Beginning Lure Fishing

[AlbertW]

Hi all, I've been baitfishing for around 6 years now and I decided I wanted to start learning lure fishing. I run a 7ft 3-6kg toxic samaki spinning rod combo with around 15ish lb braid and an ugly stik 6'6ft 3-6kg with 20ish lb braid. I live in the suburbs north west of Sydney and i would love it if some people could give me any tips for lure fishing and any good spots to start as I'm a complete noob. I can only fish land based saltwater and am still a minor. I have a few soft plastics but never gotten a single bite of them. (I have braid on my rods and use 8lb mono as leader through a double uni knot)

Thanks,

Albert

Edited January 2, 2022 by AlbertW

[AlbertW]

Yeah, I've been watching a couple of videos and have tried soft plastics for flathead and bream at the opera house wharf but had no luck

[Little_Flatty]

The other advice I can give you is to be mobile. Don't just stand on a pontoon and cast from there for three hours if you aren't getting hits. Fan out a few casts from shore, then move 5-10m along and repeat. Over a couple of hours you should cover at least 1km of shoreline, possibly more. This will mean you can't carry much stuff, so think long and hard about what you really need, and organise your gear so that you just have a rod in your hand and a backpack or waist bag. If you need to put anything on the ground next to you, you have too much stuff.

The reason why mobility is so important is that fish aren't always evenly distributed along a shoreline. Some places hold more fish than others at certain times, so there is no point in staying only in one place, waiting for fish to come to you (granted, it is a different story if you are bait fishing with berley). Go hunting for the fish instead. Over time you will get a feel for the kind of places that will hold fish and actively seek them out.

I guess as you are still a minor, you probably aren't driving yet. If you're allowed to get public transport, get the train to Edgecliff and go have a fish at Rushcutters bay (if mum/dad or another responsible adult can join you, there is coffee and food nearby and it really is quite a nice park). I like this spot myself for the times when I don't have the car. I've been doing quite well there on the flathead lately (except this morning!). Cast plastics on 1/8 - 1/4 oz jigheads (the lighter the better) out towards the moorings, let them sink to the bottom and slowly hop them back to towards you, letting it sink to the bottom each time. You can tell this by the fact that the line goes slack once it gets there. Make a few casts, then move along further. Be careful not to cast when people are too close; it can get busy there on a nice day.

You want to work your lure almost to your feet, as most of the fish I have caught there have been just beyond the weed beds which are visible to the naked eye. A good starting lure is a 3-inch Berkley bass minnow. Colour doesn't really matter for these in my experience, but watermelon is a popular one to start with.

Hope this helps. Get out as often as you possibly can over the holidays, because practice makes perfect. Apart from the fishing itself, just be grateful for being out in the fresh air.

Edited January 1, 2022 by Little_Flatty

[dirvin21]

The samaki outfit would be ok to get you started, ugly sticks are usually a bit soft for lure fishing

[AlbertW]

Thank you everyone, I'll be sure to check out the info you guys have given me the next time I go fishing.

[Rebel]

Welcome aboard.

Read @DerekD posts you will learn a lot.

Happy fishing.

[AlbertW]

 

3 hours ago, Little_Flatty said:

The other advice I can give you is to be mobile. Don't just stand on a pontoon and cast from there for three hours if you aren't getting hits. Fan out a few casts from shore, then move 5-10m along and repeat. Over a couple of hours you should cover at least 1km of shoreline, possibly more. This will mean you can't carry much stuff, so think long and hard about what you really need, and organise your gear so that you just have a rod in your hand and a backpack or waist bag. If you need to put anything on the ground next to you, you have too much stuff.

The reason why mobility is so important is that fish aren't always evenly distributed along a shoreline. Some places hold more fish than others at certain times, so there is no point in staying only in one place, waiting for fish to come to you (granted, it is a different story if you are bait fishing with berley). Go hunting for the fish instead. Over time you will get a feel for the kind of places that will hold fish and actively seek them out.

I guess as you are still a minor, you probably aren't driving yet. If you're allowed to get public transport, get the train to Edgecliff and go have a fish at Rushcutters bay (if mum/dad or another responsible adult can join you, there is coffee and food nearby and it really is quite a nice park). I like this spot myself for the times when I don't have the car. I've been doing quite well there on the flathead lately (except this morning!). Cast plastics on 1/8 - 1/4 oz jigheads (the lighter the better) out towards the moorings, let them sink to the bottom and slowly hop them back to towards you, letting it sink to the bottom each time. You can tell this by the fact that the line goes slack once it gets there. Make a few casts, then move along further. Be careful not to cast when people are too close; it can get busy there on a nice day.

