I HATE SOFT PLASTICS!!!!!!

[Herm]

Hi Shayne

Have really enjoyed reading this thread. #I too caught my first fish on SP's recently but I think that my little flatty was yawning and I managed to land it in his mouth (and I know that I should be supporting his body but forgot in my excitement! #)
I think it was just luck! #and I did catch a little squire on Monday. #

But hopefully heading out on the weekend to try again! #I need to go and buy some more placcies for the tackle box!

Goodluck with your next fishing adventure!

Janine

[Canoedle]

Good onya Janine

[alby]

good on ya shayne
you did a lot better than my father's first go at sp last sunday [ his under 30cm]
but i think he was just as wrapped as you are. you wont be able to stop now!

[Scalem]

But hopefully heading out on the weekend to try again! #I need to go and buy some more placcies for the tackle box!

Goodluck with your next fishing adventure!

Janine

I can feel a fishy comin' on!

Scalem

[shayned]

This is my last post on this subject, I reckon.

Roo,
That was the first fish I've kept for a while and had forgotten how good a feed of fresh flatty goes down and trust me on this, I'm the sort of bloke who knows how to enjoy a feed or two.

Richie Boy, Craigus, Brandon, Alby, Sunny, Herm, Scalem
Cheers for the comments, moving to soft plastics is part of a grand plan to afford me more fishing time, with long hours at work and my little bloke at home, time for fishing has become a precious commodity.
The idea is to take bait collection out of the equation and to keep the sp gear in the car at all times so if some time becomes spare and I'm near a fishy spot, thankyou very much, here's a quick half hour addiction pleaser. There is a second half to the grand plan but I'll keep that to myself for the minute.

Cuzza,
I will always try to go fishing when asked, time has become a big issue though. Give me a yell when you're back this way it'll be great to wet a line with you.

Dan88,
Keep an eye out mate it seems we haunt the same neck of the woods, might be able to help each other out.

To close off this is what I've learnt so far:
1. Target an easy species first and importantly in a spot which has produced for you before. The easiest fish to catch on soft plastics are flathead followed by snapper. One of the more difficult fish to catch is bream.
2. Choice of rod and reel isn't the most important thing although a rod designed for the work is nice to use. Especially for extended periods of casting. You can buy these rods for well under $100.00 now.

3. Using braid and a flurocarbon leader is important, a brightly coloured braid will show you where your sp is in relation to where you want it to be. The leader is practically invisible to fish increasing your chances of inducing a strike, it also copes with snags better than braid style lines increasing your chances of landing a fish once its hooked.

4. The most popular choice of braid is 6lb breaking strain and for the leader 10-12lbs and a little higher in tougher conditions. To join these lines as they are thin diameter, you can use either a surgeons knot which is the easiest or a uni to uni knot which is slightly harder to do. Both will slip through your runners easily when casting. Leader length should be approx 1 meter long.

5.Choice of jig heads and tails, there are soooooooo many options but at the risk of being crusified here, the rule for beginners seems to be stick with the ones that have natural action built in to them as this will help to compensate for your lack of technique in the early stages. For me I like the idea of Gulps because I can keep telling myself " It's just a shaped bait, It's just a shaped bait, I'm good with bait this will all be OK " The following combination was recommended repeatedly, Pumpkin seed grubtail minnows of 3 inches with hooks no smaller than #2 and as light a weight as possible although for flatties going up to an 1/8 of an ounce is OK.

6. For advice you're better off asking here when you're brand new as the guys in the tackle stores either don't know what they're on about or if they do they are so far advanced they've forgotton about the early stuff and want to show you whats working for them now.

7. Don't try and reinvent the wheel, beg, borrow, steal an instructional video and by the way rewatching the AFC series isn't going to cut it when you're brand new, although still fun to watch! Canoodle lent me his burkley one and this showed up so many technique mistakes that it wasn't funny and really put the icing on the cake.

8. I've not done this yet but everyones advice is the same if you can spend time with someone who knows what they are doing grab it with both hands.

9. This is another important thing that I've learned, there is a bloody good bunch of people on this site and at the risk of sounding like a big girls blouse it's just a bit heart warming.

Thanks All
PS Whatever is wrong on this list is my fault no one elses, feel free to fix the mistakes.

[maxwellson]

great round up mate, good luck

[mowerman]

I did too until friday arvo.
After 3 months trying plastics ,land based, from Vicki pt to manly, for a grand total of 3 small bream and a 20cm cod, I finally got to try them from a boat.

4.30pm top side of Coochie.
Start with 3inch pumpkinseed minnow. didnt even reach the bottom when it was hit by a 30cm squire. Fair start. Toss it back. Fish and the gulp. Next 6 cast, 3 more under squire. Might be something in this.

Try a chartruese 3inch whatevers( ones with the long waggy tail), No.no.no.no.no.no.no.

Ok. Pink 3inch whatevers(see above). 10 casts, 2*40cm+ squire and 3 tailor.
Yep seem to work.

Later on after a few beers, I decided to get silly.
Put a 6inch watermelon turtleback on a set of unweighted gang hooks.
You should try doing that in the dark with no glasses.

What do you know, 2 more tailor.

Not totally converted yet, but getting close.

So keep trying.

[dsma@rky]

Squidgy wrigglers in the 65mm-85mm range are great soft plastics for bream and flathead. use them with very light jig heads and light braid around rocky structures and you should bag a few fish. and to make the plastics even more attractive, you can buy scented spray to apply to your plastics. this has been very succsesfull to me so give it a go.

cheers darren

[thatsakeeper]

im a bait dangler and ive bought a rod for learning plastics, not much more so far than tails missing, but im looking forward to that first catch.