miss but are more specific, less pickers etc. and is great for catch & release as less chance of fish being gut hooked. I just wish they invented a lure that was as good as fresh squid for Sydney Kings, or better still sold them live at the boat ramp. Cheers Dave

[mrelxr6]

hi guys..

i very rarely buy a bag of prawns.i catch my own.and i have found that the ones you catch yourself have a better strike rate.im also a fan of sp..on a recent trip out i used them in front of my brother in law and he pissed himself ....yelling your not going to get nothing with that.

under a minute later he had taken those words back with a decent sized flattie landed...i like both but would rather use prawns that i catch

were any scents used on the sp?

[Kingy]

Hey Nathen,

Unfortunately I forget my scents that arvo. I usually use the aeresol scent I use on my squid jigs or a little rub of tuna oil. I was mainly using these cheap red plastic shads froms #$%@ (40c each, and they last forever!!), but also have a lot of luck with 3inch grubs in pumpkin seed. Never really had as much luck with squidgies.

I think the scent of the berkleys really help the fish to not spit it back before you set the hook and you also get a much larger variety of species as apposed to unscented. I only catch flatties with shads/fish but flounder, whiting, pike and bream with the scented grubs.

I was keen to try and catch the million Bream that Pete was getting amongst so I threw on a little curly tailed black and white thing pete had with a super small jig head and after the second cast got a micro flatty.

Kingy

[mrelxr6]

i rarely use scents but im going to give it a try next time im out.

[ianoc69]

Great thread fellas and one that I dont think will ever be resolved as which is best.

I am an average SP fisho and have been flicking them about for almost 2 years.

In that time my highlights are 2x 60cm Flatties (1 taken in the fast moving surf & 1x taken in a still bay), a 6kG Jewfish, 1kG Trevally, 36cm Whiting & 38cm Bream.

As you can see I have not broken any records here BUT all fish have been taken land based in Parra river, Lane Cove river & shoalhaven river.

I am not saying that with bait I may not have landed the same or better BUT I do beleive after playing around and keeping an open mind and getting technique worked out SP's will catch high quality fish.

In the early days I would go out and catch maybe 1 fish or donut during a 2 hour session. These days I still have the odd quiet session BUT generally will manage at least 4 fish usually mixed species of Bream and Flathead.

Anyway great thread and one which will no doubt bring out more feedback.

Cant wait to get out and about in the parents tinny over XMAS and into the future.

[charlie51]

Hi

I was a bit skeptical about soft plastics, up until about 3 months ago, went out for a session at the Entrance and managed 18 flathead, 4 tailor and a bream all on a gulp bass minnows. thought it might have been a bit of a fluke but the very next outing at Patonga creek scored about 15 flathead on the same gulp minnow. Others were using bait and catching not much. So I am keen to try the Gulp Squid on some Kingy's over the next few months. Also tried the gulp shrimp in Lake Mac for a just legal squire. So they deffinately work and work well.

Charlie

[kevvie]

Hi Raiders, time i weighed in to the argument.......

In my experience both forms of angling have thier advantages. I was born and bred on live bait fishing and to an extent has made me a more proficient lure fisherman. Certain species are best caught on different methods so for south coast bream i use nippers but in Sydney i chase bream on sp's etc.

There is no doubt though, that using sp's for 3+years bait fishing seems inactive and at times boring. keeping active is vital to my fishing now and i seem to have fused the searching for fish methodology of sp's using bait for a better result.

I have fished Bait up against lures in a test a number of times and i can say sp's out fish bait on flathead and salmon (in my experience). Other times i was outfished on species like bream, jew and kings.

Sp's for joy.... Bait for ginger and soy

[stylo]

Guys, any advice on how I should have my SP setup ? I gave it a go but with no luck so now I have gone back to bait

This was my setup.

Sz 2 Ganakatsu 1/16 oz jighead

Squidgies flickbait, Kokoda soft grubs etc.

7ft Shakehahahahae Powerplus 2-4 kilo fast action rod with penn accord 2000 reel.

