The wobbler and devil challenge

[Little_Flatty]

Recently I came to a bit of a shocking realisation: I still haven't caught a fish on a Wonder Wobbler or a Tassie Devil! How uncultured of me!

So I purchased some and am thinking about seeing if I can get the local Parra river flathead to come out and play! For the devils, it's going to be quite some time before I can present one to a trout, but I suspect my favourite flatties will gladly have a go at one all the same.

Any tips for using them? I'm planning to take them out as my only lure for a couple of sessions and see what comes of it.

[frankS]

For the Wobbler just cast and wind back in, very you speed of wind but it's pretty simple . With the Devil

this is how I rig them up for Flathead and they are very successful as a flattie lure, you can add a pea sized ball sinker that runs all the way down to the swivel for added weight for casting and faster sink rate to get to the bottom. Try and bounce the sinker off the bottom creating fuffs of dirt/sand with a relative slow speed.

I generally slow troll them from a boat but as you are shore based the above method should produce results.

Frank  

[big Neil]

There's a whole industry surrounding lures and their capabilities. 

Manufacturers would have us believe that our lives are incomplete without this or that particular "newbie" in our piscatorial arsenal. Realistically, marketing is an absurd industry. The lengths that the marketing industry goes to, to convince us that our lives are incomplete, if we don't have their product...is extreme.

The 2 lure types which you have portrayed definitely work today, as they did when they first came out, a long time ago. They both work in different circumstances, and used differently. The Halco is a fast retrieve lure aimed at pelagic species and may be difficult to use that way for Parramatta River Flathead. The Tassie Devil was designed for trolling for Trout, but should entice the said Flathead if hopped along the bottom. Be interesting to see how you go with them Mike.

There's an immense amount of hype about this lure or that lure being the best thing since sliced bread. Realistically, it's all nonsense! The best lure is the one on the end of your line when you catch a fish. I doubt the claims made by manufacturers are realistic, much of the time.

Good anglers, and there are many on this site, understand that their quarry determines the type of lure and how it is used. They understand that fish need to eat and defend their space. They can think like a fish, not a marketing executive. They understand that the hype is just that...HYPE!

In conclusion, these lures will catch the species which they were designed to catch, and probably, many more besides.

Look forward to reading how you go with your experiment Mike.

Cheers, bn

[noelm]

There's a lot of truth in the above post, and (in my opinion) TV fishing shows and magazines are probably the biggest marketing tool manufacturers use today. Fish are pretty simple creatures, decades ago, home made lures consisting of a few feathers tied to a hook caught Bonito by the bucket full, the same will still work today, but, who would buy one? We all "need" triple black, thermo nuclear turned down eye, offset bait holder circle hooks........and that's just the hook (joking of course) advertising plays a big part in everything we buy.

[Isaac Ct]

They look like a good lure for tailor, salmon, kings etc. Maybe fishing the beach gutters with them could work?

[Blackfish]

My first lure caught Flathead was on a Wonder Wobbler when I was quite young and that was just a Hop Hop Hop type retrieve, as for a Tassie Devil I've never used one.

[Little_Flatty]

@big Neil @noelm I'm well aware of the hype with the lure industry. I have been using many of the same lures for the past 17 years in spite of newer fancier models and nicer paint jobs appearing.

For the wobblers, they were surprisingly hard to find, so I suspect the angling world has largely passed them by for fancier alternatives (blades?). Mine came from Albury of all places! I just remember seeing them as a kid and wondering if they (and any lure for that matter) could actually catch fish!

Actually, come to think of it, spoon lures have largely disappeared from our modern-day repertoire, except maybe for trout.

The Parra River flathead aren't picky on a good day, hence their choice as a target for the experiment  

[Blackfish]

My only thoughts @Little_Flatty of using the Wonder Wobbler in the Parra would be it getting snagged up on Rocks/Debris/Mangrove Roots etc.

I used mine for Flathead on a sandy beach.

[Little_Flatty]

2 minutes ago, Blackfish said:

My only thoughts @Little_Flatty of using the Wonder Wobbler in the Parra would be it getting snagged up on Rocks/Debris/Mangrove Roots etc.

I used mine for Flathead on a sandy beach.

I have one location that is relatively snag free, which is where I intend to try them! 😎

Come to think of it, it's one of a very few locations where I don't get snagged! All other places around Meadowbank, I'm often using EWG hooks with the hook point buried in soft plastics!

[Green Hornet]

I’ve never had any real success with flathead on a Wonder Wobbler, though to be honest I haven’t given them a real good try as there’s plenty of more suitable lures out there. The fish that I have caught we by hopping the lure across the bottom, same as a plastic. They’re great for salmon and tailor though.

If you do hop them across a sandy bottom, keep a close eye on the treble as it will go blunt quickly from dragging through the sand.

[wazatherfisherman]

5 hours ago, Blackfish said:

My first lure caught Flathead was on a Wonder Wobbler when I was quite young and that was just a Hop Hop Hop type retrieve, as for a Tassie Devil I've never used one.

My first lure caught fish was also a Flathead caught on a 'Wonder Wobbler'- I remember well, being told it was a fluke to catch a Flathead on a lure but had a complete change of mind when I caught another one on the same lure in the same spot a week later- that was 50yrs ago.

There were probably more of these lures produced than almost all other lures in Australia's fishing history, 'Wonder' produced chrome, gold, blue and many other colours including 'multi-colour' and their main competitor was 'Alpha' who produced 'Alpha Wobblers' that were virtually identical, with the exception that Alpha added a small, harder plastic red 'tag' that sat on the rear split-ring adjacent the hook eye- same as those pictured in Mike's original post above-, which 'fluttered' independently and was marketed as the 'advantage over other similar lures'. Virtually every fisher had one in their tackle box and if the call came 'they're getting them on lures' it was the go-to first choice for many. The abundant east coast Tailor population of pre 1980's was always vulnerable to these types of lure.

FrankS kindly made me some out of Stainless and they are way better than the original version

[JustJames]

Before a lure can catch a fish, first it must catch a fisherman!

[Rebel]

Mate, Looking at the above posts you have to be a real Pro. to use a Wobbler.

I use a Wobbler, some times they catch fish other times it is a waste of time.

Cheers.

[R E G I C Y C L E]

I haven't tried it myself, but I've heard of people tying on tassies backwards (fat end of bib towards hook) for saltwater use. Apparently gives them a faster action.

[JimT]

I have bashed the !@#$% out of a desert spoon with a hammer, drilled a hole at each end, added split rings and hook and swivel. works a treat and cheap.

Just don't use the good silverware

Jim

Edited November 26, 2022 by jot