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What Soft Plastics/ Hardbody lures do you use/purchase?


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Hi all. 

Just out of pure curiosity what Soft plastics and hardbody lures do you buy? And what species do you target with them? 

When purchasing do you buy good quality? whatever is on special? no name brands? 

What styles do you get ? Flcikbaits, grubs, creature baits? Shallow diving, deep diving  etc? 

Would you purchase an lure that is an unnamed brand that looked decent quality and was at a good price? 

Be interesting to hear peoples thoughts on this.... 

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If it's cheap and looks genuinely good then I'll have a look; but I normally stick to what works. 

 

If I'm buying hardbodies with any forethought, I'm trying to look at the action on YouTube etc and get reviews or discussions if at all possible. 

 

Soft plastics I'm far more open minded with, again if the profile is nice and I can somewhat visualise the action, I'll have a shot with any plastic brand. 

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Personally, im a quality over quantity person and for the most part I stick with proven products / recommendations.

HBs are my personal vice, with preferences geared towards YFW, Flathead (I hear they exist 🤔) and Bream, in that order. 

In terms of types, im landbased and mainly target the flats so Im genrally looking at surface or shallow --> medium diving. 

Stickbaits for YFW, Minnows for Flatties and both cranks and small minnows for Bream.

Havent purchased any SPs in ages, but if I did I would probably start with Zman or Ecogear.

TL

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Don’t buy much these days

i have a collection of hardbodies from my bream days 

a collection of poppers and stick baits I still use heavily for YFW and tend to only buy when I lose one or on a work trip to Lincoln where I always buy one when getting advise on what’s biting where

have loads of plastics but tend to only buy and use demand and gulp turtlebacks these days

would buy turtlebacks every time I go to Kmart (when they have them) or a tackleshop 

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I mostly buy the zman grubs myself in motor oil as that's the one plastic I have the most luck on. I always try new colours and brands, including the plastics soaking in scent but never seem to use them and they dry up.

Hard bodies I have no idea, so I generally find myself seeking the advice of an expert to show me the light.

I am also guaranteed to snag them all so price is usually a factor. 

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27 minutes ago, keenfisho said:

Don’t buy much these days

i have a collection of hardbodies from my bream days 

a collection of poppers and stick baits I still use heavily for YFW and tend to only buy when I lose one or on a work trip to Lincoln where I always buy one when getting advise on what’s biting where

have loads of plastics but tend to only buy and use demand and gulp turtlebacks these days

would buy turtlebacks every time I go to Kmart (when they have them) or a tackleshop 

Lol auto correct that was meant to say zmans not demand

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I have used plastics and hardbodies. What gets to me is being told only use motor oil when I ask what do you use when that stops working their answer it’s you it doesn’t stop working . I’m afraid I found it did stop working so I adapted and tried different Zman colours was using grubs . Stopped changed to Zman slim swims . Then I went back to hardbodies been using double clutches for years I find these great cast pretty well . One thing I look for in hardbodies is distance when casting and lures with red eyes ( I have lures with and without red eyes). Sometimes distance doesn’t matter but if the fish won’t hit any lure nothing helps .

from me try anything and everything you can 

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As the name suggests my passion is hard bodies generally using minnow/shad/surface style lures. Lure brand/style/colour purchase has been determined by amount of success with each lure. Again I am not adverse to purchasing second hand if it is what I am after. Just a simple matter of changing out the hardware for new. Generally this means Owner trebles. Have tried many brands over the years with some being successful and some not so for me . If I had to name brands preferred they would be in no particular order: Daiwa, Ecogear, Bassday and Zipbaits. Good luck with your endeavour sTB. regards, HBt.

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The pick of the soft plastics for me are Charlie Brewer Sliders followed by Squidgies. I seem to have more success with them for most species that I target in fresh & salt.

Hard bodies are a bit more varied depending on what I'm chasing, but I chuck more top water lures than divers with Bassday Sugapen and Lucky Craft Sammys being my top picks. They both work well fishing the flats down south for whiting & flatties and they are unbeatable up here in the north on jungle perch & sooty grunter. You don't always find good all rounders with lures, but these two are close to it.

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99% of my plastics are ZMan or Squidgy Biotough as I have what you might term "confidence lures" in both ranges.

Metals I'm not fussed with whatever brand; hardbodies I mainly sway towards Rapala . This is all todo with th estyle of fishing I do as I am a lot more likely to throw plastics over hardbodies for bream/flatties and the like whereas where canal fishing/breakwalls I am mainly throwing Rapala baits.

