# Tassie Devil Feedback Thread



## Davey G (Jan 15, 2006)

Ok, recently a bunch of lucky AKFFers were sent out some free Tassie devil Lures courtesy of YAK FISHER magazine and Wigstons lures.

As part of the deal we/you need to use them and report back to YAK FISHER about how they went, any success, etc etc..

If you also want to write up a report and/or add some photos you can do that in this thread.

thanks again to YAKFISHER and Wisgtons Lures for making this opportunity available to AKFF.


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## Ranger (May 31, 2008)

Mine turned up two days ago, and I'd like to be the first to express my thanks for the chance!

I intend to head to the Murray River in a weeks time, where I'll be having a go at Callop (Yellowbelly), hopefully there'll be a report to follow.

Then I'll be giving them a go on Salmon Trout in the saltwater.

I also recon they'd be great on Snook, but Snook don't show up here in numbers for a few months yet so I may not get the chance at them.


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## dishley (Jan 20, 2009)

Mine were waiting for me when i got back after my session on tuesday, an added bonus to a top day.
They look good, good colour choices, and i really like the fact one came with a single hook. That one will get thrown into the most prestigious of deep snaggy pools. And the BIG pink/purple will slay flatties on the mudflats just down the road. One qustion with the advice on the back of the pack
Hope i get the chance to repay you with some quality pics


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## justcrusin (Oct 1, 2006)

Given mine a couple of tries, no joy so far i'm afraid. I'll keep plugging away with them while i'm out. I reckon fish like salmon an tailor might go for them over bream an flatties that I usualy target

Cheers Dave


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## dishley (Jan 20, 2009)

For the flatties i'm going to slap on some scent then crank, pause, crank, pause. I'm hoping this will produce a "walk the dog" style over the bottom of mudflats. Will slow it right down, make it easy for the flatties to grab it. 
Hope this will produce some reults


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## mcbigg (Jul 14, 2007)

I got mine the other day. I'll be trialling these little beauties:










Can't wait to get out into the river this weekend to see if I can entice a mully to take one. In truth, I'd be happy to get a bream or an E.P. It's been over a month since I've been out due to a combination of foul weather and bad health.

Hoping to get out into the briny blue before the end of the month as well, but I don't like the chances the way the weather and swell have been lately.

Thanks Davey, YakFisher Magazine and of course Wigstons lures for the opportunity.

Cheers, 
Paul.


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## GoneFishn (May 17, 2007)

Hey guys just a hint with these lures. Take out the wire and pass your line through the lure and then place a small bead and then the hook. The fish will use the weight of the lure to throw it and dislodge the hooks, without the wire the lure will slide up the line and no weight for the fish to use to dislodge the hooks.

Just from my experience from using these lures for Trout.


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## kritter67 (May 17, 2009)

justcrusin said:


> Given mine a couple of tries, no joy so far i'm afraid. I'll keep plugging away with them while i'm out. I reckon fish like salmon an tailor might go for them over bream an flatties that I usualy target
> 
> Cheers Dave


Dave i have caught flatties on them , put the lure on backwards .. i am not jokeing!! ;-) K------------


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## kritter67 (May 17, 2009)

GoneFishn said:


> Hey guys just a hint with these lures. Take out the wire and pass your line through the lure and then place a small bead and then the hook. The fish will use the weight of the lure to throw it and dislodge the hooks, without the wire the lure will slide up the line and no weight for the fish to use to dislodge the hooks.
> 
> Just from my experience from using these lures for Trout.


And they swim better ! Mine are waiting at the post office apparently , cant wait to try them out on snaps . Years ago When i first got one i rigged it up backwards [ haveing never seen one in action] and the flatties loved it , after i was told it was the wrong way round i changed it and caught none , so i changed it back and bang ! ..was off again :? K-------

edit *: picked mine up from the post office , noice colours , cant wait to try the bigger one out .


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## CatfishKeith (Apr 17, 2009)

Go my Devils the other day used them twice and have caught a nice 40cm flathead and two taylor using the Style 55 and 43. This weekend I'll try some of my fav Bream spots and see how they go.


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## GregL (Jul 27, 2008)

I've not had a chance to try my ones out yet, but they look the goods, and they'll be getting a run as soon as I hit the water.. . camera has shit itself at the moment, so you'll have to take my word for what I get...
Smeg


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## koich (Jul 25, 2007)

I've always looked at them swimming in the water and thought "how the **** do these things catch fish?"

But they do, incredibly so.

Strange.