You want to work your lure almost to your feet, as most of the fish I have caught there have been just beyond the weed beds which are visible to the naked eye. A good starting lure is a 3-inch Berkley bass minnow. Colour doesn't really matter for these in my experience, but watermelon is a popular one to start with.

Hope this helps. Get out as often as you possibly can over the holidays, because practice makes perfect. Apart from the fishing itself, just be grateful for being out in the fresh air.

Which side of Rushcutters bay should i fish? The right side of the creek or the left? Or should I walk along both and cast out. Also is fishing the creek or creek entrance any good? And what time/tide should i go?

[Little_Flatty]

54 minutes ago, AlbertW said:

 

Which side of Rushcutters bay should i fish? The right side of the creek or the left? Or should I walk along both and cast out. Also is fishing the creek or creek entrance any good? And what time/tide should i go?

Start at the yacht club and work your way to the left. From there fish your way to the creek, casting along the way. You could do this in an hour or two. But as you go more, explore and experiment a bit. The flats look very fishy to me.

I’ve caught fish on all tides there. Honestly the best time to fish is whenever you have a leave pass. Even if the tides aren’t perfect you will still learn something if you are observant.

[AlbertW]

28 minutes ago, Little_Flatty said:

Start at the yacht club and work your way to the left. From there fish your way to the creek, casting along the way. You could do this in an hour or two. But as you go more, explore and experiment a bit. The flats look very fishy to me.

I’ve caught fish on all tides there. Honestly the best time to fish is whenever you have a leave pass. Even if the tides aren’t perfect you will still learn something if you are observant.

What is a leave pass? Do you need it to get into the park? Also is there any place to park, as my dad usually drives.

Edited January 2, 2022 by AlbertW

[Little_Flatty]

Just now, AlbertW said:

What is a leave pass? Do you need it to get into the park?

Not at all! You can fish there any time you want.

Leave pass is a grownups term 🤣. It’s when all the work is done at work, school and around the house, there’s no social events or family obligations and you are free to come and go as you please.😎

[AlbertW]

1 hour ago, Little_Flatty said:

Not at all! You can fish there any time you want.

Leave pass is a grownups term 🤣. It’s when all the work is done at work, school and around the house, there’s no social events or family obligations and you are free to come and go as you please.😎

Ahhhh okay 😆 thanks for the clear up

[AlbertW]

Does anyone have any spots to fish lures at where its a bit further away from the city, because my parents are a bit worried about covid

[DerekD]

Hi Albert,

Firstly, once you get through the learning curve then lure fishing can be pretty rewarding and addictive.

I see people get frustrated with lures early on because there is a lot of trial and error and it is a struggle to get information in a format which will help your growth. Most recently @Denisfisho went through this process. Some this is worth a read.

In his case we finally worked out his line class (15lb) was not suitable for the gear and more importantly the lures he was using. Once he had changed his line we went out for a practice session and found some further improvements to be made with his casting and how to work the lures. He then did this follow up:

What species are you chasing? If it is the bread and butter species like bream, whiting, flathead then the starting point would be the gear and line you are using.

More to follow when we get your feedback.

Regards,

Derek

[Little_Flatty]

2 hours ago, AlbertW said:

Also is there any place to park, as my dad usually drives.

Forgot to answer this part of the question. On a nice day, parking is pretty bad in that area.

Early mornings and evenings are the key in my opinion. By early, I mean being on the water at 5:30am. I don't tend to fish evenings, so I'll leave it to others to cover this. If I am going to fish during the day, I'll catch public transport.

[AlbertW]

50 minutes ago, DerekD said:

Hi Albert,

Firstly, once you get through the learning curve then lure fishing can be pretty rewarding and addictive.

I see people get frustrated with lures early on because there is a lot of trial and error and it is a struggle to get information in a format which will help your growth. Most recently @Denisfisho went through this process. Some this is worth a read.

In his case we finally worked out his line class (15lb) was not suitable for the gear and more importantly the lures he was using. Once he had changed his line we went out for a practice session and found some further improvements to be made with his casting and how to work the lures. He then did this follow up:

What species are you chasing? If it is the bread and butter species like bream, whiting, flathead then the starting point would be the gear and line you are using.

More to follow when we get your feedback.

