MAH

If you are an Amazon Prime member with free international delivery you can find the Duel jigs. They come from Japan, will take a couple of weeks and cost around $25 each. 

23 minutes ago, Des said:

 Thanks again MAH. What brand are these?

Duel

Not the easiest to find. Sportfishing Scene at Cavan have the best local stock. Looks like they have the top green jig in stock but a 3.5 only (nothing wrong with this size jig, it sinks very slightly faster). Their online store says they have one left in stock for $24.99.

https://sportfishingscene.com.au/collections/lures/products/duel-ez-q-cast-plus?variant=43779590586610

11 hours ago, Wert said:

Green being my favourite since I caught my first squid on a green jag 35 odd years ago and literally thousands since.

Des, you could go with the advice from Wert and Kelvin, but maybe grab a green jig in a prawn pattern?

Hi Des

I think this was the post

I've changed a couple of things. I now use an Atomic Arrowz squid rod. It has a much shorter butt than most squid rods and I like how it feels in my hand for casting. I've also dropped down in diameter for my braid, so the line has less drag. I still think for a land based fisho lures are one of the least important parts. Being able to cast a good distance to weedy beds has been more important for me. When in my Yak, I use a really cheap 6 foot rod and an old Shimano Sienna reel, as there is no need to cast far, so jigs move up in terms of importance. When in my yak I catch probably 50% on a handline with the jig bobbing up and down under a float.

17 hours ago, Des said:

I can only take 3 squid jigs on a trip. Thats it.

Which 3 will they be?

What Colours, Sizes, Brands?

Which 3 will provide best chances of success in all scenarios ?  

Simplest approach would be to grab 3 red-heads, any brand, in size 3.0, as they just catch lots of squid.

But if you want to try a few others, here are my recommendations.

Size

I find 3.0 size jigs the most versatile. They have enough weight to cast well and have a good sink rate for most conditions. If the current is really ripping and you need a heavier jig, you can add a small 2gm sinker, either one specifically made to attach to squid jigs or just a ball sinker to the line. If you find yourself in a shallow area and keep getting snagged, you can put the jig under a float. You can still get the jig to jerk up under the float, but it stops it from going too low and getting snagged.

Colours

First pick would be a red-head and even better if its also phosphorescent so it glows at night. Rui is a good choice for this type of jig.

Second pick would be a natural colour like a silver or bluey silver. Rui make a couple of good ones a mullet and a pilchard.

Yamashita also make some good natural colour jigs in the Yamashita Sutte R range.

Third pick is something with a prawn like pattern. I've had a lot of success with a Rui jig with a white body and orange prawn stripes (it also glows in the dark)

I've also had a lot of success with prawn pattern jigs from Duel

Another good jig has been by Yozuri (owned by the same company as Duel)

Brands

When squid are schooled up, any jig will work. But when you need to put in more effort, the better quality jigs do make a difference in terms of how they sink, dart through the water and sit on the bottom if you let them fall all the way (you want them to sit at 45 degrees with the barbs up to reduce the chance of snags and to increase the hook up if a squid snatches off the bottom).

Rui is a brand that can be bought from many tackle stores and they have an online store. Excellent balance between quality and price. Yamashita  can also be found in many stores and online, the Sutte R range is probably on par with Rui for quality.

Duel and many Yo-Zuri jigs are not as readily available in store, but can be found easily online. There are excellent quality jigs and often have added features like silicone legs that waft and create extra movement or they rattle when jerked. These extra features are not absolutely needed, but can help when the squid are not fired up.

I'm a big fan of Daiwa Bait Junkie soft plastics and prefer them to Zman. They are very soft and flexible which seems to give them a great action in the water. I recently bought some Daiwa Bait Junkie Risky Critters for when the weather and water warms up. I'm going to give them a try on whatever is swimming around the flats, keen to see if YFW will hit them. Only problem with these soft plastics is the price at $11.95 for a pack of 6. Not a huge cost, but I did stumble across a similar styled creature bait on Aliexpress, pack of 8 for $6.23. They are made from the super stretch material and come in a range of colours. The brand is LSP or Lure Supreme Paradise.

