# Soft Plastics - something has clicked!



## Nic (Dec 11, 2005)

After mucking around with SP's for some time I think its finally clicked. I've now caught my 5 biggest fish ever all on SP's over the last 3-weeks. A variety of colours, a variety of conditions and a variety of retrieves. This morning was a 74cm flattie - first time I've ever been over the "upper" limit of 70cms. I'm soooo excited!!


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## Gunston (May 10, 2006)

Hi Nic
Just curious mate, what soft plastics in particular are you using?
I'm currently catching everything on hardbodies! (sx40, sx48)
Mmmm! :?:

Regards
Chris


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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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## Nic (Dec 11, 2005)

Chris,

74cm flattie in Gulp 4" Minnow (Pearl Silver which is basically white)

64cm Flattie in Gulp 3" Minnow (Chart/Shad which has a fluro yellow top and white belly)

62cm Flattie in Gulp 6" Sandworm (Natural)

60cm Golden Trevelly in Berkley 3" Power Minnow (Pink Lemonade/Scale)

55cm Trevally in Berkley 3" Power Minnow (Pink Lemonade/Scale)

35cm Bream in 3" Squidgy Fish (Gold)

I went to a talk with Adam "Mad Dog" Royter a few weeks ago. He said a 3" SP is the best overall size to catch almost anything. Thise minnow's mentioned above look great in the water, especially the 4".


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## YakAtak (Mar 13, 2006)

Great stuff Nic, I love the 4" minnows in smelt, great plastic.


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## Scott (Aug 29, 2005)

Onya Nic, no going back now mate.

Catch ya Scott


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## milan72 (Aug 17, 2006)

Hey,

Like Gunston I fish with HB's. Mind you I have sone SP's I throw out every now and again just to change tact when things are a little slow which probable explains why I am yet to catch anything on them.

I like the idea of SP's but to be honest I have no idea about the retrieve technique apart from more pauses to let the SP drop and do its work.

Once I gather my thoughts, fitness and technique on paddling I will start learning more on SP's and start playing with them on a regular basis. Maybe someone with experience in this should start a thread on SP's in 'Tackle Talk' and go through some basics on what works for them.

Congrats on your catches mate. I am envious of the 74cm flattie!!!

Cheers,

Milano.


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## something fishy (Sep 5, 2006)

I tend to have mixed results with SP's most of my catches have been on Sqidgy riglers, looks like from those results i'd better give those gulps a try. Nice work


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## Jeffo (Sep 10, 2006)

Congrats on the flatty mate,

I have found that using SP's is a bit like fly fishing, most of the action (and result) actually comes from the rod (until you hook up).

My strike rate improved when I got a new rod with a firmer tip, my previous rod had a "bungee"effect which didn't make the SP's work as well as they should have.

Cheers

Jeffo


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## ScottLovig (Aug 7, 2006)

Jeffo

I concur. Add a realy stiff rod to braid line and the fishing is on!!!.

Cheers

Scott


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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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QlpoOTFBWSZTWW0ciwUAACpfgAASUIWQggAgWAo/7/+gMADmVhqnpijSHqehNNkaCep6QEUHonqNMQ0GgYQNBKp+kTT1NTIyNMg0Gg0EBdYYplDGiTVk2BOZZST8jaZ29CVgM6FY5pkDZx8MxyozNgcMJbYJXzfPjFdZaTBGNQu5A/Bey22QxuG9soBmviasdty1jIkaJ3RYqjuzGNOZkI+36TH6Sv0w2l5dAv9QoapnSoLRpwYrHt/Jyk0lYirIyXEFAL3hFQtSNiEFZvdBjq72NJ919sRSLX3dqg8eNaSJcNvMbuE4z1eCW6Y0jDY2EeVjScqHGRRBAgy0qkJkAJFhGI1cx7FNEKfxdyRThQkG0ciwUA==


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## Les Lammers (Nov 9, 2005)

milan72 said:


> Hey,
> 
> Like Gunston I fish with HB's. Mind you I have sone SP's I throw out every now and again just to change tact when things are a little slow which probable explains why I am yet to catch anything on them.
> 
> ...