Regards,

Derek

Yeah I’m just after bread and butter species but I would also like to get into hardier fish if I can progress enough 

[DerekD]

Bad news is that your gear is not what I would be starting with for the bread and butter species. I'd be recommending a graphite 7 foot to 7 foot six rod with a short butt with a line rating somewhere in the 1kg minimum to 4kg maximum range and ideally 2 piece for transport ease. I like a 2-4kg outfit. I run 4lb braid (berkley X5 in white) which is more likely to break close to 9lb. With 15lb to 20lb you are likely to lose substantial casting distance on the lighter lures recommended for these species. The reel should probably be in the 1500 to 2500 size range in the Shimano line up or of similar size as made by other brands.

Good news is that your current gear is suitable for the larger species but I use a slightly different technique for them and larger lures.

Discussion to continue.

[DerekD]

As an interim solution would you consider running a skinny 6lb (e.g. Shimano Kairiki or Daiwa J braid) on your Samaki?

Do you have a spare 2500 sized reel you could use on that rod?

[AlbertW]

1 minute ago, DerekD said:

Bad news is that your gear is not what I would be starting with for the bread and butter species. I'd be recommending a graphite 7 foot to 7 foot six rod with a short butt with a line rating somewhere in the 1kg minimum to 4kg maximum range and ideally 2 piece for transport ease. I like a 2-4kg outfit. I run 4lb braid (berkley X5 in white) which is more likely to break close to 9lb. With 15lb to 20lb you are likely to lose substantial casting distance on the lighter lures recommended for these species. The reel should probably be in the 1500 to 2500 size range in the Shimano line up or of similar size as made by other brands.

Good news is that your current gear is suitable for the larger species but I use a slightly different technique for them and larger lures.

Discussion to continue.

Oh that might be why I haven’t been able to cast soft plastics that far, should I change my main line or is it easier to catch larger species? I found out that I can cast very far with my samaki rod if it has a heavy weight you can even use it as a beach rod if you stand in the water

[AlbertW]

4 minutes ago, DerekD said:

As an interim solution would you consider running a skinny 6lb (e.g. Shimano Kairiki or Daiwa J braid) on your Samaki?

Do you have a spare 2500 sized reel you could use on that rod?

Oh, my reel for the samaki combo is 2500

[DerekD]

The plastics I use are usually matched with a jighead in the 1/8 oz to 1/4oz range. As an ounce is 28 grams this would mean with the weight of the plastics included I am fishing roughly 5 grams up to 10 grams. I will also fish lighter but it is not my usual starting point for the areas I fish.

Yes that is why you are not getting good casting distances and the stiffness of the heavier line is probably not helping lure movement either.

I take it you are under 18 and also on a bit of a budget. The challenge is to get you fishing lures at a cost which is acceptable to you.

The least expensive solution would be to take the line off and store it on a spare spool (for later) and then respool it with something more suitable for what you intend.

If budget were less of an issue then I'd suggest a new outfit which will compliment your existing ones. This too can be done on a reasonable budget.

To be continued.

Edited January 2, 2022 by DerekD

[AlbertW]

3 minutes ago, DerekD said:

The plastics I use are usually matched with a jighead in the 1/8 oz to 1/4oz range. As an ounce is 28 grams this would mean with the weight of the plastics included I am fishing roughly 5 grams up to 10 grams. I will also fish lighter but it is not my usual starting point for the areas I fish.

Yes that is why you are not getting good casting distances and the stiffness of the heavier line is probably not helping lure movement either.

I take it you are under 18 and also on a bit of a budget. The challenge is to get you fishing lures at a cost which is acceptable to you.

The least expensive solution would be to take the line off and store it on a spare spool (for later) and then respool it with something more suitable for what you intend.

If budget were less of an issue then I'd suggest a new outfit which will compliment your existing ones. This too can be done on a reasonable budget.

To be continued.

Hey Derek,

 

How much roughly would a new outfit cost?

[DerekD]

52 minutes ago, AlbertW said:

How much roughly would a new outfit cost?

I prefer the approach of what is your budget?

The minimal 2-4kg combo (rod and reel) I'd recommend (from personal experience) can be be bought for under $100 then add in braid and leader and you should still be under $150.

The outfit I use is a rod which is usually picked up for $130 but has been on special for $100 if you look around. The reel I suggest is $90 but there is a less expensive option available. After restrictions eased I spoiled myself with a Shimano Stradic 2500 as the 2-4kg set up is my most fished outfit.