Gulps & Powerbaits : A Con-job or are they for real ?

[mangomick]

Gulps work alright. BCF have caught a lot of blokes with them over the years

[Sean]

I went to the balina fishing park this morning and caught 3 jew up to 5kg on 5 inch jerk shads in gulp

[For Steve]

Since October last year, I've been learning about fishing with plastics. Until recently I had been using only Gulps and Powerbaits. Now I'll have a go with just about anything and they work fine. Some brands work out to be much better value for money than others.

I really only have 2 suggestions:
1. I try to visualise what my plastic is doing during the initial drop and retrieve.
2. Go out with someone who knows what they are doing and learn from them.

Good luck mate.

Regards
Brad

[rogersto]

30 casts into the surf using a nuclear-chicken coloured 2" gulp shrimp produced a 24cm Bream. That lifted my confidence somewhat. Water wasn't particularly clear as the surf was heavy. Wind was offshore, so casting a 1/16 TT jig with #2 hook into the hole wasn't that easy.

This said, every 2nd or 3rd cast with the other rod loaded with a live yabby provides a nibble of some sort, whereas it did take some 30 casts to result in a hit with the gulp.

I could never get a hook'n'land with the pumpinseed gulp mullet, or shaky shad apart from fish chewing the tails off and having toadies molest them at every opportunity, especially in the estuaries.

Looking forward to out for a toss with yellahunter though, I don't mind pumping yabs. but I'm really keen on keeping a 2-piece rod in the boot with some gulps and a change of clothese and when I'm between appointments of have nothing to do in my travels, pull over somewhere and toss a line.... The convenience....

[corby12]

have a look at any of the fishing comps all over the country and see how many people that come in the top 20 used bait. i was the same as you too but for the last 12 months my boat has'nt seen bait. I fish a few comps now and they all use sp's or hard bodie lures. keep trying they are unreal. good luck and dont give up

[BilgeBoy]

Hi Rogerstot

I have been having some success with Lime Tiger in 2" on TT 1/8 jig heads for the bay area. Just slow rod tip lifts...60/40 rule works for me. leave it sit 60% and lift it slow 40%. Leader is critical with SP's. I am currently using Platypus Platinum and having some success. Loop knot so the Jig head swims, cast into the drift and no Bananas on board...all seams to help.

Patience & practice and as I said earlier fish the situation.

Sure is a lot of fun learning. I have seen more sunrises in the last 6 months than I have my whole life!!

Regards

BilgeBoy

[PinHead]

have a look at any of the fishing comps all over the country and see how many people that come in the top 20 used bait. i was the same as you too but for the last 12 months my boat has'nt seen bait. I fish a few comps now and they all use sp's or hard bodie lures. keep trying they are unreal. good luck and dont give up

wouldn't that be due to the rules of the comp..ABT state lure and fly casting only..no mention of bait fishing.

[rogersto]

I must say fishing with SP's is a totally new experience and ball-game going out with someone who's got some experience with using gulps....

Spent 3hrs out with yellahunter last night peppering the Currumbin creek off Throwers Rd bridge from about an hour before the top of the tide to about a couple of hours after. Hardly a hit, zero hook-ups.

Once the flow of water slowed at the top of the tide you could see schools of fish, so they're definetly in there, and the odd fish jumping out of the water every now and then, but despite trying all sorts of retrieve actions, hardly a hit.

I did get a solid hit but no hook-up as Ben was calling it a night, and that prompted me to stay on, did get a nibble, but much to my dismay schools of fish moving around down there but not a hit, whether near the structure (pylons) or out into the middle of the river.

Maybe they just "weren't biting" - Ben was rather surprised at the lack of hits, and from my perspective not having real bait to measure up against, it's a tough call to make a judgement upon. Next time around I will have yabbies with me so it's possible to compare performance between yabs and gulps.

On a positive note, some 30 casts off the tally river breakwall on Saturday morning did land a barely-legal bream on shrimps in the nuclear chicken, using the 9ft rod. On the bridge last night I found the little 7ft stick more comfortable for the flicking action than the bigger stick.

Been keeping the bodies of the gulps that I had recently had tails chewed off en-masse and took them with me on a family trip to Sanctuary Cove. Tossed some bread into the water and within seconds, all sorts of bream just went ballistic over it. Chopped up gulp "mullet" in pumpkin seed and white shaky shad pieces didn't create anywhere near the level of excitement bread rolls did.

As a matter of fact, hardly a fish seemed to express any interest in, most preferring to swim around it, and they were mostly smaller juvenile bream. The bigger ones wouldn't touch it.

This would lead me to believe that some kind of bread product, perhaps a dough, would make good bait for bream.

Anybody got a good dough recipe that attracts bream? Needs to remain reasonably durable in the water rather than disintegrating within minutes... ?

