Magoo

^^^ 

There are a few soft plastic techniques that I've read a bit about and had a go with in Europe but don't seem to have taken off here at all. From all the guides, tutorials, fishing shows and in-store tackles for Australia the sole plastics techniques I can see are free-lining and jig-head. So I thought I would write up a piece for this new section and see what people think, have you heard of these techniques and rigs, have you tried them and what sort of success have you had. Apologies for the quality of my phone pictures, it doesn't do well in indoor lighting. Plenty of high quality pictures and videos by other people on Google if your interested!
 
First up is the "Carolina Rig" and "Texas Rig:. Otherwise known as a running sinker rig with a soft plastics instead of bait. The key with both of these rigs is the worm hook allowing to to be setup in weedless configuration.
 
The Carolina Rig below has the sinker running on the mainline above a swivel with a short trace to the unweighted plastic. Also a selection of soft plastics that would typically be used with this kind of rig. They are also very commonly rigged with a "worm bait" which is just a soft-plastic stickbait without any tail. My worm hooks are a bit large for some of these baits, need to find a good wide gape worm hook in the smaller sizes.
 
 
The advantage of the Carolina rig is that as you bounce the sinker over the bottom kicking up puffs and getting attention the soft plastic is unweighted and should suspend weightlessly overhead on the stop, looking like a spooked bait item kicked off the bottom. I would suspect this would be a good rig for flathead allowing the bait to waft just over bottom with small movements getting attention. Being weedless it can be thrown straight into weed beds and other structure and slowly bounced out without risking too many snags. Being a sliding rig this also allows high sensitivity for bites and also stopped the fish feeling any suspicious weight when it attacks the lure. As the weight is above the swivel it should also allow a larger and heavier weight to be used than otherwise as the plastic itself it unweighted and its action should not be affected by the weight down the line.
 
The Texas rig is very similar to the Carolina rig except for the sliding weight being below the swivel.
  
 
I've got some conical bullet weights for making this rig up which also help reduce snagging. This allow this type of rig to be thrown straight into heavy weed, rocks, timber or other structure without so much worry as there is not much it can catch on. Very similar in this configuration to using a jig-head but the running weight gives the plastic a slightly different action in the water and more sensitivity with the bite.
 
Lastly there is the "drop shot" technique. This is a very popular and successful technique in Europe and North America with freshwater species but I don't see any major reason why it should be equally effective in the salt for some situations. The idea of this technique is to have a hook perpendicular to the main line with the weight below it. It primarily used from boat but can also be cast, although with the drop shot weights detailed below you can't cast too hard without loosing the weight. The finished rig looks like this:
 
 
In the water the bait sits horizontal with the tension on the line and every small bounce or jerk causes it to flick about in the water looking like a distressed baitfish. When casting and retrieving or on the drift no rod action is really needed as long as the bottom is fairly hard as when the sinker hits and bounces along the bottom it sends jerks up the line giving action to the plastic.
 
The knot used to make the hook sit like that on the line is usually a Palomar knot, except instead of trimming the tag you leave it long as your sinker line. There are a whole range of dropshot hooks on the market overseas but here in Adelaide I've only found the worm hooks and mosquito hooks which work well with this technique, although and straight eye hook could probably do.
 
A selection of plastics and drop shot weights used for this technique:

 
The best plastics are flickbaits and curly tailed grubs. Paddle tails can be used but the speed they need to be retrieved at to get the tail working means you are probably better off with a jighead.
 
Now the dropshot weights are a little unusual, they have a swivel on them but its designed to have a hole and slot. This allows you to just thread it on and pull the line into the slot to grip instead of having to tie them onto the line and allows weights to be changed and removed very easily. Haven't found drop-shot weights anywhere in Adelaide on the shelves but grabs some packets from Fisherman's Paradise in town that he found in an old bag of imported stuff from the States I believe that was stashed out back.
 
However it is possible to make your own. All that is needed is a swivel weight, a pair of pliers and jewelers screwdrivers or similar and wire. First you start off with a standard swivel weight:

 
Then you put a piece of wire or use a flat head jewelers screwdriver to keep open the section at the base of the wire and crush it with your pliers. This creates a hole-and-groove. You can then slot your line through the hole and pull it into the groove to grip.

 
They actually stay on fairly well. If you get snagged they just slide off the line so you can expect to lose a few, however the plus side is if they get snagged they slide off your line rather than loosing part of your rig! You can reduce the loss by tying a simple overhand knot at the bottom so they slide down and get caught on. Overhand knots reduce the breaking strain by about 50% so it will still be sacrificial if you hang up somewhere and have to pull to the break.
 
Because they just grip the line with the slot they can easily be pulled off and reset at any height along the sinker line.
 