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## Barrabundy (Sep 29, 2008)

Did anyone get any single hook units? Going out tomorrow to give mine a lash.


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## dishley (Jan 20, 2009)

Yep i got one, i know exactly where i'm going to throw it too.


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## Barrabundy (Sep 29, 2008)

dishley said:


> Yep i got one, i know exactly where i'm going to throw it too.


Into a fish's mouth? They'll work I reckon. Caught my biggest fish on a hb with singles, just any old singles too!


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## mtfisho (May 30, 2009)

Tested them today at Safety Beach,
No luck but they trolled really one and didn't get the chance to head into the marina otherwise I would of guaranteed a Salmon.

Thanks for them guys,
Mitch


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## Barrabundy (Sep 29, 2008)

Small pattern 54, single hook.

Freshwater this morning: Tarpon, Mangrove Jack x 4, Forktail Catfish.

Saltwater this afternoon: Tarpon, Forktail Catfish, Trevally.

All caught trolling although I got a strike when casting into weeds. The lures used were less susceptable to getting leaves and weeds stuck on them and affecting the action (compared to plastic hb's). Lost one fish off the single hook (Tarpon) and only had two strikes that didn't hook up. Found that I needed to connect lure using a loop knot to allow it to swim without spinning around and around. The lure body slips up along the line which I think would help stop fish from using its weight to throw the hook. One slight annoyance was the the body also slipped back along the wire and at ones stage was positioned over it's connection with the hook. This had the effect of limiting the free movement of the hook. If it continued to slip back it could, I presume, go back so far that it would sit in the curve of the hook. ALL fish caught on same lure even though I had a large pattern 96 in the water most of the time also (in rodholder)

A few random pics.


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## RedPhoenix (Jun 13, 2006)

Unfortunately, due to the change in ownership of this web site and the lack of response by the owners to my requests to remove my email address from all administrative-level notifications and functionality, I have decided to remove my posts on AKFF. Thank you for the great times, the fantastic learning experiences and the many many fish. If you are desperate for the old content of this particular post, it is available below base64 encoded and bzip2 compressed.

Red.

----

QlpoOTFBWSZTWc6CN4cAABVfgAAQQKUACCDhFCA+79+AIABoRTxNTQGgGQ2o9QCVA0o9TTR+o1MAmMhinIsoRYLBmBkJuR8EVxQafd4EuQR3jKVW3D7dPAU4vbhf1vjSsTyDsHkhzaHilEZbw4VlRR5ZOMIMmJakJT9E7CpERqxQeCslJIdi7kinChIZ0Ebw4A==


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## grinner (May 15, 2008)

had to work hard to get 3 bream sunday morning. could have almost pedalled to tasmania in that time (just kidding)
have an interesting action and cast very well. i couldnt get anybream out of the snags with them though as they make quite a large splash. i thought i might get a flattie but no luck with that.

all the bream were caught when the run really picked up and i was trolling over a flooding sandbank next to the mangroves in very churned up dirty water.

they look like they would probably be a good lure in the surf for tailor as they cast well.

i may try them trolling behind the boat around the pin bar or the seaway but then nearly anything may work there.

am going to do some pool testing to try and work out the optimum speed because i couldnt see what action they had in the dirty churn where thye were hooking up


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## dishley (Jan 20, 2009)

i like the colour of the one in the first 2 photo's grinner


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## mcbigg (Jul 14, 2007)

I trolled my small white one around for a couple of hours in the Glenelg River on Saturday morning. I trolled at the same speed as I'd usually go for the vibe lures and saw plenty of movement in the rod tip which tells me that the lure had plenty of action underwater. I trolled close to the cliffs, out in the middle, close to the landings and shacks and got diddly.

I also had a vibe lure out the other side and got nothing on that either. So I think it was probably the lack of fish, rather than the lure or technique that resulted in the donut. 
Unfortunately because my battery packed up on me right at the start of the trip I was fishing blind without the sounder, so it was hard to work out where I should have been concentrating my efforts.

New battery, looking like nicer weather next weekend, I'll try again then. Grinner's post encourages me that bream will actually hit the lures.


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## bilby (Sep 2, 2008)

From my Tassie devil experiences from my tinny, i would say troll them at a slow 2 -3km, they need to have that really wobbly action, you should see your rod pulsing then you know your speed is good. Also you can bend them to enchance there action, less bend slower action, more bend faster action. Just heat them in your hand and they bend easy.
Oh yeah and do as the other guys said, remove the treble and run the line straight through, bead and a single hook. 
Cheers Bilby


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## keza (Mar 6, 2007)

sounds from this thread that they may want to start selling some without the hooks rigged.


