Help with soft plastics

[Scorpion]

I'm a new comer in soft plastics and have 2 questions for the wise people.
1 can you tie the sp directly to your main line or do you need a leader?

2 Is it ok to use a snap on swivel/

Thanks
Scorpion ???

[Hutcho]

Scorpion,

You can tie your SP directly to your main line, but it is a ballsy thing to do. Best to use braid, and use a mono leader and tie your SP onto that.

I wouldn't recommend using a snap or swivel. You may need to look up a few knot books, but by far (IMO) the best way to tie your SP on is to use a bimini twist from your braid line, onto your mono leader. Even a half blood knot is OK to tie your SP onto the mono line itself. The braid is good cos it allows you to feel any hits onto the SP, and also to get that 'twitching' motion through the water.

Hope this helps. There are heaps of members on here who use SP's and can probably add more.

Good luck - they're great fun.

Hutcho

[moondancer]

Hi Scorpio, I'm with Hutcho on this one. Depending on what I'm targetting, I use anything from 2.5kg upwards of mono trace, around half a meter or a bit less, straight onto braid. Not a fan of snap swivels - I think in the lighter fishing, say for bream, flatties, etc., they're too bulky. If you really don't want to bother tying knots every time you want to change a SP try buying the little clip segments of a snap - very thin guage, and a lot less obtrusive. If you have trouble buying them on there own, simply remove this bit from the snap - (the little black ones, not the goldy coloured ones)

Let's know how you go.

[Fordo]

The other things to remember when getting into SP's, is to be patient, and expect to put some time in before you catch anything.
Once you get your first it has a kind of snowball effect, the next will come in a shorter time and so on.

Also go with a quality brand Soft plastic.

Fordo

[gunna]

Scorpio - have a read of Soft Plastics Fishing - Part 1, 2 & 3 in the Articles section of
www.fishraider.com

There is some really good stuff there for people starting on soft plastics.

[beefaman]

I just use 4 lb fireline, connected to 6lb leader (mostly) with a double uni, connected to a jighead with a loop knot.....as long as your knots are good you wont have a problem....

[bowie06]

Hiya all, just too add to the good info previously supplied, i now use a little fly snap on my mono leader, it is called a "No-Knot fas-snap"....the littlest thing that does no impede with lure action...use the smallest you can get and you can change your sp or hb in seconds......any good tackle shop should be able to supply these in there fly fishing section...or check out www.kipperenterprises.com cheers