# Soft Plastic Advice



## Bruteal (Jan 24, 2010)

Hi Guys and Girls

Need some advice,
Im keen to have a crack at using some soft plastics (eg Gulp) as i'm not having any luck with bait at the moment (seems to have died off just after i put up the post about how good Fisho's were :twisted. I've never used plastics before and i have a few questions about them before i head to BCF and hand them my pay cheque. 
What is the best brand to get?
What's the best flavour? After Bream and whiting mostly, but would like to catch something interesting for one 
How to you keep them fresh once they've been opened? Should they be put in the fridge between trips?
Is is best to buy the ones that are pre hooked or not? 
How should i rig them up (so i need sinkers, swivels etc)??

Appreciate any advice...


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## YakN00b (Jun 9, 2008)

Youtube has tons of info on this.


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## gcfisho (Oct 31, 2009)

For bream and whiting i would use the gulp camo worms on about a 1/16th jighead . Put the packet in a sealable bag to keep them fresh .


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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.

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## Rose (Jan 30, 2006)

xxxxxxxxxxxx


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## Buff (Dec 31, 2005)

Have a look here viewtopic.php?p=286834#p286834
A wealth of info ;-)


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## Evoids (Jan 10, 2009)

Second everything pheonix said. But dont forget your leader. About 6 foot of 2lb to 8lb fluro/mono is good. You want it tied directly to your main line. I fished for a few weeks on plastics without a leader, just tying straight to the braid. Didnt catch a thing in those few weeks :lol:


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## mangajack (Jul 23, 2007)

More important than the types or brands of plastics is using them effectively.
Two rules that should both be deisgnated as rule # 1 becasue without mastering both you will not succeed with plastics.
#1 you have to work your plastics attractively and patiently, that means by hopping the plastics back towards you with regular stops and rests on the bottom. Basically you lift your rod tip to lift the lure off the bottom then drop the tip to let the bait swim back to the bottom, then you wait for a few seconds more before the next lift.
#1 learn to not feel for the bites by fishing with a sag of slack in your line.......very important......reason being that most fish do not rush in and put their mouth around a bait when they strike or bite, they flare their gills and open thier mouth and suck the bait in. If you are fishing to feel the bite, there is no slack line to let the bait be sucked into thier mouth resulting in tails being bitten off and missing the hooks. Solution is to fish with a little bit of controlled slack belly in the line from the rod tip to the spot the line enters the water (roughly 20cm more line than a taut line for that length). Any flicks or pauses or jumps in that belly indicate a bite, on every occasion you strike immediately.

The suggestions you have received so far from the guys as far as plastics are concerned will put fish on the table, no doubts and to which I will add one more favorite I really get good results with. Squidgy wrigglers in bloodworm colour 55, 65 and 80mm lengths. Absolute dynamite in the rivers and creeks for most fish.

Jack.


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## Plasman (Aug 27, 2008)

Bruteal said:


> I've never used plastics before and i have a few questions about them before i head to BCF and hand them my pay cheque.


Do yourself a favour and head to BigW as I believe they are $7 a pop and the Berkley Jigheads are cheap as well.

Go light weights and like the guys said light fluro leader. Cast hard against the structure and you'll have alot of fun. Just little twitches but most of you're hits you will see before you feel so you need to pull the fish out clear if you can.
The best thing you could do is line up a trip with one of the soft plastic guns in the area as you will pick up a ton of tips just watching the guys. 
Goodluck


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## paddleparra (Apr 23, 2008)

Stitcho has put me onto another method of using the plastics, I am sure its not origional but has increased my take home significantly, we fish 2-4 k's off shore in 16 - 25 meters here on the sunny coast chasing the usual reefies like snapper, sweetlip and parrot fish, using the sounder find the intended targets, put the nose of your yak into the current and just let the plastic go over the side, giving small flicks of the pedals or paddle stay above your line, when you hit the bottom, raise the plastic approx .5 - 2m off the bottom and just apply small flicks. I had an enourmous amount of 'unsuccessfull' 1/2 bags of plastics ranging from the expensive to the crap that look like a bead of cured silicon that is found arround the rim of sealys allclear tube after you have installed your sounder and they 'all caught fish!'
i use the 1/8 Nitro head, a tip is to let the line out and when on the bottom leave the bale arm off and controll the braid with your finger tips, when you feel the bite let the line go for a second then strike. I can only assume that the action of the lure when you are directly above it is different to when it is being drawn against a current then dropped again! (geese i write some crap).
Saying that my biggest snapper was caught by a plastic which was dropped over the side by accident and I was too busy untying a birds nest to care then all of a suden i saw the line whipping off the spool so i locked the bale arm over and cranked it in! (this fishing lark can only be 10%skill, 10% equipment, 10% tides, time, luna phases etc and 70% luck!)
I think plastics are brilliant they are my favoured bait and having used many types i like the cheaper squidgey 110mm flick baits (any colour) and whn chasing the flatties i get a lot of luck on the silver foxes (paddletail type plastics i think) and I cast when using this stile of plastic as i believe it is the retrieving that causes the tail action.

Good luck


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## Bruteal (Jan 24, 2010)

Wow, i didn't expect such in depth answers!! Thank you all very, very much!!! I'll head out and get some "right" plastics and have a play around!!! I'll be sure to let you know how i went, and im sure i'll have more questions as time goes on!!! Thanks again everyone!! Really appreciate the help!!!