It's all about your confidence with the lure. I fish with a guy who is a HB only fisho but is warming to SP's. Try the Gulp 4" swim minnow on a jig head. It works with just about any retrieve.

Hang in there.


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## Sunhobie (Jun 22, 2006)

The guy on that Berkeley DVD is a real scream. I love the "bow and arrow "cast! -doesn't work with a baitcaster, I found out.


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## PoddyMullet (Aug 29, 2005)

That's a bloody nice swag of fish Nic....great diversity and size. Nice twitching!!


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## Dodge (Oct 12, 2005)

I'm still learning the SP techniques shown to me by Lizard/Wizard at the start, and the thing I found most important was to go slower than normal lure angling, and let the fish have a go at the SP, while it's at rest or on the drop


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## Nic (Dec 11, 2005)

The one thing I realised from a yak is that you can't target pontoons or jetties easily. That's what everyone does but its just too hard from a yak with wind and current issues. That's where I started and had an absolute sh^% of a time. But drifting along in a current with a 1/8th jig head, a 3" SP and giving a slight lift or twitch you're bound to get a flattie sooner or later. I'm quite keen to try for tailor and whiting now. Those sandworms are good for whiting, but I'm yet to get any of size.


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## YakAtak (Mar 13, 2006)

yeah Nic, you need an anchor to fish pontoons and pilons I've found, unless you have a dead water day in which case the fish are probably gonna be a flighty as hell anyway.


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## Scott (Aug 29, 2005)

I fish structure the bulk of the time. I either quietly anchor just within casting range or given the fact I have a poly yak, let it get wedged against the pylons holding me in place due to the wind or current while I extract a few bream from within. The biggest thing to fishing SPs is to do so SLOWLY. Do this and success is assured.

Catch ya Scott


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## Peril (Sep 5, 2005)

Nic said:


> The one thing I realised from a yak is that you can't target pontoons or jetties easily. That's what everyone does but its just too hard from a yak with wind and current issues. That's where I started and had an absolute sh^% of a time. But drifting along in a current with a 1/8th jig head, a 3" SP and giving a slight lift or twitch you're bound to get a flattie sooner or later. I'm quite keen to try for tailor and whiting now. Those sandworms are good for whiting, but I'm yet to get any of size.


Nic agree wholeheartedly. If the drift is slow or you anchor up, cast and retrieve with sps can get you flatties and bream as well. Had a lot of success with 3" powerminnow and some with 2" powerminnows.

I have been fishing sps for 3yrs and haven't taken a whiting, although I know it is possible. Had much greater success with trolled hbs and they will also strike poppers.


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## Guest (Sep 28, 2006)

I'm a big advocate for soft plastics and I've always found them to be perfectly suited to kayak fishing for a number of reasons. Most of you guys already using them know that they can catch almost anything, and will often outfish bait. Thats the most obvious advantage, but another that I really appreciate is that it minimizes what you need to take with you. I typically only take a handfull of SPs and jigheads in a small waterproof container that fits neatly into a pocket on my PFD.

And because using them is simpler than messing around with hooks, sinkers and bait, it's more efficient and far less fiddely to be using them in the limited space you have on a yak.

Another big plus is that they usually only ever seem to lip hook fish, which means unwanted fish typically get returned quickly and relatively unharmed.

And for some reason, they don't seem to be too attractive to rays or sharks, and given I don't target these, helps to reduce unwanted bycatch for me. Another advantage - although this is rare - if I don't happen to catch fish, I don't end up with the stench of fish all over my hands.