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## dru (Dec 13, 2008)

Spent Sunday afrvo/evening playing in the Brissie River mouth with these. No luck other than a very small pike. Swapped over to SPs - no luck there either. Better mojo next time perhaps.

I quite like the movement of the smaller ones, sort of a natural walk the dog. I'm not sure I have a good feel for them yet and not sure on the speed I should be using them. Trolling seems to give better motion going faster.

Good fun playing with them, but I might troll two out: a small devil with an SX40 next time.


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## Nhibbo (Mar 15, 2009)

Tassie Devils backwards... interesting!

I wonder if they'd have an action like a small flounder...then the frogs would certainly hammer them.

hmmm...must try.


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## fishmica (Sep 15, 2008)

gday all
I've used Tassies a lot down here for trout and the occasional bycatch of yellowbelly and redfin - never used them in the salt but I think I might give them a try after reading this thread. Regarding the right speed to use, I'm pretty sure that the Wigstons website has some underwater video footage of a Tassie swimming with the correct action - too slow and they just wallow along on their back and too fast and they spin around wildly and twist your line- I find as fast as I can get them before they start to spin is good for trout . If you want to go faster (ie for tailor or salmon) that's the time to rig them backwards, they will take more speed that way.
As for rigging, I use Gamakatsu single lure hooks attached to a small split ring - you can use one hook or 2 hooks with the points opposed on the one split ring - with the split ring you can omit the bead if you wish, but I use one as an attractor. I sometimes tie a small wet fly body on the hooks when I use one on their own. Since swapping from the supplied metal insert to this rig my hit to hookup rate has gone from 30% to 90%.
I also incorporate a swivel or trolling keel about 45 to 60cm up the line to negate any line twist that might occur if you go too fast (ie curved trolling path -outside trolling line will travel faster ,and rise up in the water column -inside line will go slower and travel deeper - trout at least seem to like these changes of depth, direction and speed, and may trigger a strike from a following fish)

Hope some of this helps you guys


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## Barrabundy (Sep 29, 2008)

After reading some of the comments here and after experiencing the lure body sliding back towards the hook I decided to rig a couple up without the wire they come with. I kept the original treble on one and attached whatever hook was floating around in my tackle box on the other.

Hitting the salt tomorrow morning to see what happens, Tassie Devils only, so I'm not tempted to change to an old favourite!


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## kritter67 (May 17, 2009)

Nhibbo said:


> Tassie Devils backwards... interesting!
> 
> I wonder if they'd have an action like a small flounder...then the frogs would certainly hammer them.
> 
> hmmm...must try.


And they cast a bit better


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## Ranger (May 31, 2008)

Well I've just let the team down!

A coupla weeks back I decided to take a long weekend, hook the caravan on and head to the riverland for a 3 day trip, trolling and throwing mine around some snags for Callop.

I left home yesterday morning, but I was pretty dubious about the winds forecast for the next 3 days.

After spending yesterday in a hurricane, being sandblated and windswept, with the kayak securely strapped to the roof of the fourbie, I made the call to cancel the weekend, pack up this morning and return home!

I have failed the Tassie Team and will now go flagelate myself with a fast action graphite whilst muttering incoherently and sobbing distressedly! Hopefully the chance will arrise to redeem myself before the month is out!


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## Barrabundy (Sep 29, 2008)

Check trip report viewtopic.php?f=17&t=31369&p=330675#p330675


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## Buff (Dec 31, 2005)

Finally something  
Have been flicking them around quite a bit but today I worked one in some deeper water like a vibe lure and landed a nice 34cm bream.
How I didn't pull the hook I'll never know :? 
As you can see it was Only just lip hooked :shock:


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## mtfisho (May 30, 2009)

buff said:


> How I didn't pull the *hook* I'll never know :?


You mean *Snag* it :lol: 
Great fish dude.

Mitch


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## Danw (Jul 9, 2009)

haha, love the photo Buff, really shows the lure and check out those Chompers :shock:

Dan.


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## Barrabundy (Sep 29, 2008)

Bream really do have a hard mouth to get a hook into don't they!


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## CatfishKeith (Apr 17, 2009)

Het buff well done. I was using the same colour devil today and all I got as was this little fish with a lot of attitude.


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## Barrabundy (Sep 29, 2008)

They catch barra too. Caught this one in freshwater but can't see why they wouldn't go for them in salt too....just haven't managed to score one yet.....freshwater spots are just waaay too convenient!


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