Macleay / Peel - 1st time with SPs

[reddybayfisher]

Took my newly purchased Formosa 5.2m CC (bought from BlackRat)....decided to leave the bait at home and only took SP's - the end result was no luck.....I know I must be persistent.....

The gear I was using was 20lb braid with 20lb fluro leader on a 1/6 size 3 hook jighead - changed to a 1/4 when the wind picked up......

The plastics I was using where - mango ripple, chicken curry and satay chicken in the 5 inch jerk shad.....

The tactic was to let the jig head sink, wait for the line to sag and then work the jig back....I varied the lifts, from 1, 2 and 3 lifts, try to be slow with the wind, fast lift, then let it sink again.........

I started of at the North West side of Macleay on the drift....worked my may over the same ground several times before moving on to new ground and new line or drift....headed over to Peel for a couple other drifts...then back to Macleay going over some of the previous ground.....

A couples of times as I was jigging it felt like a few hits on the SP but to no avail....

I am presuming there may not have been any fish there at Macleay - as I say a few fishos using bait with no luck either.....

Any advice / other spots to try for my next trip with SPs would be greatly appreciated....

[Blackened]

G'day

You're fishing too heavy

Try 8 to 10lb braid with 12pd fluro leader and 1/8 heads.

Dave.

[Leighton]

the plastics you were using were all bright, maybe try some more natural colours.
Were you casting in the direction of your drift?
For Peel stay in 6-8m of water, casting towards the shallows
I also dont run over the same drift more than once, Snaps spook easily
And yeah, fish lighter

[reddybayfisher]

OK - next trip will be lighter tackle, more natural colours and continually drift over new ground.....cheers
I was casting in the direction of the drift and found the jighead would eventually end up behind the boat due to current - is this what is supposed to happen?

[slyman]

Line wise yep too heavy, blackened suggests the ideal lines, but the weights of your jigheads will vary. Have caught fish on 1/4s at macleay and on jigheads as light as 1/12. It depends on the wind/current. Against, with or across current will require different weights, same as different stages of the tide. I've had days at macleay with no fish, some days they just arent around even if they had been there the day before.

[Leighton]

OK - next trip will be lighter tackle, more natural colours and continually drift over new ground.....cheers
I was casting in the direction of the drift and found the jighead would eventually end up behind the boat due to current - is this what is supposed to happen?

I maybe different or maybe I just like to cast.
I make the longest cast possible maybe 30m or so, let the plastic sink ( this is usually when it gets hit ) hop the lure back to the boat 3- 5 times to within 20m or so of the boat . Wind in and do it all again

[slyman]

OK - next trip will be lighter tackle, more natural colours and continually drift over new ground.....cheers
I was casting in the direction of the drift and found the jighead would eventually end up behind the boat due to current - is this what is supposed to happen?

You may have been casting with the drift but at the same time you may have been casting into the current,(it sometimes happens in a wind against tide situation where the wind is stronger) in which case your lure is going to end up underneath you pretty quick. An incoming tide with todays SW winds at macleay would be such a situation. If this is the case then I still cast ahead of the drift but out at an angle from the drift line instead of straight along the drift line. This way the lure will end up swinging past you and end up behind you.

Then again, you may not have been retrieving as quick as you should, I'm a bit like leighton, casting as far as I can in front of the drift, but I'll try and fish the lure right back to the boat, almost straight down beneath me.

[reddybayfisher]

You may have been casting with the drift but at the same time you may have been casting into the current,(it sometimes happens in a wind against tide situation where the wind is stronger) in which case your lure is going to end up underneath you pretty quick. An incoming tide with todays SW winds at macleay would be such a situation. If this is the case then I still cast ahead of the drift but out at an angle from the drift line instead of straight along the drift line. This way the lure will end up swinging past you and end up behind you.

Then again, you may not have been retrieving as quick as you should, I'm a bit like leighton, casting as far as I can in front of the drift, but I'll try and fish the lure right back to the boat, almost straight down beneath me.

OK - so I cast into the drift to the front of the boat on an angle so that it doesn't end up under the boat and retrieve quick enough so that the lure doesn't go behind the boat.....am I on correct in saying this?

[slyman]

OK - so I cast into the drift to the front of the boat on an angle so that it doesn't end up under the boat and retrieve quick enough so that the lure doesn't go behind the boat.....am I on correct in saying this?

Sorry I should clarify, if you cast straight ahead of your drift with the current coming towards you, then yes you will need to retrieve a bit quicker so that you dont drift over your lure.

If you decide to cast out on the angle, you can let the lure go past behind you, but because you are going in the opposite direction to the current, your lure will rise to the surface eventually once it has gone past you, so then you'd bring it in and cast again. If I'm casting on the angle out, then I'll fish it back behind me until its about the same angle behind me as it was when I cast it in front of me. Geez I hope this makes sense.

[Scalem]

Want to try something reddybayfisher ??

The person who introduced me to plastics always had this indestructible Ugly stick with 2KG line, and whenever we went out, this stupid rod would always attract the bites. So be a daredevil, instead of starting heavy and getting lighter and lighter till you get fish, grab the lightest outfit you have, whack a full spool of 2KG braid on, 4 or 5 lb flurocarbon and have some fun. It's how I learned, and you would be amazed how you can still catch decent snapper in the bay with extreemly light line. After around 50cm size you might have to try chase it with the boat, but you will definitely get the adrenolin going!!!

Scalem

[sharkymark2]

I made a comment on another thread how I anchored at the red buoy at Coochie and put a few baits out and while waiting for some thing to happen I cast a clear prawn on a 1/4 nitro head up into the current ..... let it sink to bottom or there abouts and started to do the lift and jerk, tap and then bang 50cm squire. PB on plastic cast out again and bang 45 cm squire..... Should have said it was pitch black at night with no moon.