SP attempt No. 2 - Still nothing

[Captian_Zero]

Hi

After following a few threads on this board, I got some 6lb fireline and respooled my reel and taught myself a few new knots while watching the olympics last night.

I decided to head down to Fishermans Island this afternoon and throw the SP's around for a few hours (12-3.30pm). I lost quite a few jigheads and plastics on snags but failed to trouble the scorers. On the plus side, the fireline definitely made a big difference to the casting distance and with all the lost gear I got plenty of practice tying the new knots.

There was a few guys down there fishing with bait and all they managed were a few undersize whiting and bream.

I will persist with the SP's and improve on my three fish to date (they were with the Brad Smith, but this is the second unsuccessful attempt since). I might try and avoid the middle of the day next time.

Cheers

Chris

[SteveCan]

Hey Chris,

Persevere mate - and be sure to pick your time and spots. If there are fish there you are going to catch some. Yesterday and this morning I took the kids and the canoe down to Currumbin Creek for a total of one Flathead, two tailor, one whiting and seven bream all on sp's. Berkely Dropshots and Atomic grubs did the damage. Can't remember the last time we didn't pull in a fish or two on the plastics. (touch wood )

Having said that I nearly threw the plastics out the window in frustration as I had about ten unproductive trips before I finally 'got it' A bit of advise from some good fishoes really helped too.

Cheers
Steve.

[Cloud_9]

The key to Softies is accurate casting if fishing structure, like bream fishing u have to hit the pillon and have the rubber full straight down the thing
try the sand flats for a flaty or 2 arround the boat chanal there should be a flatty or 3 with all that sand around!
the pin area is good for the sp learning curve, same with the gold coast broadwater.

Cheers Cloud 9

[Jeremy]

So are you more interested in enjoying the sun, or catching a fish. If the latter, you need to work the time of day and the tides. Your best/easiest option for SPs are flathead and pike, neither of which require a really early start. But looking at the tide book and knowing how the tides affect the location you have chosen to fish does help.

If I was wanting to catch a fish on a SP from the shore, I'd be looking at walking the beach at Bribie or Redcliffe. In that case I would go early to avoid the fish getting spooked and look for a tide dropping from near full to half way out so the fish are near the shore. Try casting around the pylons of the the Bribie Bridge or similar structures or the edges of weedbeds or similar. There is alot to be said for joining a fishing club, where you can be shown how it is done one on one and get a ride in a boat out to the spots......

Jeremy

[beefaman]

Keep on trying....SP's do work. As the others said, you need to know what tide is most productive for the loaction you are fishing. Coincide these tides with optimal fishing times and you are halfway there

[agnes_jack]

G'day Chris
It sounds to me that you are probably just fishing when and where the fish ain't.
The easiest fish to catch on softies (imho) are the humble flattie. You need to concentrate on working out where the flatties are likely to be, at what stage of the tide.
Being an ambush feeder, and basically lazy they will be most commonly found where they can sit and get a feed without putting in too much effort. Look for drains out of the mangroves or drains off the sandbars, as a starting point. As these areas drain, the small baitfish are forced into these drains and the flatties can sit and casually get a feed, served right into there lap. Similary, along the edge of drop-offs beside sandbars etc provide the same opportunity for a flattie. The bait feeling nervous about moving out into the deeper open water tend to hug in close to the shallows along the edges of the drop-offs, once again making a good ambush position for the flatties. The bait is going to have no choice but to leave the safety of the shallows or mangroves etc on the run out tide, the last half of the runout is going to concentrate them the most in these drains and channels. Flatties are one of the easiest fish to catch on softies, purely because they rarely pass up an opportunity when it swims past there nose. I personally dont believe that ''only one technique" of retrieve will work with the softies, and even a botched up retrieve will more often than not snag a flattie so long as you are down there in the strike zone, and even when your lure is travelling way up off the bottom you may still possibly get a hit now and again. We have caught flatties on a heap of different types of softies, so that shouldnt matter all that much either. The location and time of tide are more the point than any other factors, you cant catch fish when they are not there.
Hope that helps a little, persist and think about where the fish will be and why!
You can fine tune your techniques, type of lures etc later. Start on the flatties and then progress to fussier species later.

Regards, Tony

[ba229]

Yeh good point tony.

The flatties just love em in any colour and any size.

the thing i have been doing is going where i know the first definately are.

that way you can then get a good idea of what to do.

the other day i was retrieving slow and got nothing. as soon as i ramped the speed up a bit i got hammered from everywhere.

keep going. i am catching more fish on Sp's that i ever have on bait

[Captian_Zero]

Thanks guys - as always lots of good advice and I will definitely try out your suggestions.

I usually try and get an early start and avoid the heat of the day or fish late afternoon/early evening.

I was probably pushing my luck trying an unfamiliar location and a new technique at the same time.

Regards

Chris

[basserman]

come down to port macquarie chris and i will take you out and show you everything you need to know about rubbers
hell i'l even get you catching bream, bass and flatties in the same day

[Captian_Zero]

Mate

Port Macquarie maybe a little far on the weekend. I don't think I would get home for dinner

I still remember my last trip to Port Macquarie in 1987. I am not sure how many fish I caught but I do remember a leatherjacket from the river and a dart from the surf.

Cheers

Chris

[Ben_Gray]

Hey it took me till my fifth attempt, the fireline made all the difference, i went for the 4lb. So keen to get more know!

[Ben_Gray]

now!