Cursed and blessed

[Little_Flatty]

Do any of you Raiders have lures that you swear are 'cursed' or 'blessed'? I do!

Years ago, I wanted to target bigger flathead and mulloway, so I bought a few bigger lures. One of these was a 5-inch Z-Man Diezel Minnowz, in Red Shadz:

Conventional choice, right? This is a known big flathead and mulloway lure, used by experts all the way around the country. But not for me, they're cursed! Not because I can't attract a fish on them, it's more that I'm yet to land a fish on this lure! Case in point, yesterday morning I was out having a pre-work flick, casting over some known bigger flathead and mulloway haunts. A lot of casts for no hits, but I'm starting to get used to that, going into winter and casting bigger lures of late. Then a hit comes and the fish is BIG! A few headshakes, a bit of drag and then the leader goes 'pop'.

Every fish that has taken one of these from me has been BIG, but has either come off the hook or the line has broken. I've just upped my leader to 20lb from 12lb (even thinking about 25lb) and have changed my fish fighting style to ensure the hook is very well set. I'm also not fishing with anything else until I have used them all up. I'm now down to my last one! We'll see what happens. If I lose this one, I might need to wait some time before I get another pack (have a lot of unused lures to get through).

On the other hand, any 2-5inch jerk shad (like a Berkley Power Minnow, Z-man Jerk Shads, Hurricaine Spratz, etc) is 'blessed' for me. There isn't a fish I can't catch with one of these. Even Luderick! When I want guarantees, I use the gulp minnows/jerk shads. If I could only have one lure, it would be a 3 inch power minnow. If I had the stats on these, I'd say 80% of my lure captures are on some kind of jerk shad.

Anyone have a similar experience with a certain lure make or type?

[Mike Sydney]

The halco twisty. I’ve cast that thousands of times for zilch. And yet I know it’s a good lure. My several must just broken 😆

As for blessed….anything the bloke next to me is using 

[XD351]

Any lure that I have found - never caught a fish on one I found , Mann’s lures are my curse- never had any luck with any of their lures either . 

[Yowie]

Before all of this plastic lure business, the Wonder Wobbler lure was the best. Just a small cheap metal lure than 'wobbled' on retrieve. I replaced the treble with a single straight hook, a limeric hook style in the early days.

From what I can remember - tailor, kingfish, salmon, trevally, bonnies, small mack tuna, frigates, flatties, little reddies, a couple of small whiting, a blackfish,  squid, occies, cuttlefish, a numb ray, a large sand mullet gave it a few hits but did not hook up, and a blue swimmer crab (the crab was free swimming and had the lure in one of it's nippers and would not let go until in the boat)

Some fish that grabbed the lure were unstoppable.

[Rebel]

As they say. Keep on ''Truckin''

You win some you lose some.

I remember one week where I went fishing. Caught nothing. Used bait & lures.

Went back the next weeK, same place. Caught heaps.

Cheers.

[Burger]

4 hours ago, Little_Flatty said:

I'm also not fishing with anything else until I have used them all up. I'm now down to my last one! We'll see what happens.

My bet is you catch the biggest fish ever and you'll have to go out and buy more of the cursed lures.

😲🤣

[Derny Driver]

3 hours ago, Yowie said:

Before all of this plastic lure business, the Wonder Wobbler lure was the best. Just a small cheap metal lure than 'wobbled' on retrieve. I replaced the treble with a single straight hook, a limeric hook style in the early days.

I lived at Lilli Pilli as a kid and when the tailor were in the river, all us kids used line up after school on the lilli pilli baths and cast our Wonder Wobblers.  They were magic. Hook up every cast.

Tried to buy a Wonder Wobbler last month ... they don't exist. I was told the Halco twisty is the replacement... haven't had a hit on it yet despite several attempts.

[Rebel]

@Derny Driver They are still around. I picked up two at KM about six months ago.

Cheers.

[GoldenHourFishing]

Yep and for me its the one you are using. I never catch anything on those Diesel minnow profile paddle tails. Maybe 2 flathead like ever. I always use the thinner profile slim swimz or easy shiners. And I catch a much wider array of species on them too. 

In relation to you getting busted off on 12lb with that lure its almost certainly a good size jew or a big flathead, but if you were fishing the parra I would say most likely jew. Big flathead are super rare in the parra I have found. 