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I often hear the comment if they are hungry the will eat anything, although this is referenced to squid jigs, although this is a true statement it cover the times they aren't hungry 😉 l use Yamashita for my quality jigs, l also have jigs perchased from the post office for $5 these are all plain colours while the Yamashita are patterned, now my goto are a red rattle Yamashita and the white post office jigs, they both catch similar amounts, sometimes one works and not the other, it all comes down to what they want on the day but the post office jigs have the same action as the Yamashita, those ones in kmart 🤔 well lets just say the squid need to be starving lol

It's the same with any lure, it needs to have the right pattern and action to not only attract it's intended prey but make it bite, it's for this reason my goto hb are Rapala although l do buy others when l cant get the style or colours in Rapala, l bought some Aldi lures sometime ago which work well but the colours wore of after little use😔

I've used quite a few types of sp's and although most work well, l now only buy zman for a number of reasons, they work, they last, cost affective, why dont l buy the others? The only reason l dont buy other brands is you shouldn't mix sp's in the same container and being a kayak fisherman l don't have the room for mutiple brands, l read further back that someone said only use motor oil colour, if motor oil is the only sp work for you then your doing something wrong (not having a go at anyone, this is just fact)

There are many brands of both hb and sp lures on the market, they all work but some better than others, l know of people that buy overseas stock as either they are not available here or no longer available here.

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On 11/09/2019 at 8:40 AM, Meppstas said:

Oh Boy!! I feel I have way too many lures & a large variety of brands as well.. I'll let the photos tell the story...😉

And these are just the ones I've taken photos of... only use them on the trout..

cheers

Adrian

 

Just a few there mate :D :D :D :D

Do you buy your lures on special? or do you just have the urge to buy whenever you feel like it? 

 

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7 hours ago, southie THE BANGA said:

 

Just a few there mate :D :D :D :D

Do you buy your lures on special? or do you just have the urge to buy whenever you feel like it? 

 

When they're on special.. picked some (10) Atomic Hardz shad 40 & 50 mid divers up some time ago @ $4-00 each in a clearance sale, Have bought a lot of them from different Australian tackle online stores when they have their clearance plus another 20-30%  off them as well. 

cheers

Adrian

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I used to fish everyday after work and throw hard body lures for bream on shallow rock banks. At the time I was using ecogear sx40's and if you lost 3 of those in a session - it would start to add up - and if you were doing it five days a week and twice on the weekend - it really added up.

So it was losing ecogears that made me search out cheaper alternatives.

When strikepro came out with an almost identical copy for half the price - I switched to those and didnt noticed a drop in catch rates. Thats started my search for even cheaper lures.

By the end of my serious "breaming on lures" I was using HB lures that cost 1/10th of the ecogears and still catching fish.

Sure some needed to be tuned out of the box and some needed treble upgrades - but in the lightweight catergory - you can spend much less and still catch fish.

These days my softplastics cost 5c each instead of $2 - My blades cost $2 instead of $20 - and my jigheads are between 10c and 50c.

The down side to the cheapest tackle can usually be over come with a hook sharpening file or some tuning with the pliers. I understand alot of people dont have time for that - but you can work miracles pretty quick on a lure that may not last the first cast let alone multiple sessions

 

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8 hours ago, Meppstas said:

When they're on special.. picked some (10) Atomic Hardz shad 40 & 50 mid divers up some time ago @ $4-00 each in a clearance sale, Have bought a lot of them from different Australian tackle online stores when they have their clearance plus another 20-30%  off them as well. 

cheers

Adrian

How have those Strike Pro lures I got you treated you? got a few fish on them? 

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17 minutes ago, yellow door 1 said:

I used to fish everyday after work and throw hard body lures for bream on shallow rock banks. At the time I was using ecogear sx40's and if you lost 3 of those in a session - it would start to add up - and if you were doing it five days a week and twice on the weekend - it really added up.

So it was losing ecogears that made me search out cheaper alternatives.

When strikepro came out with an almost identical copy for half the price - I switched to those and didnt noticed a drop in catch rates. Thats started my search for even cheaper lures.

By the end of my serious "breaming on lures" I was using HB lures that cost 1/10th of the ecogears and still catching fish.

Sure some needed to be tuned out of the box and some needed treble upgrades - but in the lightweight catergory - you can spend much less and still catch fish.

These days my softplastics cost 5c each instead of $2 - My blades cost $2 instead of $20 - and my jigheads are between 10c and 50c.

