Soft Plastics

[duncdiver]

I am new to fishing with SP. Went yesterday for the 1st time and loved it, I have posted a brief description in another thread.

The question I have though is for Reds, snapper, pearlies etc in deep water 50 to 130 mt what soft plastics do you use and think work well. I know colour fades out very quickly at depth.

Also do you guys use or recommend some sort of scent to put on your SP? If so what sort.

Got to say I loved my 1st session on them yesterday, can see what all the fuss is now, nothing like hooking up to a 5kg snapper on light gear and a soft plastic.

Sorry if its been covered before, but any info would be much appreciated. ;D

Thanks Duncdiver

[Midnight]

Good to hear you found the plastic fishing good.
I use 8/0 jigheads with the 7" plastics and weight up to 1.5 ounce for fishing in up to 130m.

Vary the weight and retrieve style until you find where the fish are and how they are feeding. I like to fish the plastics quite light and kind of float line the plastic down, then flick it up, or some times rip it up as fast as i can. If I am marking fish on the sounder but cant get a bite fishing the plastic in the "normal" way, i have found the old crank it as fast as you can retrieve often gets a bite, just be ready for the strike :0

I like the Berkey Gulps, nuclear chicken is nearly always a winner, pearl white and blue pepper neon have worked well for me too. I like the dark purple and black in the shallows. Another mate has had great success with the Snapback plastics too and he much prefers them to the Gulps as they last longer.

There are guys around that are gurus, I am sure that some of them will chime in here and help ya out.

Cheers,
Myles

[trueblue]

hey Myles, I liked that idea of the snapbacks being used in conjunction with the bait when we were catching those trag - was a cool and effective method

[Midnight]

Yeah Mick, it seems to work well with a plastic and a flesh bait on a paternoster. I still love the normal plastics fishing though. I have always preferred lure fishing over dead bait, even when I was at primary school when the first plastics were around. Curly tail grubs etc. I like any form of lure fishing really, and as you know, the satisfaction of making a lure and then fishing it and catching your intended species.

I can't remember if I told you, the lure that caught Tim's Yellowfin that day, caught one of the 2 Striped Marlin we got on the way home in 2CATS.

Cheers,
Myles

[trueblue]

yeah mate, great lures. Both of mine have been eaten now, so getting some more made at Wellsy's this arvo

[duncdiver]

Thanks for your advice Midnight, have taken it onboard.

Have you had much luck with them at night???

I was out last night and they just didnt seem to be to active on the plastics but hitting baits. The plastics fished well while it was still light but seamed to drop off after dark, I was using the Nuclear chickens, and a couple others that say they glow (I assumed the glowing plastics would fish better at night).

Didnt think to put a bait and a plastic down together, will try that next time, sounds like a good idea.

Thanks again.

[Midnight]

No worries mate.
Yep I have caught plenty on plastics at night, especially on the reef out off Cairns. I find you need to make a bit more "noise" with them at night I.e more aggressive retrieves etc. The curly tailed grubs are probably a better thing at night, as they will probably vibrate a bit more.

The glow factor is a definite plus. Trueblue and I proved it well one night at fishing in 130m east of Deep Tempest. The glow gets the fish!
Hit it with some light to get it to really glow before you send it down.

Good luck out there.
Cheers