NO SINKER

Not using a sinker... could this be where I am going wrong ? Because I cant get the cast out very far .. OR is that the way SP fishing is ?

This is landed fishing ... so any info appreciated.

Have read these .. http://www.fishraider.com.au/articles/softplastics/

But I only have mono line ... will this do the trick ? Keeps talking about fireline etc.

Edited December 21, 2006 by stylo

[pk-fishn]

stylo,

the setup sound pretty good exceptyoud probably want to get your hands on some braid or fireline as it increases your hookup rate massively as you can feel every little nudge or bite that you might not pick up on the mono as it stretches as opposed to braid which is almost non stretch.

and no sinker is needed, the jigheads are fines maybe get a variety of weights for different situations and differ your technique on the day some days fast twitchy retrieve works, others itll be a dead slow one with jerky retrieves.

i have fished narrabeen quite a few times over the past few years always accompanied by my father who fishes bait. i have found that on overcast days is where the sp's really fire although bait does well. prawns are not the best for the lake unless there quite large in size, as with mallacootapete my dad finds whitebait to be a gun bait especially when riged on small gang hooks (reccomended by the tackle shop near the lake.) many days i have outfished bait with plastics especially when it comes to flathead , yet what i found is the level of the lake is very shallow therefore many dont have succes with bream whiting etc as theyre fishing to heavy (in some cases 1/16th is a bit heavy) i started weightles presentations with grubs and worms and bought some resin jigheads and found they sink alot slower and this has vastly increased my catch rate on bream, whiting , flonder and also caught a few mullet. a bit of experimening is needed and in my opinion theres no better its just what you become accustomed to and what floats your boat!

cheers pk

Edited December 21, 2006 by pk-fishn

[stylo]

Thx for the reply mate.

OK if it is landed fishing, are you expected to cast anymore than 5 metres, because on that particular setup I mentioned in my previous post, I WASN't CASTING VERY FAR !!! Or is that what is supposed to happen.

I have also read that that braid / fireline is not good for graphite spools as it may cut into it - so I better check what my spool off the Penn Accord is made of. Are spools generally made of metal or graphite anyway ?

Im gonna give it another go. Last time I SP'd was at night, and maybe the fish could not see it !

Ps. Is it ok to use fireline with bait ?

Pps. Is it REALLY that much harder to tie knots in braid/fireline as compared to mono ?

[pk-fishn]

i think the penn accord has a metal spool but what i reccomend is this

(1) use a mono backing , tie mono to the spool and wind on enough to cover your spool (it gives better grip to the spool and allows more efficient use of the reel) then join the braid to the mono with a double uni knot or a knot you find comfortable (perform a serach on the net).

(2) once you have almost filled your spool with braid (should be about 2-3mm before the lip of the spool) once again tie the braid to a leader which can either be mono or flourocarbon (flouro is better as it is invisible underwater due to its refraction index). this leader will stop the braid which is highly sensitve to busting of on snags/sharp objects as its low stretch. youd only need 1-2m of leader (mono or flouro)

(3) as for knots check the net and braid often requires that extra turn or loop as its very thin but become confident with a knot and you wont fail. vary your plastic range and jighead reange and your technique and you should be fine. braid will improve your casting distance as it has a finer diameter. you should be making it a bit more than five metres but this could be due to the light wieght and the rod might not be ligt enough. is there a reccomended lure weight on your rod??

(4) as for fishing bait on fireline it can be done just try not to run sinkers etc along the braid as it will fluff so attach sinkers etc to you leader (mono or flouro) and try to minimes the wear and tear on the braid.

if you need any more assistance just pm me...

i hope this helps. and best of luck.

cheers pk

Edited December 22, 2006 by pk-fishn

[Luringbream]

It all depends on the species really..But i'd have to say that artificials outfish bait most occasions..

DAN

[mrelxr6]

i havent fished with the braid.

i think i might run down the tackle shop and try it out with the plastics