# Chicken!!



## paddleparra (Apr 23, 2008)

Ok have been getting a little miffed at my lack of luck or skill with the SP's, getting the HB lures to work is a pain in the but and the smell of defrosted / mushy pillies just doesnt cut it with the GF when i get home so I listened to the old fellas and can pesonally vouch for. . . . . . raw chicken! in one session i used nuclear chook, minnows and snapbacks, 12 pillies, bacon rinds and then the chicken.
I managed to land brim, squire, snapper a couple of smaller things that i cant identify yet and all within a space of 30 minutes (500m off the beach at Moffat). Can anyone suggest any other sound baits to try inshore on sunshine coast.


----------



## Guest (Jun 25, 2008)

I'd suggest to keep persisting with the lures. Sooner or later you'll crack the code so to speak and when you do, the rewards will make the effort worthwhile. You're right though - chicken does work for many species, but I don't think you'll have a lot of luck with pelagics. Besides, lure fishing is just more fun (in my opinion, anyhoo).


----------



## paddleparra (Apr 23, 2008)

I hear ya mate re persistance, but I am still new enough to the game that going home with a dry net really puts a downr on the event (especially as I travel 100k's+ to get to the water (admittedly there are closer waters but working and having a couple of yakking mates on the coast give you that little bit of confidence when venturing out!).

am keen to get advice on 'the correct action' when using nuclear chicken and how it 'actually' dffers from using say minnow or shrimp!


----------



## Guest (Jun 25, 2008)

PP, Nuclear Chicken is a Gulp lure colour, not a specific lure style. You'll find that colour is available in several lure types (worms, shads, etc). Action has more to do with lure style than colour I reckon. But yes, I do use different actions for different lures. Truth is, however, lots of action styles will work with lots of placcies. For shrimp/prawn style lures I use small quick, sharp jerks and let the lure sit fr a second between jerks. For fish shaped SPs I often do a couple of small upward jerks and then pause to allow the lure to sink to the bottom (especially for flatties) and then repeat. I tend to mix this up by trying anything that I think will simulate an injured fish. other times I'll actually shake the rod lightly as I reel in, making the tip wobble back and forth (vertically) lightly. With the right lures, this seems to simulate a swimming action nicely. For worm style lures I mix it up with eratic movements, pausing often.

For bread and butter species like bream, flatties and snapper, reeling in slowly seems to be the ticket. For tailor, sambos and other pelagics I find faster is the way to go.

Could be that action isn't your problem. It may be incorrect size jigheads. try to match the jighead so as to ensure that the lure sinks to the depth you want. Could be that you are using line that is too thick. Could be that you're using the wrong size leader line. Go for flurocarbon, and use as light as you can comfortably get away with.

Its also worth considering using an attractant of some kind. if the bites are sparse I'll coat the lure with Ultrabite Stimulate gel (much better than the spray I reckon). If I'm desperate I'll roll the coated lure in silver glitter. This has the effect of simulating scales coming off the fish, and I reckon this really helps to make that lure appear to be an injured fish.

Although it's probably a bit difficult for you right now, try to fish with confidence as well. Convince yourself that the lure will catch fish for you. For some reason this seems to help a lot of fishes.

Oh yeah... use a good rod to. Graphite rods are easier to achieve the sort of actions you want.

Keep at it whatever you do because in many situations SPs will catch just as many fish as bait. Sometimes they'll actually catch more. And not only is it more fun that bait fishing, it's also more convenient on a kayak. Thats not to say you shouldn't experiment and perfect bait fishing from a yak - you should. Just don't give up on lures because often they will save the day.

Good luck mate


----------



## beefs (Jan 30, 2006)

A tried and tested method on the Sunny Coast - and other places as well - is when offshore take two rods. On one rod use a light line and leader and as light a jighead as possible to make the soft plastic (such as your nuke chook gulp) sink slloowwlly through the water column. Cast this rod out and just leave it sit in the rod holder. Have a different lure on the other rod and do your more active fishing with this one.

The light lure wafting down will have some action imparted to it by the rock and roll of the yak and your normal drift speed. More often than not (if the fish are around) you'll pick up squire/snapper and when closer to the bottom your usual reefies. The secret is just enough weight to slowly sink - too much and it plummets to the bottom with no action and you get snagged.


----------



## paddleparra (Apr 23, 2008)

Brilliant thanks lads, I had a few pennies put away so I bought a shaman symmetry 250 with 8lb braid and a 20lb fluro carbon leader on a shaman lip stix 3-5kg rod the whole lot looks flimsy as all buggery but the guys at the shop reckon I could land a snapper and the heavier rod is stilstar 6-10kg rod with a pfluger supreme reel and 20lb braid with a 40lb fluro carbon shock leader (feels a little more substantial) I have nuclear chicken shads in every size and some minnows, I have been using 1/4oz heads but will look at dropping down to lighter 1/6 etc.
I like the glitter idea and the hints I suppose is as you say try to mimic a knackered bait fish. So a quick cup of persistence and I will have a crack tomorrow before work.

