am i missing something???

[HIGH and DRY]

last day of my holidays today, so i had to get out for a fish. headed to the coomera for a plastics session and I was fishing a run in tide in overcast conditions. picking out some nice pontoons, and structure I started casting a range of plastics including brights, naturals, paddle tails, flick baits, big plastics, small plastics, and i could not raise a scale. this also happened to me on Sat down the coast. I am putting plenty of time in, targeting what i think are the right area's but for no fish.

The only thing i don't have, that a lot of people do, is an electric motor. How critical is it to have one. Im not a full time plastics fisho, i love bait fishing in the bay when i can, so i am trying to avoid getting one if i can. I ussually position myself so i can drift past where i want to fish, but is this not enough???? Im telling myself its all the fresh water, but there are reports of fish getting caught, so it must be something else!!!

pete

[Leighton]

A lecky is good mate, I have caught more fish with it but in saying that I did catch fish without it. What size jig head and leader?

[HIGH and DRY]

i was using a 1/8th jig head and had 12Lb flurocarbon leader.

thanks for the quick reply!!

pete

[theclick]

Jig head sounds a bit heavy too. But having said that, I cant catch a think at the moment either.

I can see all the baby bream following my lure, just cant find the biggies

[Leighton]

agree with the boys, down size

[NAGG]

agree with the boys, down size

Ditto again ..... you are 3-4 times heavier than you probably need to be!( jig wt) ....... 12 lb leader is tiger country (hard body) stuff!
Nagg
PS ... fish light & fish slow ( try a SP with lots of wiggly bits ... like a Gulp craw or Atomic prong)

[TheSaint]

I doubt your leader would be doing to much to stop the bite but you could drop it to 6-8lb. Your jighead needs to drop down to a 1/16 or 1/20.. You want your SP to drop down slowly as this is when you get most of your hits...

[HIGH and DRY]

thanks for all the usefull replys. if i was to anchor up, should i be casting up current and allowing it to drift over the structure i want it to?? i noticed today that when the current picked up, and i was drifting, it seemed like i didn't have enough time before the line was behind the boat and there was tention on the line.

Im reasonaby succesful at wello over the coffee rock, just strugling when i have to pin point and certain target and deal with wind, current etc!

pete

[plaztix]

thanks for all the usefull replys. if i was to anchor up, should i be casting up current and allowing it to drift over the structure i want it to?? i noticed today that when the current picked up, and i was drifting, it seemed like i didn't have enough time before the line was behind the boat and there was tention on the line.

Im reasonaby succesful at wello over the coffee rock, just strugling when i have to pin point and certain target and deal with wind, current etc!

pete

Yeah mate, if anchored, cast up current and work it back towards you or just bounce it along and let it drift past the boat, this works well with unweighted or lightly weighted prawny looking plastics. How you fish an area depends alot on the spot. How deep, how much current, what you might find there are what you are targeting.

I generally dont anchor when fishing plastics unless i come across an area with a high concentration of fish. I've found its more rewarding to actively search as many areas as possible. It is a bit harder with out an electric (especially when its as windy as it is now ) but its not impossible.

Suss out a good looking stretch of water (preferably that runs the same direction as the wind as this will make your drift longer) and work out which way you are likely to drift considering current, wind and waves. When drifting cast as far ahead of the drift as possible, most of the time you will be casting with the wind. If you aren't getting it down before its out the back you don't have enough weight on. But i dont think this is your issue if your using 1/8 in the coomera. That should be plenty even in strong current.

Try a variety of different plastics and different retrieves, speeds etc. and dont worry mate. We've all had our fair share of no fish days.

Dont give up on the plastics yet.

[alleycat]

If your chasing flathead as well as bream ect then i used to use nitro 1/8th no 2 hook jigheads and 3 inch smelt scales, if your just chasing flathead then a 1/4oz head is fine, after all near bottom is good and 10lb leader is ok for the flathead, and if there is nothing near the pontoons then try the dropoffs on the big sandbanks like along tipplers channel.

[Danda fishn man]

try using tt's hidden weight system jig heads. sometimes the smallest touches in ur setup catch more fish. they make them in 1/16th wich is the heaviest they make in the HWS (i think) and seem to work well for me. alot of the time big plastics dont do it for me unless im going for large fish (snapper etc.) for bream i dont go more than 3"

[HIGH and DRY]

seems i have a to learn thanks for all the fantastic reply's. very keen now to get out there and put theory into practice.

pete

[Scalem]

High and Dry

You sound like you are experiencing the same problems as me, but I may have had the upper hand in only one sense - to fish estuaries very light. Under 2KG for bth main line and leader. But I normally use what you have for the bay snaps, which is ideal.

So there I was fishing the Nerang river with my 3 -5KG dropshot, 15 pound main line, and 2KG flurocarbon. I don't have any braid lighter because I seldom chase bream. I had about 2 seconds of excitement when I got bricked by something that felt bigger than the 60cm snapper I battle with, then ping!!! You never stop wondering what would have happened if I had 12lb leader you were using. Would I still had the bite?? I'd lay bets it was a nasty red hoodlum responsible!

Leccies put you way ahead when stalking bream that's for sure, I wish I had one but fished with others that have.

Scalem