Lures - Newbie Questions

[Spool]

Hey FR,

I have bought many hard lures in the past and never had any luck on them. I have a couple questions if anyone could help me out, appreciated!

 

1) When using hard lures why is it so hard to get any fish action bite from it? I sometimes see fish follow my lure when reeling it in but they do not bite or commit?

2) How can I get a good casting distance from a light lure? I would usually need 15g-30g lure to cast a good far distance. Wondering how do people with only 5g lures like the Sugapens cast far? Whenever I cast lures they don’t go much distance at all.

3) Any other tips and techniques on fishing with lures are welcome?

Edited June 12, 2019 by Spool

[dirvin21]

1) couple of suggestions , add twitches and pauses rather than a straight slow roll retrieve, scent can make a difference, go as light on the leader as you can

2) sounds like your set up might be to heavy for the lures you're casting, a light rod in the 1-3 kg or 2-4 kg range 2000- 2500 size spin reel loaded with good quality light braid in the 6-8lb range

3) what sort of hardbodies are you using? get the best quality lures you can afford, if you give me an idea of your target species and areas your casting I can give you a few suggestions of specific lures and retrieve styles

target species like flathead and tailor which aren't as fussy get your confidence up then move onto the tougher species like whiting and bream

don't give up

Dave 

[kingie chaser]

To add to Dave's great advice, are you using a Rapala/loop knot on the lure?

If not I would, it accentuates the action of the lure.

[Rob81]

The rod you are using should show you the ideal weight of the lure you would use for that setup. From there you should get lures within that range, this would probably give you the best outcome in cast.

Also different rods would allow you to achieve more different actions.

Also, when casting in to one area, maybe mix up the action you use, as sometimes they are attracted to different types of retrieves, you'll just need to work it out that day.

If you want to use 5g lures, you would need a really light setup as suggested above.

[Spool]

12 hours ago, dirvin21 said:

1) couple of suggestions , add twitches and pauses rather than a straight slow roll retrieve, scent can make a difference, go as light on the leader as you can

2) sounds like your set up might be to heavy for the lures you're casting, a light rod in the 1-3 kg or 2-4 kg range 2000- 2500 size spin reel loaded with good quality light braid in the 6-8lb range

3) what sort of hardbodies are you using? get the best quality lures you can afford, if you give me an idea of your target species and areas your casting I can give you a few suggestions of specific lures and retrieve styles

target species like flathead and tailor which aren't as fussy get your confidence up then move onto the tougher species like whiting and bream

don't give up

Dave 

I have tried everything with lures all the loop knots, clips. 

I have tried from stickbaits, poppers, jerkbaits, crankbaits all from big to small sizes. I also have done many retrieve techniques.

My target species are mainly Bream, Flathead, Bonito, Jewfish, Kingfish.

Are you saying that the lighter the line the further my lure will cast?

I am currently using 15lb mono and leader. With a Daiwa Shinobi rod paired with 4000 Stradic. I might try using my egi rod to see if it improves anything.

Edited June 13, 2019 by Spool

[onearmedfisho]

You should be running braid with fluorocarbon leader mate

[Rob81]

Egi rod can work, however you should check what your ideal max weight it can take. For example, my egi rod is ideal at 20g, however I can cast 25g, I just need to be a little more careful with the cast and probably wont go any higher than that. Also you can feel a big difference with the 5g extra.

Start off with the lower weighted lures first and make your way up to see what you can actually safely cast.

And as above, running braid would allow further casting.

[rickmarlin62]

15lb mono is way too heavy for small light lures  try 8lb braid

[dirvin21]

2 hours ago, Spool said:

I have tried everything with lures all the loop knots, clips. 

I have tried from stickbaits, poppers, jerkbaits, crankbaits all from big to small sizes. I also have done many retrieve techniques.

My target species are mainly Bream, Flathead, Bonito, Jewfish, Kingfish.

Are you saying that the lighter the line the further my lure will cast?

I am currently using 15lb mono and leader. With a Daiwa Shinobi rod paired with 4000 Stradic. I might try using my egi rod to see if it improves anything.

Go lighter, yes the lighter the line the further it will cast within reason, 6 or 8lb braid and 8lb leader, you'll need a different setup if you want to target kings and jew, start with flathead and work your way up to bream, start with 40mm cranks and shads  a simple slow roll on the cranks and a twitch pause with the shads

 

[noelm]

Yep agree, start on Flathead, they are the most accessible target species, make sure you have suitable small lures and wander along the shore line casting into drop offs and beside weed beds, trying to catch everything is a recipe for failure, as an example, fishing for Flathead and Bonito are worlds apart, both pretty easy species, but not at the same time with the same setup.

[DerekD]

23 hours ago, Spool said:

My target species are mainly Bream, Flathead, Bonito, Jewfish, Kingfish.

 

Hi Mate,

Based on your list of species you should really be fishing two separate outfits to target them consistently.

For flathead I use 1/8oz to 1/4oz (1/4oz when I want to cover more ground) lures most of the time. Similar sort of lures for bream. I am using a 2-4kg 7 foot 6 inch rod with a lure rating of 3-12gm. I've matched it with a 2500 reel and 4lb berkley X5 braid (which is actually rated to break about 11 pounds under the Japanese rating system). If the bonito are around I'll put a 10gm Halco twisty in silver on the same outfit and can land them pretty consistently. The bassday 70mm Sugapen is only about 4.5gm. You need a lightweight outfit with light line to get any range out of these. Some of the bream specialists will use way lighter lures than I use.

For the kings I do rather well using a 6 inch Slapstix (matched with a 3/8 or 1/2oz head) or a 9 inch Slapstix (matched with a 1/2 to 5/8oz head). For these sized lures I am using a 5-8kg 7 foot 6 inch rod with a lure rating of 15-45gm matched with a 4000 reel and 15lb braid. Most of my jews have been on bait but I did pick up a 75cm specimen on plastics on this same gear.

You will get some crossover with the gear (I hook and land kings on the light gear) but you are making life a bit more challenging for yourself trying to fish light lures on a medium outfit. Try the same lures on lighter gear and see how much further you can cast which means you will cover far more ground.

Another observation is that the thicker line will have a noticeable impact on how the light lures move in the water.

Regards.

Derek

 

 

[DerekD]

On ‎6‎/‎13‎/‎2019 at 12:47 PM, Spool said:

I am currently using 15lb mono and leader.

On a side note even between 15lb mono and 15lb braid there can be some impacts on the behaviour of the lure. Mono is generally thought to have about 10% stretch whereas braid is supposed to be about 1%. I find when using mono for lures it feels spongy and I don't get the feedback and response that I do with braid. Very few of my outfits have mono on them (game overheads and luderick fishing gear are two exceptions).

Edited June 14, 2019 by DerekD

[Toilor]

I admire your determination to catch fish on hardbody lures. Assuming you are landbased I suggest you start with Flathead.  2 to 4kg rod, 2500 size reel and 8lb line. The area you fish is crucial, around 1 to 2mtr sand flats cast where sand meets weed beds or deeper water. I would use rapala jack rap deep or similar quality 75mm lure.  The lure must be hitting the bottom regularly to catch flathead. Start fishing an hour before tide change and you will catch. Once you've mastered that and caught a dozen flatties you are ready for Bream. Jewies and Kingies landbased on hard bodies will be challenging with many hours of fruitless casting and years working out the when and where. If you know Bonnies, salmon & tailor are around then long cast minnows like the Rapala xrap retrieved relatively quickly will catch fish. I prefer metal lures but I think your hard body lure obsession will provide you with many challenges. Best of luck!!