Thanks again boys.


----------



## Breambo (Apr 19, 2006)

On the bait side of things the old chicken guts cant be overlooked. Good for when the going gets tough.


----------



## Blaen (Jul 4, 2006)

Breambo said:


> On the bait side of things the old chicken guts cant be overlooked. Good for when the going gets tough.


In a similar vien, in Tassie we can get hold of Mutton Bird hearts, they rock as a bait, everything goes for them.


----------



## 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.

----

QlpoOTFBWSZTWYBiWi4AADRfgAAQUOeLggIgWAo/7/+wMAETNBE1GgaMT1NAAAAAaqexAFDQGRjUPUeo0DCVTxCMhppNqJk9QAepo2k4PIXnbQLHnGsx6sH5ROqi740amJSdL3D5BHrjUzUjzKSo3WImUTaHo4wwlBnVLW5ShMQ2KRlXCYoWrAtFVXUd6MEq4tmnRNS6DcxPz7aTlEC3r5x2ePP0R2DKeTn+HaeCRFsahrk/v/bTufUwjfilFLMj1EV+lRGsOJCAiAgEg3/C+Z1RnnVpiJcCJvAQoksOR2OQuBEh5sjdoJLAtC14WwOSrRqUJuxKtI6V3zHYa8KjuBn773OS00hZR7nos00Q7OrxjJBYbJyQvyVjrzeRiWMjHFDTfuPc+d88lgSvcrE4f4u5IpwoSEAxLRcA


----------



## rawprawn (Aug 31, 2005)

Put a baited line in the water, whilst waiting for it to get a hook up flick some lures around with another rod. I use HB lures 99% of the time now. Once the code is cracked you wont go back.


----------



## Milt (Sep 2, 2005)

PP cover both bases and fish with both as there are days where plastic and lures just dont cut it and bait goes off? Breambo when u say chicken guts do you mean the livers and hearts, I've never tried it but have had great success with chicken breast on bread butter species like sea mullet and trevally.

PP never discount the humble pilly its my no.1 favourite alrounder bait, if you can get smaller ones and hook them on to some small gang hooks with a little bean sinker running to the hook for casting distance you will do extremelly well if a school of tailor salmon etc are around ;-) Just cast, let it sink a little and retrieve outfishes plastics and lures every time when the fish are around and you get very solid hook ups. This method is not recommended for catch and release for obvious reasons 

Milt,


----------



## Breambo (Apr 19, 2006)

Milt said:


> Breambo when u say chicken guts do you mean the livers and hearts,


Most good bait shops will have chicken guts, its more the intestines, they can be loaded on the hook like a worm or bunched up, they stink like anything and are especially killer on bream.


----------



## Flump (Apr 17, 2006)

Holy crap, it works!!!!!

Just been for a fish off Redcliffe, trolled for 4 km's south then trolled back, total catch, two Tailor, one Bonito and a Grinner. Tailor and Grinner caught on a deep lure and Bonito on a homemade pink, green and white bucktail jig so was pretty happy to have caught fish.

Had a whole chicken breast with me as the experiment so anchored up and burleyed with pellets. Presentation was a chicken slither on a 1/16th jig head size 4 hook on 10lb flouro & 4lb braid. Total catch, loadsa Bream (probably about 30, lost count) most were legal and biggest went about 35cm's, two nice trevally around 45 to 50 cm and two unstoppables (probably larger squire) in an hour! Have a nice feed of Trevally and Bonito for tea, all Bream returned. :twisted:


----------



## Milt (Sep 2, 2005)

Excellent work flump, whting also are a fan of chicken BTW 

Milt,


----------



## beefs (Jan 30, 2006)

I see you were using a jighead Flump - were you working the chicken like an SP and just soaking it like any other bait?


----------



## Guest (Jun 27, 2008)

I've done the chicken on a jighead thing to, much the same way I've done it with squid. Cut into a vague shape of a small, thin fish, put on much like a SP lure and cast and retrieved the same way. I have to say, the results were promising. Only got 10 or so casts (was low on chicken) but did catch 2 fish. Mind you, was catching them with chicken on a standard hook in the same session. But yep Beefs, cut into a similar shape and used in the same way, chicken (or squid) can replace the SP and perform equally well (in my experience) and maybe even better. I'm sure some of you guys have seen it already, but I wrote about my experience doing it with squid (and youtubed the video the results) at yakabout. http://yakabout.com.au/home/content/view/104/39/


----------



## Flump (Apr 17, 2006)

beefs said:


> I see you were using a jighead Flump - were you working the chicken like an SP and just soaking it like any other bait?


Hey beefs, mate, I was setting it on the hook like an SP but just dropping it to the bottom directly under the yak with about 20 cms of slack line and it was just roaring off, no need to jig it or anything, I reckon the burleying was the key to it though. The sounder was going nuts with the amount of fish, some nice full arches. I was only in 4 metres of water about 30 metres from a reefie outcrop.


----------