I haven't fished either lure yet, but thought I would throw up a few side by side shots. The Bait Junkie looks like it will waft and flutter about a bit more, but no idea how this translate to bites.

I was at the Adelaide Central Market on Saturday. I always look at the fish prices. It makes my mind spin at the prices for fish e.g. filleted Coorong Mullet for $50kg. Who can afford to eat our local fish? Certainly not someone on average wages, particularly when you compare it to alternative protein like a free range for $6.50kg.

But what really caught my eye were local YFW, really nice big plump YFW. They were being sold for $18kg whole! If comparing to the filleted Coorong Mullet at $50kg, you are assuming a yield of 36%, i.e. you are only recovering 360gms of fillets for every 1kg of whole fish (although this is not a perfect comparison as it doesn't include the labour cost of processing the fish).

So why is YFW so undervalued?

It's a Catch 22. When it's undervalued, it's a resource at risk of being depleted because there is not enough interest to ensure it's managed properly.  But if it's much more valued, it's a resource at risk of being depleted because there is a good chance of over fishing by people wanting to maximise as much money as quickly as possible.

I worry a lot about the future for our local stocks of YFW.

The weather has been poor so I haven't been fishing much. So what do you do when you're not fishing? Make stuff for fishing! I've been making some small assist hooks to replace the back trebles on lures. 

I bought some silicone lure skirts of Aliexpress to use for a bit of flash.

The cord is cheap 30lb braid. There is no need to use such strong braid, you could use a lot lighter. But I decided to use this braid, because the diameter is easier to handle and tie knots. I measure out 25cms which gives me long enough tag ends to easily tie each hook with a 5 turn snell knot. I tie one hook. then measure 6cm and mark the braid. Next I slide the second hook up to the 6cm mark and tie the hook on. When the knots are dressed and tightened, it gives me the length I want for the assist hooks, which is a tad longer than the pre-tied BKK Striker hooks I previously used. I decided to make them slightly longer after reading a post from Des who add extra split rings for length. I'll probably make some slightly shorter to replace the middle trebles like Des suggests. I've made some with split rings and some with snaps and I attach the hook lengths with a simple girth hitch. Then I thread the silicone flash through the split ring/snap, fold in half and tie off with a 5 turn uni knot using 210D flat waxed thread.

I used Owner 52084 fine wire split rings #0 and Decoy Round Snap #00. The hooks are Owner 5117-031 Mosquito Hook #8 and Shinto Octopus Beak #10, which are physically the same size. I prefer the Owner Mosquito Hooks, because they are very sticky (they cost $6 for 11 hooks). The Shinto hooks are still a good hook and and I picked them up for $9.60 for 24.

21 hours ago, Mickyj said:

Are there any reels smaller than 1000 around .

Shimano make size 500 reels in some models for the overseas market, For example there is a Vanford 500 in some overseas markets. But you need to be extra cautious with these 500 size models, as they are not the same as the 1000 size and bigger. The Vanford 500 has a reverse switch on the bottom , much smaller gears and they are not Micro Module 2 gears like the bigger reels, which basically means they are not as well machined and hence not as smooth.

On 14/04/2023 at 10:07 PM, yellow door 1 said:

While I took no part in the killing of big old bream for yabby bait

WTF! I only fish for species that I intend to eat. When I was younger and didn't pay much attention to the lifecycle of different species I would keep bream, but for decades I haven't targeted bream; because they are such a slow growing fish. It's crap like that which really saddens me.

11 hours ago, yellow door 1 said:

S-factor on the lure sure will provide average anglers with a much better chance of hooking fish which they otherwise would never know were there

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 certainly helps. I think for beginners it's fantastic, because it helps them catch a few fish and they start to get a feel for how the fish strike and the lure and can start to develop better technique particularly when to strike.

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.

14 minutes ago, yellow door 1 said:

Great find on the Zman style plastics - have you got a link.

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 on a hook than Zman lures, but you can't take them off the hook multiple times like Zman if you make a mistake rigging them. I like to rig up several before a session and keep them in a lure box ready to go.