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## actionsurf (Jul 8, 2010)

A little bump on this one. It's long, but I'm excited 

Six months ago, I had never used a soft plastic. Plenty of lures for Tailor, Bass, Trout, other pelagics, but never had caught a flathead on a lure or any fish on a soft plastic. I suppose you could say I was a plasticophobe. I love flathead to eat, but have only ever used fresh bait or live bait to catch 'em. My results have been mixed, alright, sh..house, and never consistent.

A few months back I was fishing in one of my regular haunts when 'old mate' wanders up just before low tide and within an hour has caught and released 6 flathead between 40cm's and 75cm's. More than I've caught on bait in the last 10 sessions there and his average one was bigger than all of those. When he caught the last one, about 65 cm's, I was flabbergasted...gutted...and humbled.THIS was a bloke I needed to know.... so I got talking to him  and he told me he'd caught and released 28 flathead and a couple of flounder in his last 4 sessions here, all on 'soft plastics' Whaaaaattttt?? Not only did he show me the exact lure and jighead he was using, he explained the need for a light braid (6lb) on about a 6-7 foot graphite rod and 2000 type spin reel, with an 8lb mono leader of around 8 foot.

Then he cast and showed me how you could watch the line react it in the water and bottom out, how to twitch the rod a couple of times so the lure lifts up and then drops on retrieve and wait a few seconds after it bottoms out again before you twitch it up again....2, maybe 3 times, then let it drop. He showed me how to know when it's bottomed out by the line bow-wave stopping as it comes towards you. It's sight fishing, like watching a float..and I love blackfish and gar fishing. The line twitches, the fishy takes up some slack, you see it, you wait and plant the hook. Brilliant.

I couldn't wait. Let me at 'em. First time with my new setup at the same spot....a 12cm flattie first cast and nothing for the next 3 hours. Next time, similar results, 20cm flattie and a little sole. I won't bore you with the gory details except to say it has taken a few sessions, but I'm now hooked on this style of fishing. I never caught a fish on the lure my new mate showed me, but the one I've found through trying plenty, is dynamite.

Last Saturday arvo I caught and released 9 flathead between 40cm and 60cm, but I did have to keep a couple extra's for me and the missus, as you do. Last night I plasticked up 8 beautiful flatbacks in 2 hours. All released except dinner, mrs 60cm.

The moral to this waffle is - fishing has never been so enjoyable since I discovered this soft plastic thingy style fishing. "Old mate' that put me onto this is a legend. When I see him again he gets a carton. It takes a little while to believe and to get the technique down, but after a while you expect a fish every cast. I do now.

From my experience it's all the wrist action, be patient between hops (sometimes the fish catch themselves while the sp is sitting there), watch your braid for bites and enjoy. Oh, and 1/4 ounce nitro jigheads and pumpkinseed anything helps :-D

Hally


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## Ranger (May 31, 2008)

The BEST advice I can give you is to nip into your tacklestore and get a copy of the Berkley Soft Plastics DVD featuring Adam Royter.

This is the most informative I have ever seen, and it's presented in an easy to understand and fun manner.

It explains everything in sequence, covering, rods, reels, lines, knots, leaders, plastics, jigheads, techniques, etc, and you will learn more from watching this DVD than we could ever explain here. You'll also be keyed up and raring to give it a go after watching too.

Also, do yaself a favour! Don't go to BCF, K-Mart or Big W. If you need help and advice with a new area of fishing, it's time to start building a relationship with the guys at your local tacklestore. The guys with their finger on the pulse, the guys who use this stuff, and the guys who can point you in the right direction with decent advice.

If you're new to plastics, look for something with a curl tail, as the action is "built in" to this type of plastic, so your technique wont be as important. Gulp is always a good choice too!

Seriously though, that DVD is pretty cheap, check it out!


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## Mully (Sep 6, 2007)

getting the head weights right is more important than worrying about retrieve 99 percent of times a simple lift and drop technique will score fish.You want a slow steady drop rate if the plastic is heavy consider resin heads squidgy resin head hooks they have very little weight and work very well on the squidgy bugs and other life like imitations in the gulp range.Plano have wet box's now that can keep a heap of your favourite gulps in their juices lol great for the yak or anywhere the box is watertight and tough as guts.As mentioned squidgy secrets or similar dvds will provide you a wealth of info i have several so if you would like a free copy send me a mail ill give you one free.
gulp and soft plastric fishing is a great alternative softies can have scents applied to the such as Dizzys gels top stuff for most species halco and many others also make aerosols and gels also look around and mix your own flavours you will find the best for you just remember what baits these fish feed on and buy the imitation this will work.


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## Barrabundy (Sep 29, 2008)

Bump.

I found this thread again and found it usefull/reassuring and thought others may find it the same. Lures are confusing and imho are designed primarily to catch buyers. Reading through this thread after having recently been using sps again it cleared up and confirmed a few things for me.


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## eagle4031 (Jan 29, 2010)

this is a fantastic thread
thanks guys


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## Barrabundy (Sep 29, 2008)

eagle0951 said:


> this is a fantastic thread
> thanks guys


Congratulations, you've just cracked 50 posts! ;-)


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## eagle4031 (Jan 29, 2010)

Thanks i love this forum - when i buy my yak - 3to 6months away i will have already received heaps of knowledge


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