yellow door 1

The new elasticated leader spool maintenance system made from a sushi soy sauce bottle lid
 

 

Yeah although the soy sauce bottle lure worked - it wasnt because it was a good idea😉 

Basically had to burn it through schools of ravenous redfin and hope one didnt look at it too long before deciding to strike😉

So those lids were begging to be repurposed

 
 

Yeah although the soy sauce bottle lure worked - it wasnt because it was a good idea😉 

Basically had to burn it through schools of ravenous redfin and hope one didnt look at it too long before deciding to strike😉

So those lids were begging to be repurposed

 
 

Always inventive 😀

The only scent Ive tested then not used again was the clear liquid "stimulate".

When that "Mark Berg" infomercial came out - talking about pheromones etc - I had to get some
My test was on hoards of tiny bream in clear shallows. I was watching them from a bridge. They were happy to peck away at my unscented lure but when I put the stimulate on, they were actually backing off it when I dead sticked the lure. 
I gave it a couple of hours, targeting different schools then never used it again. By the end of that session I was thinking they should explore this recipe for possible uses as a shark repellent
That was the first generation of ultra bite though. The clear stuff in the little rectangular plastic squeeze bottle.

Im aware some people liked it - but watching bream after bream back off it, made me think the Yarra bream didnt
 

I like the "pro cure" range of prey specific scents - I dont think they are made from Aussie ingrediants - they used to just put little sticker with the Aussie names for baits over the top of the USA names.

Some successful Victorian tournament anglers use it without any sponsorship deals or financial ties clouding the waters.

But after re-reading Dr Ben Diggles' history of Squidgey scent - I'll be giving it another crack.

I wasnt fully aware of the amount of testing and trials it went through - I just remember guys jokingly refer to it as Chicken Fat
 
 

Ive used it and it hasnt hurt cath rates

Heres a brief history of the development of the scent by Dr Ben Diggles -

"Of the 21 different products that I trialled, 19 did nothing and around 15 actually repelled the fish (i.e. they were less likely to take objects introduced into the tanks afterwards). "
Ben D 16-04-2008, 09:16 PM Great to see some debate on lure attractants. Its clear from some of the replies here that there is a need for a fair bit of education on the matter. Basically I spend a lot of my time working in aquaculture dealing with sick fish which will not take their medicine, because the medicine tastes bad. Over the years we have tried various methods of masking the taste of some of the medications, and in doing so I have become quite well acquainted with how taste and smell receptors in fish work and what compounds trigger them. After trialling various fish attractants which are available off the shelf in the recreational fishing market, in the laboratory with aussie fish (aussie bass, bream, mulloway, snapper and barra, as well as others), I was not impressed. Of the 21 different products that I trialled, 19 did nothing and around 15 actually repelled the fish (i.e. they were less likely to take objects introduced into the tanks afterwards). All of the repellents were based on smelly fish oil derivatives of one sort or another. Other stuff that didn’t work fell off the test substrate used so fast I reckon the fish didn’t get a chance to taste it at all.

From this problem S-factor was developed. Over a period of 18 months in the laboratory testing hundreds of synthetic compounds and carriers on bream, snapper, barra, aussie bass and mulloway, I developed an attractant which is a balanced mixture of compounds designed to work in synergy while slowly releasing from the lure and triggering the taste receptors of aussie fish – in other words, they enjoy the taste and anything coated with the compound rings the dinner bell. To give an example of how effective this can be, I have coated soft plastics, hard plastics and even small pebbles with the attractant and thrown them into the testing tanks. The fish (all species) happily eat the coated items and in many cases the treated item comes out the back door 2 days later. Uncoated items which are otherwise identical are spat out within one or two seconds. This is the basic science behind the S-factor attractant that has been acquired by squidgy in their pro range.

So if the debate is on whether s-factor “works”, its a no brainer. There is scientifically rigorous laboratory data which says it does, and this is was backed up by a large amount of field testing by the squidgy team. I admit some of their results while using it have been remarkable. Bushy was originally a skeptic (he’d tried lots of the commercially available attractants in the past and saw no real effect), but he reported back that he had some days where he caught and released over 200 bream, all on lures using s-factor, when others were struggling to get a fish. I must say when I use it I notice I get more bites and the fish hold onto the lure longer, and/or come back to hit the lure repeatedly until they get hooked up. This means I catch more fish, but based on my past performances I’m not likely to hit a 200 bream day in a hurry. So to me this suggests that other factors come into play – s-factor will not manufacture fish when they’re not around, and angler skill will always play a role, but an effective attractant like 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.

