MAH

This year I have been fishing a lot for tommies on soft plastics. I fish mainly from Glenelg jetty and if you asked any of the regulars what they use, they all have S-factor in their pocket. Many have tried other scents but all come back to S-factor. Over the summer, it wasn't uncommon for a new angler to be fishing the exact same spot, with the same lures etc. and not catching a thing. One of the regulars will chat to them, ask if they are using scent, and then dab some S-factor on their lure. Then a few casts later they hook up. Sure, you can catch fish with out S-factor, but it c

Tommy Tortilla La Banderita tortillas Guacamole Salsa made from tomatoes, red onion, cucumber, salt, pepper, olive oil and lime juice (coriander is also a nice addition) Japanese mayonnaise (I like Kewpie brand) A few dashes of Tobasco Chipotle Sauce Fresh tommy fillet

Last night I was fishing at Glenelg; when I was leaving, I saw a few decent schools of YFW cruising the shallows. I hadn't seen them schooled up in such numbers this summer. The other thing that caught my eye was an enormous flatty stalking the schools of YFW. I've never seen such a big flatty in the metro waters. If I wasn't on my way to catch the last tram of the night, I would have stopped and thrown a couple of lures at it.

I'm pretty sure Zman are a Thermoplastic Rubber (TPR), so when searching Aliexpress I look for soft plastic lure that mention TPR in the title. The lures in my photos are from Johncoo on Aliexpress. https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005002526092840.html?spm=a2g0o.order_detail.order_detail_item.5.10b9f19c5V5d6w https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005002537821598.html?spm=a2g0o.order_detail.order_detail_item.3.10b9f19c5V5d6w

With lures I now buy only from Aliexpress. They are much cheaper and even the cheapest lures are durable enough if rigged correctly. My go to lures are the cheapest. They have cost be about $1.80 for a pack of 10. These are not very stretchy. Because a jig head holds them firmly in place and they lack stretch they will last only a couple of casts before a tommy rips the tail off. But if rigged on a worm hook and a Carolina rig, I can catch a dozen tommies before losing a lure and when they cost less than 20c per lure you can afford to lose a few. I also find them easier to rig

I also wasn't sure about what size weight to use. I read a lot of people recommending to use very small weights. I bought a range of styles of weights in 2gm, 3.5gm and 5gm. I found the cheb style of weight very versatile and easy to change, but now use the bullet weight a lot more as I'm using a Carolina rig mostly. I found the 2gm weights were not very useful and were too effected by wind and current. Now I mainly use 3.5gm, but on windy days I use a 5gm weight, mainly because fishing from a jetty, the wind easily catches your line and you need the extra weight to keep a tight line on the re

When bait fishing for tommies, it was simple. A size 10 long shank hook under a float with some split shot or a 1gm ball sinker. The thinking was tommies are a small fish so a small hook. But with soft plastics I had no idea what to use, so tried different rigs to see what works best for me, I wanted to be able to quickly test different things like weights, hook sizes, lure sizes and lure quality. I bought a wide range of tackle and lures, so I would have them on hand during a fishing session and could readily make changes. I understand not everyone can afford to have lots of tackle on ha

I've been fishing for over 40 years, so grew up with fibreglass rods, monofilament and bait. Now I have rod rack full of carbon fibre rods, it took me a bit longer to switch over to braid, but up until recently I was still a bait fisho and just didn't use soft plastics or other lures (except squid jigs). I bought plenty, vibes, hard bodies, soft plastics, and would give them a try but next session I would be back to bait. But this summer I have taken the time to focus on soft plastics. Sure I still pump nippers for YFW and use gents for garfish, but I've spent most of my time learnin

Vietnamese style salad with pickled squid, topped with crispy fried onions (I buy a large container from the local asian supermarket)

I do a similar thing. When my partner deems the bath towels are too old/worn and need replacing, I take them and cut them into 3-4 hand towel sizes, overlock the edges to stop them fraying and sew on a small loop to attach a carabiner. A couple of bath towels makes 6-8 fishing towels. I've got a box full of fishing towels, and take one for handling fish and another for wiping my hands. I give them soak in napisan/sodium percarbonate when I get home as they get pretty stinky and my partner doesn't appreciate me chucking them into the laundry basket.

Also, you can easily catch squid from Port Hughes jetty, which would be another readily available bait.

Can't help with the beach/bungum worms, as I'm terrible at catching them. But there are two other types of worms that are easily collected, seaweed worms and a type of lug worm. Seaweed worms are small worms that look a like garden worms. They can be found in the beds of seaweed washed up on the shore. You are looking for areas where the seaweed beds build up over time, not just what washes up after a big blow. You dig down to where the weed bed meets the sand underneath and will find the worms in the bottom layers of the seaweed. Don't be fooled by their small size, they are a gun bait,

Shimano Sephia Sui Sui Dropper Flash Boost Unfortunately only available in #2.5. Would love a red head flash boost in a size #3.0

These are the type of jigs I used as a kid. Cast, and then a slow roll back in. We would also have a hand line out with a tommie on a spike under a float. 90% of the time I still take a rod and hand line, but now I normally use a jig under a float instead of the tommie/spike.

