i need some advise?

[chief]

Was a bit iffy about the wheather so i thought i pop down the river and have a go for some squire.left about 4.30 am and fished the mouth and around a few areas areas around the boat passage and pinkenbar.firstly i was useing 3 inch minows in pearl/watermelon and pumkin seed.
now the pumkinseed got the best response but they just kept taking the tails off.question is this a reasonable choice of plastic for this area? no. 2 is i got 9 squire this morning rangeing from 22 to 28 cms...no keepers, now i had a great time but about a month ago i was getting some reasonable fish on poddy mullett . this is when your not sure ,you begin to ask yourself questions ,is anyone else still picking up quality fish in these areas,i just went back over reports and seen it has been a bit quiet around these spots lately .just interested in any feedback because of the quality of fish im taking on the plastics i'm using.should i be using larger plastics ?any piece of feedback is greatly appreciated.Thanks.

[Canoedle]

3" is minimal, but I would expect you to still see some decent size fish, only way to find out is buy some 4 and 5" plastics and give a go m8, a lot of reports say 5" is the way to go for squire. Good Luck. 8-)

[chanquetas]

5" Jerk baits in Camo or Smelt should do the trick.

[Blue_Escape]

5" Jerk baits in Camo or Smelt should do the trick.

Are they the Berkley brand? What size hook/jig do you recommend with them?

[chanquetas]

Blue_escape, yep Berkleys mate. I use a 1/4 oz size 3 or 4. If you go any heavier I think the action would start to be lost. If you go too light then it wont get down deep enough.

Although I have caught half metre snapper in 2m water.

Cheers,
Jake

[Scalem]

Begs the question doesn't it? Do fish learn? That is a subject I posted in the General section weeks ago, maybe they have had a few meetings about what sort of food is good for you and which are not? "Those rubbery things repeat on me and give me gas!!" LOL

Nah, it is the change of season and schools move all the time, keep doing what you know has worked before. My only change I have made is to put a few snapbacks in the mix, so when you keep losing tails you bring out the artilary.... In actual fact, that's how it started, now I don't use anything else but 4" Electric Chicken - use the same JH as you use on the 3" Berkley. That's it in the middle row, on top. On the right hand side you see it in the 5" which I use in deeper water. I posted our recent catch where my brother caught his PB on.... Electric Chicken, surprise surprise!!
http://www.ausfish.com.au/cgi-ausfish/yabb2/YaBB.cgi?num=1140243800

Scalem

[Scalem]

The other bits to the photo were originally showing home made jig heads and what the results were after Hervey Bay critters got a hold of Plastics....

[chief]

thanks for the replies fellows.(canoedle,chanquetas and scalem)taken it on board and off to the tackle shop. its great for you guys to share your Knowledge,again Thank You. let you know how i go

[chanquetas]

Interestingly the Berkeley Jerk Bait in Camo is very similar to the Salt Water Assassin in Electric Chicken. I have always thought that there was a bit of a connection there.

Cheers,
Jake

[Fishin_Dan]

As other people have said, go for the bigger plastics... If the tide is slack to slow, then you should be able to get away with 1/8Oz. When it starts roaring though, 1/4Oz is needed (Possibly 1/2 on the big tide days). You want to use as light as you can get away with so that the plastic looks as "natural" as it can on the drop as this is when most bites occur (Or not long after the drop)(Or just as it starts to rise off the bottom) ::)

I haven't had too many squire stealing the tails though... Normally its fish like tailor/toadies/grinners that steal the tails... Pumpkinseed seems to attract them a lot too ;)

[Adamy]

Heres a tangent question... has anyone ever used the berkly gulps in the similar profile as the dropshot minnows on snapper and squire - do they work or should I stick to the minnows - I was using the 4" models but seemed to be picking up more fish - albeit smaller - up to 40cms on the 3" and watermelon pearl - I think they seem to work pretty good.... ah but I digress - back to the gulps... what do you reckon?