Forgot to mention, funny sight down there, 2 SP's with fireline attached hanging off the powerlines Gulps not catching fish but have been known to attract powerlines BWWHAHAHAHAHA overzealous casting, and none of them were mine BTW

[slyman]

Hey rogersto, in the latest issue of Modern Fishing June 2007, there is a great article on jigheads. It talks about selecting the best style for your plastics, size to water depth/current recommendations. It also shows a lot of the different brands and styles available on the market and gives tables on available weights and hook sizes.

simon

[yellahunter]

yeah Rog it certainly was a quiet night,
i know ur starting to really doubt the sps but have faith mate, hopefully when the bream finally start to bite this winter you will get a few.

[Sean]

Hi mate, I have a few tips.

Firstly, Bread is an excellent bait for bream. You can fish it 2 ways.
No matter which way, keep any left over bread products in your freezer. When you want to go fishing this is burley only, it will not stay on your hook.

Go to the local bakery and buy the freshest bread...if they are offering a special on yesterdays bread DON'T BE CHEAP! Buy todays. The old stuff doesn't stay on the hook.

1. Anchor up in small creeks next to the bank facing back to a good looking snag. start throwing bits of the bread out so they drift back to the snag....not too many as this will take the fish back past the snag.
With the FRESH bread, rip off a side of crust, and with a really fine guage long shank hook thread it through the hook like you would a fillet....through the top...pull the whole hook through then sort of stitch so the hook shank sits parrallel along the crust. Cast this out unwieghted and the bream smash it off the surface. I'll try to dig out some photos I took of this rig once.

2. If you have an electric, try poppers for bream. Brand isn't too important but river2sea about 50mm long with the feathery stuff on the back hook is a good start...natural colours. Cast these to overhanging branches and twich twitch the lure back to the boat with some long pauses. At least this way you see the fish that follow and get plenty of hits. Cast at shade, High tide in the creeks, and low tide the rock walls....about 5-10 feet deep is pretty good. NO wind on the water surface, if its too rippled up they don't seem to hit. This is my No1 way of catching bream.

3. Any spot that you know holds bream and you can fish this one. Fine guage long shank hook. FRESH bread. Rip the crusts off. With the white bit of the bread rip this in roughly 2 even pieces...2 baits. Don't leave the bread in the sun it will be crap in no time. Lay the hook so you can sort of roll the piece of bread around the hook, sqeeze the crap out of the bread to make it like a cigar shape. It should be about the size of a cigarette but twice as fat with the barb of the hook exposed out the bottom. Now just fish this as you would any other bait, it will stay on the hook,sink and get eaten by Bream. If you wind the bait in you will prob have to change it. If the water is really dirty it won't be as good either. With the burley bread, mix it in a bucket with a bit of water and turn it too paste, not too much water, throw out every now and then. With this, the fish tap tap the bait then leave it for a few secs....usually the next time they grab it they sort of just make off with the bait, let your rod tip go with them for a bit....sort of drop your rod with them then as you feel ready then strike!

Summary: Did i mention FRESH BREAD? DON'T BE CHEAP

All these methods work well for Bream, good luck Sean

[Sean]

BTW. Just to give you the shits, I have never really fished a beach b4 but the other day I was down at one of the local ones and I spotted this rip running along the rock wall at the end...I thought...Surely there would have to be Flatties in there. Turns out there was...lots of them. I went down about 1pm today with a 1/6th jig head and 5inch Gulp jerk shad in that silvery colour. First cast, a legal flattie. Second cast nothing, Third cast a better flattie, fourth cast a better flattie again. I ended up with 7 flathead in about 30 mins the best going 70cms. First ever fish off a surf beach Had to leave as I ran out of Jig Heads...the rocks were a bitch. Sean

[Sean]

http://www.ausfish.com.au/vforum/sho...highlight=Sean
This is where I posted these pics, I couldn't view them though, maybe you can. Sean

[GreekBoi]

My older brother use to go out to hastings pont under the bridge and use "gary glitters" and whenever he went out he would always bring home 5x50cm+ flatheads.

I went with him and he said the best way for flatheads is to use gary glitter or black gold in the squidies range and cast out into a hole and retrive it slow.

I caught a 47cm flathead and 38cm flathead with him then, but without him showing me how to catch fish on squidgies i suck.

Like you know the really small jig heads for bream..when I try cast them on my rod they only go 1m away from me or less..buut when I watch starlo and bushy cast it goes atleast 4 - 5 meters on the same tackle.

In a way I just can't wait till I get a boat so I can try them on the reefs.

But I think all in all its practise.. I heard the light resin heads that sorta float on the surface while retriving is awsome for bream.

With all SP its a guessing game on what kind of fish like what color and style.

[theclick]

Like you know the really small jig heads for bream..when I try cast them on my rod they only go 1m away from me or less..buut when I watch starlo and bushy cast it goes atleast 4 - 5 meters on the same tackle.

In a way I just can't wait till I get a boat so I can try them on the reefs.

yeah i struggled with this at first too. I found it has alot to do with your line and also the wrist action. Need really light line, and a real flick, hardly any upper arm movement. I'm pretty good with the 1/8ths now, 1/16s and the ones smaller than that im working on, and thats on an old reel where the drag is either on fully or off fully, and the rod is like a golf flag pole