One last reason why I like SPs so much - and this has nothing to do with yak fishing - is that being the conservative minded guy I am, I really detest commercial fishing practices (specifically netting). This means never ever buying bait. And having SPs handy when no other bait is around fills the gap nicely and is certainly much cheaper than buying pillies and the like. Having said that, I do often fish with bait if I'm going for big snapper, but I generally only use bait that I catch myself. I do use berley in these instances to, but again, only from fish carcasses that I put through a heavy duty meat mincer. Works better than any bought stuff I've seen.


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## fishtales (May 7, 2006)

I never anchor when throwing SP's. If targeting a Jettie/pontoon etc I just get in position parallel to it, start casting as I drift past, and if need be just peddle back to the start point and do it over again. If current is favourable this obviously is minimised. I find anchoring too time consuming.

And I have recently started trolling sp's on one rod with a hb on the other. I like 1/8 jig heads for this and recently have caught flatties,bream, tailor with Berkely turtleback worm 4" in either watermelon or pumpkinseed or the 3" minnow grubs in same colours.
Last time I was out I caught 5 on sp's and nothing on my sx40.

Chris


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## Peril (Sep 5, 2005)

fishtales said:


> And I have recently started trolling sp's on one rod with a hb on the other. I like 1/8 jig heads for this and recently have caught flatties,bream, tailor with Berkely turtleback worm 4" in either watermelon or pumpkinseed or the 3" minnow grubs in same colours.
> Last time I was out I caught 5 on sp's and nothing on my sx40.
> 
> Chris


Interesting result Chris. In what depth are you fishing?


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## fishtales (May 7, 2006)

Peril,

I fish roughly a 3 km stretch of the Brisbane River, and when trolling the edges the depth averages around 1 - 2 metres.This accounts for 90 % of my trolled caught fish. But a lot of the wharfs/ jetties I pass have depths of up to 12 metres. This is when I drift and cast at pylons, letting SP sink before starting retrieve. I have to be careful as the Port Authority patrol up and down the river and some of the wharfs have signs prohibiting fishing within 30 or 50 metres. I overcome this by being on the water at crack of dawn to avoid detection. :wink: And the fact that a kayak is harder to see than your average stink boat.

Chris


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## Scott (Aug 29, 2005)

Gatesy; 
Michael, I don't think you can fish a quality scented SP such as a Gulp too slowly to make it unattractive to the fish. When using jig heads I fish them as slowly as I can to keep my SP in the strike zone. Obviously by using the lightest possible head and changing it many times through the day as current and wind varies I can achieve a good "hang" time in the strike zone.

This is the reason I love drop shotting so much as I have unlimited "hang" time in the strike zone and can impart the occasional little flick to the tail of a bass minnow or worm style SP while it just hangs there.

On days when the fish are very aggressive I do speed up my retrieves as I do when targeting pelagics on SP. I have found that on non pelagics with the exception of flat chaps slow retrieves or dead sticking results in bigger fish who are obviously more cautious and less aggressive. When I was on the mainland, bass were another exception to this rule as you can get a bass aggro and get a territorial response from them unlike a bream.

Catch ya Scott


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## vertigrator (Jul 25, 2006)

When targeting flatties you can't go wrong with soft plastics. I've been using the old Mr Twisters for the last 10 years from a canoe with awesome results. I've only just discovered the Berkley & Squidgies ones this year. And they certainly pull even more fish.

5thofNovember, I agree with all the advantages over using bait that you mentioned.

I used to target the flatties with bait. After many fishing trips using both I found the catch rate to be about the same but generally the bigger fish came to the SPs. I also love the ease of releasing lip hooked fish on SPs to the nasty results you get when bait fishing, with many fish getting gut hooked.

My standard technique for a feed of flatties is to paddle out to my regular spot which is a sand flat which drops off to about 3 to 4 metres depth. I drift around the drop off, because that's where the flatties are waiting to ambush small prey. I just drop the Sp over the side and let it hit the bottom. Give it a twitch every now and then as I drift. Then if I need to move back into position just troll slowly enough so the SP is close to the bottom. This usually makes for fast and furious fishing in the warmer months.

Cheers
Craig


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