Another aspect of the expensive jigs is you can buy them with different sink rates, so you can have slow sinking jigs for shallow reefy/weedy areas. This gives the jig more time in the strike zone and also reduces the chances of snags If on a budget, you can instead use a float rig in these areas. By using a slip float you can set the depth so you don't snag the bottom, cast out and still use a jerking style retrieve, to have a similar effect as the Japanese style of jerking and ripping the jig.

If anyone wants to try an expensive jig but at a wallet friendly price, I have some #3.0 Shimano Flash Boost jigs for $12 each.

I spend quite a bit of time squid fishing. I have lots of expensive jigs (but I don't pay the expensive prices ). If fishing a new area I'll put on a cheap jig until I'm confident that I'm not going to just get snagged all the time. When squid are plentiful, it doesn't really make much difference what jig you use or even what technique you use. But overall, I do think the more expensive jigs make a difference, particularly when land based fishing. Firstly, they are better balanced, so are much less prone to tumbling when casting and you get better distance. They are also better bala

I'm the same, I don't like the leader on the spool. The leader has a tendency to want to "spring" off the spool unlike the braid. I no longer use flurocarbon for leaders and use a good quality monofilament. The price difference between flurocarbon and mono is significant, and I couldn't detect any significant improvement with fluro. I like how mono is more supple and I feel this makes my knots better.

Seacliff is a very good spot to practice. You don't need to be far offshore to catch squid and you can also pick-up other species like snook. It's a very popular spot so there will likely be others around you plus there is the Surf Life Saving Club and yacht club adding to activity and eyes on the water. However, practicing capsize and re-entry can't be over emphasised. Self rescue should be considered your primary method, never assume someone will be there to help, you must be able to save yourself. I'm pretty confident on the water, including multi-day self supported tours circumnavig

It was mentioned earlier about lures tumbling through the air. I think this can have more of an effect on distance than spool diameter. I can ping a 15g tear drop sinker that flies nice an straight noticeably further than a #3.0 squid jig tumbles through the air and moves with the direction of the wind. There is a technique in squid fishing for reducing the tumbling of jigs. You place a bead on your leader, straighten one of the prongs on the bottom crown, then put the straightened prong in the bead, so the jig hands head down with the weight at the end of the line. After you cast, t

Salt Strong looked at reel size. Using identical 7'6" rods, one with a 1000 Diawa Fuego and the other a 3000 Diawa Fuego, both spooled with 10lb Power Pro and using the same weight. They conclude there was a noticeable difference, but it looked pretty negligible to me. They were casting what looks like a 28gm teardrop weight, so different to your use. I suspect the difference would be even less with lighter weights. When I go fishing, if I'm fishing from the shore or with a tub in tow across the flats, I often carry a spare reel in case I have a session ending wind knot, then I can j

What is more important, water protection or spare spool? Declaration, I prefer Shimano reels to Daiwa. The only Daiwa reel I currently own is an Emeraldas LT. When it comes to Daiwa magsealed reels I'm so-so. I like the concept, it provides pretty good protection to the anti-reverse clutch. My two gripes are; I'm not as confident about self servicing the reel and need the special oil The reverse switch is weakness in terms of water protection So although the magseal is good keeping water out, the reverse switch is a weakness if the reel gets dunked. If water

Headed to Marino Rocks this morning. Water was reasonably clear. Weather was a bit average, wind started to pick up and there a slight drizzle. I had waders on so was able to get out to a nice little rock ledge and start casting around jigs. I used slow sinking jigs, but still snagged a couple of times. Luckily I was able to clear the snag each time. Caught 2 squid over 1.5 hours, not great but better than a doughnut. As the tide dropped I saw a lure wedged in a rock, which turned out to be a 10g Halco twisty. Nice little find. A good way to spend the morning.

Weather looks OK tomorrow and I thought I would try Marino Rocks for squid. I don't know this area for land based fishing, so would appreciate some advice on best time/tide to go. Low tide is 10.45am and high tide is 5.07pm. Is it possible to fish this area on the high tide, or do you need a low tide to get out onto the rocks? Cheers MAH

I have a Maxer 27 SMD LED Prawn Light. It's reasonable. It's light weight from the perspective that it doesn't require a large battery, as it runs of 3 D cell batteries. It's reasonable from the perspective it has the light output you would expect from something utilising 3 D cell batteries. I don't use it for gigging, I use it for wading the shallows at night for crabs or dab garfish.