I got a 60cm jew on the Parra 2 nights ago on 6lb with a 2.5 prolure grub, good fun. But I bring this up to say, there are definitley jew around so I would say stick it out if that is what works for you. 

I dont know what leader to braid knot you are using but if you had no leader left at all I would suggest using the FG knot, assuming you arent already. 

Edited June 1, 2023 by GoldenHourFishing

[Little_Flatty]

Thanks @GoldenHourFishing. I have the same feeling about the lure profile; my most successful lures have been slimmer.

I do use the FG knot by default, in most cases it was the leader itself breaking. I’m just going to up the leader diameter, be a bit more pedantic about the leader condition and see how I go. I had been getting a bit lazy of late.

[Yowie]

21 hours ago, Derny Driver said:

I lived at Lilli Pilli as a kid and when the tailor were in the river, all us kids used line up after school on the lilli pilli baths and cast our Wonder Wobblers.  They were magic. Hook up every cast.

Tried to buy a Wonder Wobbler last month ... they don't exist. I was told the Halco twisty is the replacement... haven't had a hit on it yet despite several attempts.

Now just remembered jewfish and trout as well on the Wonder Wobbler.

After school, it was trolling around Yowie Bay and over to Deer Park for tailor

I still have an original Wonder Wobbler, never been in the water. From what I have seen on E-bay, and the prices people charge for rare products, you can buy this Wonder Wobbler for $1,000,000, AND, I will sign it for you. 

Edited June 1, 2023 by Yowie

[faker]

12 hours ago, Little_Flatty said:

Do any of you Raiders have lures that you swear are 'cursed' or 'blessed'? I do!

Years ago, I wanted to target bigger flathead and mulloway, so I bought a few bigger lures. One of these was a 5-inch Z-Man Diezel Minnowz, in Red Shadz:

Conventional choice, right? This is a known big flathead and mulloway lure, used by experts all the way around the country. But not for me, they're cursed! Not because I can't attract a fish on them, it's more that I'm yet to land a fish on this lure! Case in point, yesterday morning I was out having a pre-work flick, casting over some known bigger flathead and mulloway haunts. A lot of casts for no hits, but I'm starting to get used to that, going into winter and casting bigger lures of late. Then a hit comes and the fish is BIG! A few headshakes, a bit of drag and then the leader goes 'pop'.

Every fish that has taken one of these from me has been BIG, but has either come off the hook or the line has broken. I've just upped my leader to 20lb from 12lb (even thinking about 25lb) and have changed my fish fighting style to ensure the hook is very well set. I'm also not fishing with anything else until I have used them all up. I'm now down to my last one! We'll see what happens. If I lose this one, I might need to wait some time before I get another pack (have a lot of unused lures to get through).

On the other hand, any 2-5inch jerk shad (like a Berkley Power Minnow, Z-man Jerk Shads, Hurricaine Spratz, etc) is 'blessed' for me. There isn't a fish I can't catch with one of these. Even Luderick! When I want guarantees, I use the gulp minnows/jerk shads. If I could only have one lure, it would be a 3 inch power minnow. If I had the stats on these, I'd say 80% of my lure captures are on some kind of jerk shad.

Anyone have a similar experience with a certain lure make or type?

what time did u you go to fish for them??

[wazatherfisherman]

12 hours ago, Yowie said:

Before all of this plastic lure business, the Wonder Wobbler lure was the best. Just a small cheap metal lure than 'wobbled' on retrieve. I replaced the treble with a single straight hook, a limeric hook style in the early days.

From what I can remember - tailor, kingfish, salmon, trevally, bonnies, small mack tuna, frigates, flatties, little reddies, a couple of small whiting, a blackfish,  squid, occies, cuttlefish, a numb ray, a large sand mullet gave it a few hits but did not hook up, and a blue swimmer crab (the crab was free swimming and had the lure in one of it's nippers and would not let go until in the boat)

Some fish that grabbed the lure were unstoppable.

@FrankS made me some 'Wazza Wobblers'- even better than the original in stainless steel- everything from Trout to Tuna have been caught on the trusty wobblers.

My curse lure was the first plastic minnow I ever bought, a Bill Norman "Swayback"- it cost 4 times as much as other lures and although fish often followed it they rarely struck at it. The swayback was just a jointed minnow, same shape as the Husky Jerk which turned out to be a great lure.

