Barrier Reef Plastics

[Horse]

Im heading to the Capricorn / Bunker Group in September and have usually fished baits in this sort of country. This year I want to concentrate on plastics. Can anyone tell me what sort of tackle works has worked out OK and what areas eg depths/structure etc have been best. I would love to work the shallows but from previous trips the 50'+ seems to produce better fish

Cheers

Neil

[finding_time]

Neil

One tip i'll give you is stay away from the Gulps!! Yes they work well , too well!! All the little pickers ( Wrasse etc) love them and they can be picked to bits before the bigger fish get to have a shot at them. I now use the old Snapbacks for this reason as they'll stand up to the little pickers a whole lot better. The first trip with Gulps cost me a fortune!

Ian

Ps trout love plastics, work the bommies

[trueblue]

I recently watched snapbacks in action and i was impressed with them.

I have used gulps up north on a paternoster (VMC 9255 hook, plastic on hook with a pillie or squid bit as well) - they worked well on nanny's, but gulps got chewed to bits fairly regularly as Ian says - up north squids are the usual culprit but same deal.

cheers

Mick

[Alchemy]

Definitely snapbacks, but other brands in the same profile work well too. The great thing about the snapbacks is that they don't get trashed. We have even caught spaniards on them and they have still kept going!

[Horse]

I will certainly pack the Snapbacks. I also have some Strike king 3X ZTOOs that are just as tough. I will target some bombies looking for trout but was also wondering if the rubble/reef areas were worth a go.

[vet]

Just don't mix the snap backs with other plastics or you will end up with a sticky mess that doesn't catch anything. The gulp 7inch jerk baits work fine in the deeper rubble patches as there are less pickers in this region and they stay on the hook long enough to get the bigger fish bites. good luck, scott.

[hellboy]

gday neil,
please let us know how you go. I'm going to the swains end of sept, and i was thinking of using plastics when we go out in the dories. we can get to where the water is much shallower and you can see the bommies clearly.
cheers,
noel

[Midnight]

Gday,
I fish 7" Gulps on the GBR out of Cairns on 7/0 and 8/0 jig heads of various weights from 1/8th ounce for trout fishing on the bommies or trolling the Gulps as a skip bait to the 1.5oz for the deeper water for Reds etc.

You go through a few with getting bricked on the bommies but that is all part of the fun. The trout SMASH em! hahaha it's good fun.

The boat I fish on up there is a definite "bait" fishing boat, but I am yet to be outfished using plastics and the boys have shown some interest. I know another mate fished on the same boat using Snapbacks and did very well after being "poo pooed" for his pretty pink plastic haha

Cheers,
Myles

P.S take a popper or 2, even more fun!

[diabolical]

Im off to Swains next week. Taking some plastics but also I bought a fair few bucktail jigs out of Canada for $2A @ delivered. The bucktails should survive alot longer and work out far cheaper in the long run.

[Alchemy]

I will certainly pack the Snapbacks. I also have some Strike king 3X ZTOOs that are just as tough. I will target some bombies looking for trout but was also wondering if the rubble/reef areas were worth a go.

Horse,

We've caught nannygai to 10kg, cobia to 17kg and gold spot cod to 17kg (and numerous other species) on shoal country using snapbacks. Although only around 25 metres deep, I am sure they'd work on the same and other species in deeper water, so the rubble areas are definitely worth a go. We've got a few trout arond the coral too, but usually use bait for the trout. I'll keep an eye out for the Strike Kings as I wasn't aware of an SP other than the snapback with similar durability.

Regards,
Dave.

[bugman]

Neil,

At North West we used predominantly Gulps. We caught plenty of fish as you may remember from the last report. We had best success in the prime bite time at around sunrise when the bigger fish seemed more active. We nailed lots of RTE and trout etc - up to about 5kg. During the middle of the day we still caught fish but a lot more rubbish fish like small cod etc.

Right up on the shallows was the best fun in 12-15m of water. Yep it's harsh fishing - oh I'm on - oh I'm bricked ;D

I've got some octo jigs for Fraser next week. Thought they may be worth a bit of fun. I'd never really fish SP before but it was definitely worth it.

IMHO nothing smaller than 7 inch in size.

Brett

[setchy]

gday.

I just back from the swains and used plastics 4 of the days I was out there. Only cause I ran out, went through 18 packets. I found that they out fished bait nearly 2 fold. used mainly gulps 6 to 7 inch.

setchy

[hooknpull]

snapbacks are the best for up there but take a few 7'gulps in nuc chicken. I found sometimes i couldn get a fish on the snaps but caught heaps on the gulps. Only problem was, as stated, there only good for 2 or 3 fish.

[Nicko_Cairns]

Gday,
I fish 7" Gulps on the GBR out of Cairns on 7/0 and 8/0 jig heads of various weights from 1/8th ounce for trout fishing on the bommies or trolling the Gulps as a skip bait to the 1.5oz for the deeper water for Reds etc.

You go through a few with getting bricked on the bommies but that is all part of the fun. The trout SMASH em! hahaha it's good fun.

The boat I fish on up there is a definite "bait" fishing boat, but I am yet to be outfished using plastics and the boys have shown some interest. I know another mate fished on the same boat using Snapbacks and did very well after being "poo pooed" for his pretty pink plastic haha

Cheers,
Myles

P.S take a popper or 2, even more fun!

Favourite brand of jigheads Myles?

Thanks.

[Moffy]

With the gulps - at a pinch you can cut the leftover head parts in two lengthwise and add it to the end of another "shortened" plastic (just hook it through the end) - it serves as a workable tail that still attracts the fish - was over an hours drive from where i was back to tackle store - so had to sort something out to keep me fishing....

Got my biggest snapper like this on my Honeymoon in NZ back in April!