With this rig because there is line coming out top and bottom of the hook fluorocarbon is important. The advantages are that the bait can be effectively suspended at a given height above bottom which can be adjusted as needed so you can make it so the sinker bounced through a weedbed with the bait jumping around just over the top of it. It also means that the weight and the plastic are separated, so you can have quite a heavy weight without effecting the action of the plastic if your over deep water or in strong current situations. It works with all sizes of plastics one of the most popular uses in Europe is targeting small perch with tiny plastics rigged like below:

 
One of the biggest advantages is that it means you can have your plastic suspended in the water and just with jiggling the rod tip putting tension on and off the line cause your plastic to jerk around getting attention like a piece of distressed bait without actually moving anywhere. Great for targeting holding schools of fish which may be picky or off the bite as it can just sit there getting attention until they decide to commit.
 
I think it could work well for targeting holding bream, King George whiting schools with something like a gulp sandworm being positioned just above the top of the weedbed, any reefy fish in structure, snook bouncing a baitfish-style over the top of weed or broken bottom and many other. In Europe and North America this is a go-to technique for many fish and often catches a surprise species not being targeted.
 
I would love to get out on a boat chasing snapper sometime with the dying minnow plastic I have from Europe (bottom one below):

 
This sits sideways in the water with a flat profile and looks like a dying fish just keeled over on its side and should work perfectly with the drop shot technique.
 
Above it is a worm-style bait on a drop-shot hook with a stinger. For the larger baits stingers can be useful to prevent short-striking.
 
For all these rigs I've got a rig-roll setup, easy enough to make your own. A cylinder of foam with cuts in it to hold the line. You can see the benefit of being able to slide the sinkers on and off when putting the rig away:

 
I haven't been able to put many hours in so far testing these techniques out, so if you are interested give them a go and let me know it works out! Anyone out there already using these techniques? They are some of the favorites of tournament American Bass anglers and also for European Perch anglers. Drop shot seems to catch all sorts of things very successfully.
 
And if anyone has a boat and planning to go out for snapper and wants a decky I'm really eager to get out and try drop shotting for them as I suspect it would be a very effective technique on the drift or over structure.

With squidgies I find it easiest to make a slight cut where you want your hook to come out. 100% success. (with fish and wrigglers)

A great how to for beginners or anybody new to the wonderful world of Soft Plastics
 

I'm hoping to test drive some awesome sports cars in the next comp video 

Bjorn to take Jeremy Clarksons gig ?

FINALLY got a video together for the comp.
 
Make sure you head over to The Fishing Guru's Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/TheFishingGuru , like the page and share it around
 

 
Prize pack includes:
45cm vinyl measuring sticker MILF vinyl sticker No Bananas vinyl sticker Deluxe paddle/rod leash 40pce Beads pack 10pce stainless slimline diamond snaps 10pce oval split rings 10mm 20pce size #2 stainless split rings 750g Berley pack Strike & Hook Cap Strike & Hook Beanie

Got this horse of a snook last week on the boat in shallow water. Took a pillie on light gear and gave the stradic a fair work out!Cheers Rat

I don't really have anything left to contribute to this but hopefully people remember the thread is here and add to it when they get ideas in future.

If you don't have your prescription glasses polarized - these clip ons do the job, for under $2 posted, per pair ...
 
polarized
 
on ebay - may take 3 weeks delivery - I have green & yellow, have just bought brown & smoke 

a cheaper 1 piece rod just might have a nicer action than a dearer 2 or more piece
 
save all smaller scales from gar, tommies, etc., mix in your berley - shimmer as they disperse
adds sight attractant, as well as scent

a cheaper 1 piece rod just might have a nicer action than a dearer 2 or more piece
 
save all smaller scales from gar, tommies, etc., mix in your berley - shimmer as they disperse
adds sight attractant, as well as scent

a cheaper 1 piece rod just might have a nicer action than a dearer 2 or more piece
 
save all smaller scales from gar, tommies, etc., mix in your berley - shimmer as they disperse
adds sight attractant, as well as scent

All of us fisherman and in particular boat fisherman know that fishing is getting more expensive with the price of fuel, bait, launching fees, ice etc all stacking up when we go for a fish. The cost as well as time constraints are often factors that stop people from taking their boat out. This thread is for people to post ideas that they have come up with to reduce the cost of fishing.   This could be where you get your cheap bait from, how you make your own ice, bait collection etc.
 
Look forward to seeing some ideas.

Ok guys n girls something a little different this month. Time to get creative!
 
Over the years this has been brought up a few times and now it has happened we have a new section of the forum How to guides and DIY projects.
 
It's pretty self explanatory what goes in here but a few ideas... How you built your fishing cart/caddy, how you tie certain rigs or knots, your great idea for a rod holder, how to use soft plastics/hard bodies, even recommendations on how to read your sounder.
 
This new section is currently empty, a few older topics may find there way in here but we need lots of new content so get posting. All posts in this section during March will be in the running for The Fishing Guru prize pack.
 