[Mike Sydney]

@Little_Flatty just to rub it in I chucked the 5” diesel on tonight…two tailor and two flatheads in an hour….🤣 Must be  because I’m fishing upstream of you - fish hitting the phone tree to warn their buddies down your way!

Jokes and one-upping aside I agree the diesels are hard work. I only really use them for a bit of extra casting distance. I’d take a slim swim any day of the week usually.

The retrieve for the diesels that worked tonight was fast roll / sudden stops

Edited June 1, 2023 by Mike Sydney

[faker]

36 minutes ago, Mike Sydney said:

@Little_Flatty just to rub it in I chucked the 5” diesel on tonight…two tailor and two flatheads in an hour….🤣 Must be  because I’m fishing upstream of you - fish hitting the phone tree to warn their buddies down your way!

Jokes and one-upping aside I agree the diesels are hard work. I only really use them for a bit of extra casting distance. I’d take a slim swim any day of the week usually.

The retrieve for the diesels that worked tonight was fast roll / sudden stops

what size jighead do you use?

[Little_Flatty]

3 hours ago, faker said:

what time did u you go to fish for them??

Mostly early mornings. Not conventionally the best time to fish in winter, but it’s between mornings and not fishing for me…

[Mike Sydney]

@faker a quarter ounce, heavy as I was casting at faraway bridge pylons and needed the extra distance to reach them. 

[faker]

 

Just now, Mike Sydney said:

@faker a quarter ounce, heavy as I was casting at faraway bridge pylons and needed the extra distance to reach them. 

meant by hook size. will a 5/0 do?

[Little_Flatty]

7 minutes ago, faker said:

 

meant by hook size. will a 5/0 do?

I use 6/0 for the 5in

[Mike Sydney]

I use 2/0s but probably a 3/0 might’ve been a better fit.

[Little_Flatty]

46 minutes ago, Mike Sydney said:

@Little_Flatty just to rub it in I chucked the 5” diesel on tonight…two tailor and two flatheads in an hour….🤣 Must be  because I’m fishing upstream of you - fish hitting the phone tree to warn their buddies down your way!

Jokes and one-upping aside I agree the diesels are hard work. I only really use them for a bit of extra casting distance. I’d take a slim swim any day of the week usually.

The retrieve for the diesels that worked tonight was fast roll / sudden stops

Yep, but my ones are cursed remember!🤪 

How big were the flatties? Please don’t deflate me by telling me they were undersized 🤣

[faker]

1 minute ago, Mike Sydney said:

I use 2/0s but probably a 3/0 might’ve been a better fit.

woah that really is small. i guess its personal preferance. on the 5 inches paddletail. Max I have at moment is a 5/0

[Mike Sydney]

3 minutes ago, Little_Flatty said:

I use 6/0

So the bigger you go the stiffer the body is right with the hook further back. A shorter one droops/sags at the tail. I reckon you get more wobble with a smaller size, at least while it’s in motion. Plus 2/0s we’re all I had. I dunno about you lot but every time I go to buy Jigheads off the shelf there’s never the size I’m looking for. 

[big Neil]

Yep, I have several favourites, each for its own specific purpose. Stumpjumper lures are excellent for trolling targeting Murray Cod. Their heads-down attitude allows them to be less prone to snagging up and Cod seem attracted to them. Casting lures is a much different scenario. Sometimes a spinnerbait is the best option, other times hardbody lures of different diving depths work well. Soft plastics seldom last more than a few casts as they snag too easily in the sub-surface timber structure.

For saltwater species I love to use the CurlyTailZ type soft plastics matched to an appropriate jighead. They look very enticing when slow retrieved along the bottom. Whatever works is the best lure for any situation really.

bn

[Little_Flatty]

8 hours ago, Mike Sydney said:

I dunno about you lot but every time I go to buy Jigheads off the shelf there’s never the size I’m looking for. 

That’s true for sure Mike! Especially with jigheads, you can have a very hard time finding the right weight/size combination. That’s the main reason I often use EWG hooks with a sinker instead; much more versatility with weight/hook size combinations.

Update: last 5in Diezel Minnowz lost to a snag! Curse dodged?

I have some three inch models left, but they will have to wait until I’ve used up my latest ‘white elephant’ lure…a zerek jerk shad of sorts. I suspect I could go on for a year or more, just fishing my ‘spare’ impulse purchase lures.