Of course, no product is perfect, and like all products in the tackle industry there is continual development to make them better, that is why I asked those anglers who think S-factor is rubbish, please indicate why you think this is so. You may be surprised how closely tackle manufacturers monitor these forums.

Ive used it and it hasnt hurt cath rates

Heres a brief history of the development of the scent by Dr Ben Diggles -

"Of the 21 different products that I trialled, 19 did nothing and around 15 actually repelled the fish (i.e. they were less likely to take objects introduced into the tanks afterwards). "
Ben D 16-04-2008, 09:16 PM Great to see some debate on lure attractants. Its clear from some of the replies here that there is a need for a fair bit of education on the matter. Basically I spend a lot of my time working in aquaculture dealing with sick fish which will not take their medicine, because the medicine tastes bad. Over the years we have tried various methods of masking the taste of some of the medications, and in doing so I have become quite well acquainted with how taste and smell receptors in fish work and what compounds trigger them. After trialling various fish attractants which are available off the shelf in the recreational fishing market, in the laboratory with aussie fish (aussie bass, bream, mulloway, snapper and barra, as well as others), I was not impressed. Of the 21 different products that I trialled, 19 did nothing and around 15 actually repelled the fish (i.e. they were less likely to take objects introduced into the tanks afterwards). All of the repellents were based on smelly fish oil derivatives of one sort or another. Other stuff that didn’t work fell off the test substrate used so fast I reckon the fish didn’t get a chance to taste it at all.

From this problem S-factor was developed. Over a period of 18 months in the laboratory testing hundreds of synthetic compounds and carriers on bream, snapper, barra, aussie bass and mulloway, I developed an attractant which is a balanced mixture of compounds designed to work in synergy while slowly releasing from the lure and triggering the taste receptors of aussie fish – in other words, they enjoy the taste and anything coated with the compound rings the dinner bell. To give an example of how effective this can be, I have coated soft plastics, hard plastics and even small pebbles with the attractant and thrown them into the testing tanks. The fish (all species) happily eat the coated items and in many cases the treated item comes out the back door 2 days later. Uncoated items which are otherwise identical are spat out within one or two seconds. This is the basic science behind the S-factor attractant that has been acquired by squidgy in their pro range.

So if the debate is on whether s-factor “works”, its a no brainer. There is scientifically rigorous laboratory data which says it does, and this is was backed up by a large amount of field testing by the squidgy team. I admit some of their results while using it have been remarkable. Bushy was originally a skeptic (he’d tried lots of the commercially available attractants in the past and saw no real effect), but he reported back that he had some days where he caught and released over 200 bream, all on lures using s-factor, when others were struggling to get a fish. I must say when I use it I notice I get more bites and the fish hold onto the lure longer, and/or come back to hit the lure repeatedly until they get hooked up. This means I catch more fish, but based on my past performances I’m not likely to hit a 200 bream day in a hurry. So to me this suggests that other factors come into play – s-factor will not manufacture fish when they’re not around, and angler skill will always play a role, but an effective attractant like 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.

Of course, no product is perfect, and like all products in the tackle industry there is continual development to make them better, that is why I asked those anglers who think S-factor is rubbish, please indicate why you think this is so. You may be surprised how closely tackle manufacturers monitor these forums.

Ive used it and it hasnt hurt cath rates

Heres a brief history of the development of the scent by Dr Ben Diggles -

"Of the 21 different products that I trialled, 19 did nothing and around 15 actually repelled the fish (i.e. they were less likely to take objects introduced into the tanks afterwards). "
Ben D 16-04-2008, 09:16 PM Great to see some debate on lure attractants. Its clear from some of the replies here that there is a need for a fair bit of education on the matter. Basically I spend a lot of my time working in aquaculture dealing with sick fish which will not take their medicine, because the medicine tastes bad. Over the years we have tried various methods of masking the taste of some of the medications, and in doing so I have become quite well acquainted with how taste and smell receptors in fish work and what compounds trigger them. After trialling various fish attractants which are available off the shelf in the recreational fishing market, in the laboratory with aussie fish (aussie bass, bream, mulloway, snapper and barra, as well as others), I was not impressed. Of the 21 different products that I trialled, 19 did nothing and around 15 actually repelled the fish (i.e. they were less likely to take objects introduced into the tanks afterwards). All of the repellents were based on smelly fish oil derivatives of one sort or another. Other stuff that didn’t work fell off the test substrate used so fast I reckon the fish didn’t get a chance to taste it at all.