We have a new sponsor on board this month so please give a warm welcome to The Fishing Guru. The Fishing Guru is an absolute legend, local Adelaide bloke who has a lot of quality gear, he sells online so is able to offer some great prices covering fishing tackle, pre-tied rigs, berley and 4WD accessories to name just a few. One cool new product that the Guru is working on that I've had the pleasure of seeing in the early stages is his very own fish attractant/scent. With a background as a chef, these scents will be killer!
 
Check out The Fishing Guru on Facebook and please like his page https://www.facebook.com/TheFishingGuru
 

 
The prize pack details will be posted up shortly

Because it could:

 
Spangled Perch taking advantage of flooding to migrate between waterholes.
 
http://www.themorayslair.org/category/magicmoments/

We have a winner of the Strike & Hook February Snapper Comp!
 
Congratulations goes to Rotare with his report Bagging the big reds!
 
Rotare please send me a PM with your postal details so I can send through the prize pack.
 
There were only a couple of members posting up snapper reports and they were damn good reports so we have a runner up prize pack going to Seagypsy too. Congratulations! Please PM me with your details also.
 
The snapper reports that went up were excellent, full of info, pics and were inspiring to the rest of us. This is what Strike & Hook is all about so I'd like to thank the guys for your contributions.
 
 
We have some great supporters of Strike & Hook and they really deserve a massive thank you for helping us out with prizes.
 
Thank you Swivel's Original check out the Swivel's Original website at http://www.swivelsoriginal.com and also like the Facebook page to get updates on some of the cool Swivel's comps that are held throughout the year https://www.facebook.com/swivelsoriginal
 
Also Thank you to Fishing Wholesalers check out their website with some awesome gear available in their online shop and in store http://www.fishingwholesalers.com.au and also their Facebook page, always great specials and new gear getting posted up https://www.facebook.com/FishingWholesalersAustralia
 
 
The next comp will be announced shortly!!!

Did anybody else hear about this catch that occurred overseas recently?

im loving the gear thanks guys at s&h

Winning fish!
 

 

Well, i havnt really posted these holidays but by no means have i not been out fishing!!! Where do i start? well as many of you know i fish the onky a fair bit and have been hitting it pretty hard the first few weeks of holidays which resulted in some decent bream and mulloway. I also had the opportunity to head down to portland in victorias south east which has some awesome fishing and got myself a new pb squid with a hood just over 40cm and also a pb snapper around 50cm.
 
Then from there i jetted off to sydney and had the opportunity to do some estury fishing up the central coast and omg is it amazing! When i say flathead galore i mean it! plenty of flathead ans well as my first tarwhine and a few yellowfin bream. Had a crack on the sand whiting with poppers and had a few hits but not one hookup! 
 
Now this is the real exciting part, what an entrance to 2015 with 2 wicked new pbs! I decided to fish the mouth of the onky as i heard its been doing well for mulloway lately believe it or not but guess what decids to smash my 25cm live mullet! a 47cm bream!!!!! absolutely over the moon, been stuck on 42cm for the most part of 2 years and to top it off with that was amazing! But it gets even better! Ive been hitting goolwa beach a bit lately with my mate for a few gummies and little schoolies but last week i finally got a legal mulloway of 79cm! wicked fight in the surf and i reckon im addicted now absolutely love it just gets your heart racing! 
 
Heres a few snaps

Southern Bluefin Tuna Patties
Ingredients
Approx. 400 grams Cooked/Flaked tuna 1.5 Cups of cooked white rice ½ Cup of bread crumbs 1 Grated carrot ¼ Cup of Grated onion ¼ Cup Grated tomato Handful of cheese ( Pizza mix is the BOMB ) 1 egg ( beaten) Squirt of tomato sauce Squirt of fish sauce Squirt or Soy Squirt of chilli sauce ( sweet chilli if you’re a pussy ) Flour to dust Oil for cooking  
In a large mixing bowl add cooked tuna, cooked rice, breadcrumb, carrot, onion, tomato and cheese and mix well. Once mixed add the egg and the assortment of sauce squirts.  (Combine all ingredients well by kneading with hands.)
This recipe is highly adaptable so as long as you have the base ingredients (Tuna, Rice, breadcrumbs and eggs you can Taylor it to your own tastebuds.)
 
Forming rissoles
Using your hands scoop up a palm full of mixture and shape into a ball.  Place the ball on a tray and flatten until it resembles a patty.  Repeat until the mixture has been used up completely, cover the tray with glad wrap and refrigerated for 10 to 30 minutes.
 
Cooking
Lightly coat the patties in a plain flour and cook in a non- stick pan until the outside is crispy and golden.
Serve with a nice fresh garden salad and enjoy.
Wine match:  A nice clean crisp cold Riesling.  

Need to go out and get myself some drinking straws. These look very realistic:
 

Those boilie stoppers ...
 

School of tuna and Wedge in background, King Crab from the shelf south of KI, Snug Cove and some random tuna shots.