Sp's In Muddy Or Dirty Water

[Yarraone]

Just wondering with all the rain about and some of the rivers and lakes around the coast getting muddy and dirty..Will the Soft Plastic's still be affective? Do you change the technique? and or the lure?

Or do you just wait for the water to clear up?

[Hodgey]

If I were to try SP's under those conditions I would try three things:

1. Use a heavily-scented lure like Gulp

2. Use a profile that gives off vibration (ie fish or curl-tailed grub)

3. Fish the plastic slower, allowing the scent to disperse

If that didn't work, I would go with rattling hardbodies. A lot of the success/failure will depend on how much 'fresh' is in the water. I have caught fish in some pretty manky looking water, provided the salinity level was ok. The Raiders who fish Sydney under the conditions you described will have better advice for you mate, but this stuff is worth bearing in mind

Cheers

Hodgey

[austral]

hello, i think if its hard for me to see the lure in the water it must be for the fish as well,lately i have used white lures in discoloured water and they seems to work ok.good luck

[Wantingaboat]

That is freaky Hodgey. I went out last night with a mate and fished the Hawkesbury river/Cowan (which is absolutely filthy after the rain) from 2am til about 1pm today. I had my new rod and reel and wanted to get something on a SP. I tried in vain as all my SP were rejected with no hook ups.

A small 40cm flathead caught drifting off Patonga saved my day in the end by gobbling down a 3 inch pody mullet(think thats what they are) from Gulp. Exactly the way you descibed, that you needed to allow the pause in the retrieve more time, was the way in which i had my lone success. I bought a pack of those slam baits but nothing at all slamed them. Will be sticking to my normal SP in future. My advice though is to wait until it clears as its pretty hard with all the weed and debris in the water as its contantly getting hooked around yoiu SP and hook. I guess if you are experienced with them you may have better luck than me.

Cheers. Mike.

I officially hate eels and catfish by the way.