The down side to the cheapest tackle can usually be over come with a hook sharpening file or some tuning with the pliers. I understand alot of people dont have time for that - but you can work miracles pretty quick on a lure that may not last the first cast let alone multiple sessions

 

we've all been there.... I lost hundreds of dollars in single sessions to fish busting me on reef or structure. I remember fishing lower Yorkes flats one day and catching and releasing fish all day... Snook, Trevally, Flatties, Salmon full mix basket. Ended up losing $260 in lures in one session and that $260 were lures discounted when i was working in the tackle shop. So i'd hate to think how much I actually lost retail value wise.... Most of the Lures would of been around the $15-$25 mark.

Hence why I am looking for cheaper alternatives that i can get that are cheap enough but will do the job there suppose to and swim straight. If that means fine tuning and replacing terminal tackle or sharperning hooks then so be it .....

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52 minutes ago, southie THE BANGA said:

How have those Strike Pro lures I got you treated you? got a few fish on them? 

They've done well on several trips last season in the larger rivers such as the Meander, Mersey & Leven rivers, haven't been in the bigger rivers so far this season due to them still running too high.. they will be used on and off again this season too, I've had some success a few times with them..

cheers

Adrian

1452002295_2LevenRiverbrown..6216(Medium).JPG.6728c597b7df8139a8738542716300e1.JPG

586550750_d-LevenRiverbrowntrout..204(Medium).JPG.88ce5d62aa50181118046c64114efbd5.JPG

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I don't mind loosing lures as this is part of the game, however in the past my lures only cost $1-2 (slices) however now the majority of my lures are mainly for offshore (hardbodies) so i try not to buy cheap ones (unless recommended) as i would hate to loose a fish of a lifetime to a badly made lure, not to say that the more expensive lure are better as often it just the reputation that makes them expensive, and it's the same with soft plastics, the choice imo is totally personal, why buy brand x? If you find they last longer or out perform brand y, then use them, however it doesn't matter what you pay as long as they work for your intended use, and you are willing to pay the asked price😉

When i buy my gear whatever it is, im usually buying a cirtain amount that I've save for, i then search for specials, if i can't find a decent special i wait until i do. The Internet is an awesome tool to locate item/s for much cheaper than the RRP, if items im buying in aus are made overseas (which sadly most are) i don't mind buying them from overseas if i get it cheaper, like braid 2000m $50 why wouldn't you buy it for that? However items that come with warranty i buy here as if you need to claim, sending it back makes it doable.

If buying something i need or i can't find it cheaper anywhere else, my local tackle shop  (not anaconda or bcf) a shop that only sells tackle is my one stop shop, and i often find good advice and better prices than those chain stores.

Adrian, you could open a tackle shop with all those lures😉 but my answer to your sweet collection is you can never have enough👍

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38 minutes ago, Softy said:

Tried some Zman 2.5" Slim Swimz today... Avid 2.5" Grubz user as mentioned but thought i'd give them a go. Never been a fan of paddle tails but loving the action on these, didn't catch anything on either today it was a hard slog :( But they will be going in the 2 plastic rotation from now on! :lol: 

Different actions work on different species at times, try using all types, my collection of sp's although not wide does include many tail types, although i often feel i need more paddle tails, lol of course the action we provide is often the key to enticing the fish to bite, i watch many youtube videos on fishing and i often come across a method I've not seen before, colours are another thing you will struggle with, again try different colours, different shapes, i was given a few packets that included different coloured prawn/yabbi styles great for bream at a guess but why wouldn't a nice big red bite on them? They will be part of my sp arsenal over the next few  months chasing snapper out in the channel😉

Another youtuber uses a pink and white flick bait, he drops it down next to his yak and uses it like a jigging lure but not as fierce, he often hooks up in seconds, another was Nigal from AFN on a video used for promotion by zman using sp's to catch spotted/spanish Mackerel offshore, i love bait fishing, but sp's and hb's have come a long way over the years and im hooked👍

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I understand that different occasions call for different styles of plastics. I was more going off what i feel comfortable using... Never really liked flick baits or what ever they call them, just feels like i'm throwing out a bit of plastic and towing it back in, Sure you can work them to get more/the action you want but just never done it for me. Same went for Paddles but i did enjoy using the Slim Swimz today.... Still not a Grubz tho. :D 

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2 minutes ago, Softy said:

I understand that different occasions call for different styles of plastics. I was more going off what i feel comfortable using... Never really liked flick baits or what ever they call them, just feels like i'm throwing out a bit of plastic and towing it back in, Sure you can work them to get more/the action you want but just never done it for me. Same went for Paddles but i did enjoy using the Slim Swimz today.... Still not a Grubz tho. :D 

Would you believe before I used Zman grubs when I first ever touched a plastic I used it totally wrong . A $2 special out of the $2 bin at bcf very much like a grub dark green . Bream loved them my first 38cm fell to it using it wrong in the Pat . Only issue every small fish would strip it to the hook

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8 hours ago, southie THE BANGA said:

we've all been there.... I lost hundreds of dollars in single sessions to fish busting me on reef or structure. I remember fishing lower Yorkes flats one day and catching and releasing fish all day... Snook, Trevally, Flatties, Salmon full mix basket. Ended up losing $260 in lures in one session and that $260 were lures discounted when i was working in the tackle shop. So i'd hate to think how much I actually lost retail value wise.... Most of the Lures would of been around the $15-$25 mark.

Hence why I am looking for cheaper alternatives that i can get that are cheap enough but will do the job there suppose to and swim straight. If that means fine tuning and replacing terminal tackle or sharperning hooks then so be it .....

Yeah I've never lost that much money in a session but I used to have a 3 ecogear a session limit - after that, I'd finish it out with soft plastics😉.
 

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The biggest problem here in Aust is the lack of lures,i see lures being used in the U.S. and go searching for them just to find we don't have them here.Then i have to import them,guess the population is to small in having everything here.

Having accessibility to brands that work is the solution,for me mainly target mulloway so big light colored lures with glitter paddle tails work best for me.

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Hi mate.

Marketing is a wonderful thing when it comes to fishing gear and we all get sucked in to it, and there's nothing wrong with that. If you are confident with the lures or SPs that's half the battle.

For me these days I've always got my nose in the bargain bucket looking for what I think might work in any fishing situation I might find myself in. Cheapskate.😉

So to answer your question I have a selection of go to's that I trust, and cheapies that I think and hope will work. I get a real buzz from catching fish on the bargain bucket lures.🐟👏😊

A few pics of bargain bucket catches.

$5 lure which I hoped would work up North.

First ever Barra!🐟👌

image.jpg.9759d4b86661236b879ad9810d162063.jpg

First Jack, same lure.🐟👍

image.jpg.7ff41d918626ae68531d527902d96cfc.jpg

Sooty, same lure.🐟👏

image.jpg.c0fe206d4a69afee41baff92cddaff52.jpg

PB Barra, last year, same lure.🐟

image.jpg.4e5d11f3556732260b4b22ea095f84c8.jpg

$1 packet of SPs😊

image.jpg.45dbf57d46cf30f75c7833ef1ab7a54b.jpg

Same SPs👌

image.jpg.b92f0a694f37b501cff070cb50faa424.jpg

Bargain bucket HB lure.🐟😊

image.jpg.6c921a8cc1e8161323d96ea019f53984.jpg

Todays purchases 2 x $5 lures. One for up North and one for the local Bream etc...

image.jpg.bfdf8ebe197f4a08c9b1f3dcd8131fb5.jpg

Hopefully get a successful pic with one of these in the near future.🎣🐟😊

 

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Lol PP a man after my own heart, i too search the bargain bins, and if your really lucky you find older lures out of manufacture that you wish you had heaps off. Yes marketing is a funny thing these lures will catch you these says the sales rep! Hmm as you walk through the checkout he thinks "well that lure sure catches a lot of people, not sure about fish though" lol, when im in a tackle store and the sales person tells me "oh this lure looks real nice" i just say yeah but what do the fish think about it?

I went into bfc (killing time) and was looking at jigheads and sp's for tuna and kings but i wanted something in the 50-75mm sp range (a match the hatch sort of thing) so i was looking at the jigheads pondering if the hook would be strong enough to hold a 15-25kg fish, a sales guy comes up and says can i help you? After a short partial explination of what i was doing he picked a 6/0 jighead of the shelf and said this is what you need, i just looked at him and laughed, he looked at me puzzled and i said, do you think you can get a 75mm sp to sit nicely on that jighead? Oh no you need to use a bigger sp hmmm.

Although the term match the hatch is a good rule of thumb, I've found a better rule, don't be surprised, don't be surprised when you catch the fish of a lifetime on a lure meant for something else or a lure you thought will never work, I've been given lures that the person thought they would not work or didn't work only to put it on and catch a fish with them saying can i have them back now lol

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