MAH

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.

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 balanced in the water, so when working the jig you get a better darting action which can get more strikes from timid squid. The build quality of the expensive jigs is also better and tends to last better, the crowns are less likely to rust and I find the cloths get torn up less (not an issue if fishing nude jigs).

But I'm not paying $20+ for expensive jigs, I'm paying $10-$12.

1 hour ago, Softy said:

I've only ever gone a rod length of leader.. Don't like the knot on the spool and possible memory in the leader being wrapped on the spool?

Actually surprised to hear you run that much leader Kuerschie..

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.

4 hours ago, Soobz said:

Seacliff - launch in front of the Surf Lifesaving Club, head towards the black pole to the SE. Good squidding there if it's clear water, no need to go past the pole. Keep an eye out for lazy/stupid boaties that sometimes come too close at speed and throw up big wakes.

Do yourself a favour and practice a capsize recovery in shallow/calm water before taking on any waves, particularly if you are not a strong swimmer.

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  circumnavigating islands in West Papua. I still practice capsize and re-entry. As a kid we owned and sailed a Mirror dinghy, the same principle applied and my sailing school made us practice all the time. Even if there was no wind, they would tow us out and we would drill capsize and re-entry over and over again. I've had to call upon my skills many times and would have been in serious trouble if not well drilled.

I make my son practice regularly, even though he hates doing it. One thing I drum into him is never let go of the boat, not only is something you can rest upon, but a kayak is more visible than a person bobbing up and down in the water. Remember that once you flip your capsized kayak back over, if there is a strong wind or swell. your kayak can shoot off from you much faster than you can swim.

It sounds boring, but always plan for safety first and fishing second. Have a plan for the day, where you will be fishing, what time you will launch and return, etc, and make sure someone knows your plan. if you change your plan, let someone know (take your mobile phone with you in a waterproof pouch). Make sure you have all you safety gear packed before you start packing fishing gear. And do a safety check before you launch, bung in - check, hatches secure - check, etc.

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, the first jig of the line releases the squid jig so it's point the the right direction again.

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 just swap reels (if only spare spools were readily available and affordable!). On the occasion when I have swapped out a reel, I haven't noticed much difference when swapping out a larger reel for a smaller reel.

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;

1. I'm not as confident about self servicing the reel and need the special oil
2. 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 protection from the occasional dunking is a significant issue, counterintuitively, I favour simpler reels. I have a Shimano Sienna and a Sedona that I use when kayak fishing and they get a lot of spray and the occasional dunking. Both reels are poor at keeping the water out, but if dunked are super simple to strip down, clean and re-grease. Downside to such simple reels, is they are not are not very refined. The new Sahara FJ has a nice seat of features, including a screw in handle, but is still nice and simple (but the weight and line retrieve might not match you needs). You can buy one from an OS store for $105 landed, or buy 2 ($202 landed) and not only do you have a spare spool, but you have another body for spare parts!

Just my thoughts.

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.