EP’s @ Easter

[Bennyg78]

Headed up the central Coast to the family holiday home for the Easter weekend.

Thought I’d go and hit the foreshore at Gosford for a bream hunt.

Kinda been neglecting the MMD splash prawn and threw on the Banana green one for a crack.

Second cast on I see a bubble and a half go at my lure , I give it another tug and something big hits it and runs, the reel was peeling and I pull in this monster EP. This was my first EP and to say I was excited was an understatement.

Another two casts and bang another EP, same deal misses the first two go’s and I recast for it to hit and run, this one a little smaller at 32cm.

Then another three casts later another one hits me but runs me under the oysters and cuts my leader.

I’m going to have another crack in that spot tomorrow and see if I can get more.

Does anyone know how an EP is as a table fish?

Edited April 15, 2022 by Bennyg78
Typo

[Little_Flatty]

That's fantastic @Bennyg78. I'm not sure I've caught an EP before myself, for all the lure chucking I've done!

I've eaten a Bass before, and it was really good, so I guess an EP would not be much different. Mostly anglers don't think to eat them. Just remember the closed season in from May to August.

Enjoy the rest of your break!

[LuckyFil]

Wow that’s a great session on the EPs. I believe they are quite good to eat but as Little Flattie says remember the closed season coming up and I think you’re only allowed to keep two fish with only one over 35cm (or thereabouts).

I recently bought a Splash Prawn but am not sure how to work it, was going to try short flicks on the surface with pauses in between. Is that roughly how you use yours?

Fil

[bessell1955]

I have eaten them from the Hawkesbury.  They are a sweet meat and very white. 

[masterfisho7]

top stuff with the Eps 

[Bennyg78]

2 hours ago, LuckyFil said:

Wow that’s a great session on the EPs. I believe they are quite good to eat but as Little Flattie says remember the closed season coming up and I think you’re only allowed to keep two fish with only one over 35cm (or thereabouts).

I recently bought a Splash Prawn but am not sure how to work it, was going to try short flicks on the surface with pauses in between. Is that roughly how you use yours?

Fil

Hey @LuckyFil

I’m no expert but, yea little stabs of the rod with a few pauses, there’s some articles on here in regards to topwater fishing and MMD have a great video highlighting it for bream.

 

[LuckyFil]

3 hours ago, Bennyg78 said:

Hey @LuckyFil

I’m no expert but, yea little stabs of the rod with a few pauses, there’s some articles on here in regards to topwater fishing and MMD have a great video highlighting it for bream.

 

Thanks I’ll definitely have a look at the video 

[DerekD]

6 hours ago, LuckyFil said:

I recently bought a Splash Prawn but am not sure how to work it, was going to try short flicks on the surface with pauses in between. Is that roughly how you use yours?

Fil

Hi Fil,

They are a really effective topwater lure for bream and other species. The nice thing is that you can get a nice little plop plop retrieve with them with small pauses of one or two seconds or go a little more aggressive and get a bit more of a splash out of them (still with short pulses and pauses)

I've requested the help of @Niall as I'd like to video the action of these as part of some other stuff I've been working on to show the differences and hopefully a strike too. This video was taken from about 10m away with a sugapen.

 

[Isaac Ct]

Brilliant mate, well done 

[LuckyFil]

11 hours ago, DerekD said:

Hi Fil,

They are a really effective topwater lure for bream and other species. The nice thing is that you can get a nice little plop plop retrieve with them with small pauses of one or two seconds or go a little more aggressive and get a bit more of a splash out of them (still with short pulses and pauses)

I've requested the help of @Niall as I'd like to video the action of these as part of some other stuff I've been working on to show the differences and hopefully a strike too. This video was taken from about 10m away with a sugapen.

 

Thanks Derek for taking the trouble to send the video. That technique looks dynamite. I’ll get mine out today and start practising.

cheers

Fil

[Rebel]

Great report.

Well done.

Can't beat the Central Coast for fishing.

[DerekD]

23 hours ago, LuckyFil said:

Thanks Derek for taking the trouble to send the video. That technique looks dynamite. I’ll get mine out today and start practising.

cheers

Fil

Hi Mate,

If you have trouble getting the action then reach out. I'm on the lower North Shore but do fish several areas on the Northern Beaches. We'd cover sugapens, MMD splash prawns and the bent minnow.

Try shaking your hand rather than flicking it. The slack is the key to a lot of the movement. Short sharp twitches (say 3-5cm) pulling in a line directly away from the lure then a staccato wind to take up the small amount of slack created each time. Relax the hand as the tendency is to stiffen up the grip. Even if you nail the technique your hand will feel a little sore the first few times after which it shouldn't be a problem anymore.

Regards,

Derek

[LuckyFil]

43 minutes ago, DerekD said:

Hi Mate,

If you have trouble getting the action then reach out. I'm on the lower North Shore but do fish several areas on the Northern Beaches. We'd cover sugapens, MMD splash prawns and the bent minnow.

Try shaking your hand rather than flicking it. The slack is the key to a lot of the movement. Short sharp twitches (say 3-5cm) pulling in a line directly away from the lure then a staccato wind to take up the small amount of slack created each time. Relax the hand as the tendency is to stiffen up the grip. Even if you nail the technique your hand will feel a little sore the first few times after which it shouldn't be a problem anymore.

Regards,

Derek

Hi Derek

ok now I’m imagining how that works I’ll give it a go. I’m currently up north for a while but will get in touch when I return to Sydney if I’m struggling to get it right. Appreciate your time with those detailed tips! Thanks again 

regards

Fil

[DerekD]

1 hour ago, LuckyFil said:

Hi Derek

ok now I’m imagining how that works I’ll give it a go. I’m currently up north for a while but will get in touch when I return to Sydney if I’m struggling to get it right. Appreciate your time with those detailed tips! Thanks again 

regards

Fil

Essentially you are creating an over correction (think about fishtailing a rear wheel drive car). The first pulse sends it darting forward but it won't track in a straight line so swings across to one side. The second pulse pulls it forward and back towards the line but if you get the slack back in the line the momentum swings it over to the other side. Repeat. Practice this till it becomes second nature then start to throw the pauses in to give fish like a bream the chance to hit it. If the pulls are too long the lure just gets pulled forward and you lose the flipping from side to side.

It is easier to learn with other larger topwater lures but to date I've found if you can nail it with a 70mm sugapen then the same retrieve can be used for multiple topwater lures including the MMD splash prawn and bent minnow. You just vary it a little (more aggressive or less aggressive or scale it incrementally downwards to imitate a dying baitfish) to get the movement you desire.

BTW it needs a light line (I use 4lb braid or braid of 0.06mm diameter with say an 8lb leader) so it does not interfere with the movement too much. It scales up so I can use it with my snapper spinning rod or barra baitcaster rod and the larger 120mm sugapens.

I worked out a similar walk the dog retrieve for subsurface plastics years ago. The strokes are a little bit longer but the slack is the key. Watch this video I put together with a mate and see the position of the lure relative to the line.

 

 

Edited April 16, 2022 by DerekD