The other Alixpress cheapies are very much like Zman lures and use the same plastic, so have the same stretchy durable qualities. I just ordered three packs of 6 lures and they cost $12.50. They come in good quality packaging.

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 retrieve, otherwise the wind will just put a big bow in your line.

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 hand, and I did try and keep the costs down by buying from places like Aliexpress and the Japan Lure Shop.

To be able to quickly swap out tackle I use Mustad Fastattach Clips.

One of the first things I had trouble getting my head around was hook size for lure fishing, they all seemed so big. But I soon learned that a tommy has no trouble swallowing a 1/0 hook. I still keep a range of hooks with me because sometimes they will get fired up by the larger lure, but sometimes a smaller lure.

I also discovered that you can get hooks with bigger eyes, which make it easier to rig and also allows the hook more freedom of movement which should translate to more action from the lure.

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 learning to use soft plastics.

My target species for learning more about soft plastics has been the humble tommy ruff and 90% of the time I've targeted them off Glenelg jetty. I think a common species of a local jetty has been a very useful way to learn and is basically full circle back to when I was a kid fishing for tommies off Pt Vincent wharf.

Tommies are an interesting fish on soft plastics. They are fairly abundant and readily take a soft plastic, but when hooked, they go nuts with rapid head shakes and early on I was dropping many fish. First thing I changed was my rod. I was using a Daiwa Crosscast Rockfishing rod, it's a light rod with a fast action, rated for 3-10gm lures. at 7'8" it was a good rod for casting distance, the fast action was good for the initial strike, but it was too fast, too stiff for tommies as it lacked the suppleness to have enough bend to keep the pressure on and soak up the head shakes. Luckily I had the ideal rod in the rack and started to use an Atomic Arrowz Bream Surface. This rod had an immediate impact on my success rate landing fish. I pair this with a 1000 Stradic Ci4+.

Probably the biggest impact has been trying different ways to rig soft plastics. I started out using the standard jig heads most people use. There are plenty of people who use these jig heads with success, but I'm not one of them. So I started to use the American style offset worm hooks, setup like a cheb rig.

This was an improvement, but I still was dropping more fish than I was happy with. Like a jig head, the cheb rig has the weight right at the front of the soft plastic and my gut feel was the tommies used the weight and violent head shakes to throw the hook. Next change was to use a running rig setup, or what the Americans refer to as a Carolina rig.

Since changing to this rig, I rarely drop a fish.

Apart from sussing out the right rod and rig, I've settled on S-Factor for scent. I tried Pro-Cure, but it's always out-fished by the S-Factor.

For soft plastics, I most commonly use paddle tail style, but also have success with curly tail grubs. I've tried name brand lures like Zman Slim Swimz and no name cheapies off Aliexpress.

Zman are certainly durable and if using the cheapies on a jighead they get destroyed quickly, however I've found the cheapies are pretty good on an offset worm hook, A jig head holds the lure very firmly and the lack of give means the cheapies have the tail easily ripped off, as opposed to the super stretchy Zman. But on the worm hook, the cheapies are not held on as firmly a get pull down the hook rather than tearing up and last much longer. I vary the size of the cheapies, sometimes using a 5mm and sometimes a 7.5mm, and change depending on what is firing up the fish. As a general rule I find the bigger tommies hit the bigger lures more readily.

It took me a while to get the hang of soft plastics, but now this old dog readily get a feed.

I look at the weather, and if fine, just grab a rod, reel and a few soft plastics; very minimalistic, but a great way to fish and I don't know why I didn't try earlier.

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

34 minutes ago, yellow door 1 said:

after mucking around with those slimey mullet the other night - the time has come for a dedicated fishing rag with caribeena

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.

13 hours ago, Fiona said:

Hi there I'm in Port Hughes for work over the next 6 months and wanted to know where I can catch beach worms on the York Peninsula?

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, I've caught plenty of big YFW on these small worms.

The lug worms need a bait pump, but are also easy to collect and are definitely around Port Hughes. They are a bigger bait, but don't keep as well and can get a bit mushy. They also secrete a yellowy brown ooze that stains easily, making your fingers look like your a pack a day smoker.

The other option is pumping for nippers, which are plentiful around Port Hughes.

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.