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Popper sizes for tailor / salmon / kingies off the harbour rocks


sashkello

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Hi all!

I'm trying to diversify my tackle box a bit and thought about adding some poppers to my arsenal. I mostly fish within Middle Harbour or some of the north Sydney heads from the shore. Now, I've looked around for what is available and given the prices on that kind of lures, I'm really not keen to buy the whole available range to test it all out... It looks to me that smaller poppers are way too light to cast far and would work maybe in estuaries / lagoons on smaller fish like bream & whiting? But quite big 120mm poppers are only 30g, I have a feeling that is the lowest weight I would be able to use unless the wind is non-existent. Maybe I'm wrong here, it's just my impression from holding those things in my hand. Would this size be too big for targeting fish which I might hope to land in the harbour? I'm hoping for a decent sized tailor & salmon, and if I could get a legal kingfish that would be dream coming true. To me it seems like advice in terms of sizes is just all over the place... Some people have giant poppers and still claim to catch 40cm tailor on them, others recommend 80mm on relatively light setup. Any advice is appreciated.

Cheers!

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Posted (edited)

My starting question would be what gear are you using? Rod, reel and line and then what are the lure ratings on the rod?

I have a light outfit (3-14gm) and a medium outfit (15-50gm) and lure boxes for both outfits.

Edited by DerekD
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Hi mate, yes you are right regarding weight and size. Most surface stick baits are quite large when pushing the 40-60g mark.

I find getting fish to take surface lures hard in the harbour, i tend to use them at first light or when there are visible bust ups. 

Tailor will take just bout anything that moves, kings and salmon we normally get on jigs such as the Palms Slow Blat etc.

in terms of poppers i love the Maria Pop Queen, not a traditional popper as it combines popping and a swimming action. Attached is a pic of a tailor taking the F130 40gram, although it was around the 40-45cm mark.

Fish.jpg

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Posted (edited)
52 minutes ago, DerekD said:

My starting question would be what gear are you using? Rod, reel and line and then what are the lure ratings on the rod?

I have a light outfit (3-14gm) and a medium outfit (15-50gm) and lure boxes for both outfits.

Derek,

I've got several outfits, but for the kind of fish I'm targeting I was going to use a 9" 30-50g one. I also have a med-light (10-30g) 7" rod, which might be suitable? I assume that on a light 2-4kg rated rod I'll get destroyed by anything over 50cm, especially if it's a kingie... I use that one for bream & whiting, don't think it's a good idea to spin for tailor with it, correct me if I'm wrong. 

Edited by sashkello
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41 minutes ago, Lozzz said:

in terms of poppers i love the Maria Pop Queen, not a traditional popper as it combines popping and a swimming action. Attached is a pic of a tailor taking the F130 40gram, although it was around the 40-45cm mark.

Ah, that is the kind of fish I was thinking about. If you get that kind of tailor on it, sounds like I was thinking in the right ballpark in terms of size/weight. But dear god, that lure is pricey!

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34 minutes ago, sashkello said:

Ah, that is the kind of fish I was thinking about. If you get that kind of tailor on it, sounds like I was thinking in the right ballpark in terms of size/weight. But dear god, that lure is pricey!

Haha yes they aren't cheap but most the the Maria range cast really really well when compared to other similar lures, they get the weight distribution just right. 

I also have a few Malosi lures so these are cheap in comparison, its as much about the gear as the fishing with us shorejigging show ponies lol. 

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18 hours ago, sashkello said:

Ah, that is the kind of fish I was thinking about. If you get that kind of tailor on it, sounds like I was thinking in the right ballpark in terms of size/weight. But dear god, that lure is pricey!

You can get maria knock offs. I have one @DerekD might be interested in them too. @Lozzz whom I fish with knows about it

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