From this problem S-factor was developed. Over a period of 18 months in the laboratory testing hundreds of synthetic compounds and carriers on bream, snapper, barra, aussie bass and mulloway, I developed an attractant which is a balanced mixture of compounds designed to work in synergy while slowly releasing from the lure and triggering the taste receptors of aussie fish – in other words, they enjoy the taste and anything coated with the compound rings the dinner bell. To give an example of how effective this can be, I have coated soft plastics, hard plastics and even small pebbles with the attractant and thrown them into the testing tanks. The fish (all species) happily eat the coated items and in many cases the treated item comes out the back door 2 days later. Uncoated items which are otherwise identical are spat out within one or two seconds. This is the basic science behind the S-factor attractant that has been acquired by squidgy in their pro range.

So if the debate is on whether s-factor “works”, its a no brainer. There is scientifically rigorous laboratory data which says it does, and this is was backed up by a large amount of field testing by the squidgy team. I admit some of their results while using it have been remarkable. Bushy was originally a skeptic (he’d tried lots of the commercially available attractants in the past and saw no real effect), but he reported back that he had some days where he caught and released over 200 bream, all on lures using s-factor, when others were struggling to get a fish. I must say when I use it I notice I get more bites and the fish hold onto the lure longer, and/or come back to hit the lure repeatedly until they get hooked up. This means I catch more fish, but based on my past performances I’m not likely to hit a 200 bream day in a hurry. So to me this suggests that other factors come into play – s-factor will not manufacture fish when they’re not around, and angler skill will always play a role, but an effective attractant like 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.

Of course, no product is perfect, and like all products in the tackle industry there is continual development to make them better, that is why I asked those anglers who think S-factor is rubbish, please indicate why you think this is so. You may be surprised how closely tackle manufacturers monitor these forums.

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
 

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.



 

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.

No gut bruises off this guy tonight😉. He was hanging out with a bunch of perch 

No gut bruises off this guy tonight😉. He was hanging out with a bunch of perch 

I put this post up in a Facebook group last Autumn ...
 
HAND CAUGHT YELLOW FIN WHITING
As the YFW lure fishing season is starting to wane when Autumn progresses.
I resort to catching them by hand!
At this time of the year YFW are more active in the evening tide and into the night.
They have shifted from their major meal of the day being Breakfast to now being Dinner.
It is not so much water temperatures. But rather it is all to do with the tide cycles.
The YFW behaviour is as strongly driven by the tide cycles as much as it is driven by the water temperatures.
Autumn water temperatures are still holding above 20C and their metabolism and appetites have not yet slowed down.
The evening tide is now the larger more dominant tide. YFW use the largest tide on the day to access many otherwise inaccessible feeding areas.
Their daily feeding cycle and movements have now changed to feeding more in the evenings using the larger evening tides of Autumn.
Morning runoff tides and mid day lure sessions are far less productive now. The better lure fishing sessions now occur during the evening run in tide.
Particularly an evening after a warm day with a strengthening evening breeze and a large tide pushing through the mangroves.
.
However there is only a limited opportunity for lure fishing, before night falls. Whiting Lures don’t work in the dark, and so bait fishing for YFW in the night run off tide is very productive this time of the year  …  Or alternatively for a challenge catching them by hand.
 
In a previous post on YFW Habitats and the food source they held,  I covered a favourite YFW food item. Haswell’s crabs.  ….
It is their love of these little critters that gives you the opportunity to Hand Catch a few YFW at this time of the year.
Under the cover of darkness in the evening tide, the YFW will hang back in the very shallow waters of the littoral zone, as the tide drops. In the narrow channels that run between the Samphire beds.
They wait for the Haswells mud crabs to emerge from their mud holes, that are under and around the samphire beds.  They YFW will linger a long time amongst the samphire beds. A long time after the high tide has dropped, and in very shallow water.

If you are equipped with a bright headlight you can momentarily hold a stunned YFW (not Mullet!) in the shallows long enough to try and grab him.
 
I missed a few by hand tonight. A very still evening meant the tide did not push in as high and not as many fish came in. But nonetheless I managed to catch a dozen on bait in the couple of hours after dark.

 
Try hand catching. A good fun alternative to lure fishing them.
 

 
Cheers, Des

A lot of tools you swing have a fat bit at the end - so do my rods 
I originally used fat bits of cork because my guts would get bruised during Jewie season. (I used to fish for them regularly with heavy live bait gear)
Jabbing the rod butt into your guts on the strike and holding it there during the fight can leave a mark with skinny,/poorly shaped or metal butt caps. 
 
I always fish around structure so you have to hit them hard and fight them hard when using heavy-ish bait gear. In one spot I have to strike, then run 30m up the bank, to change the line angle, so I had a chance at getting them out. It was a clumsy affair with lots of adrenaline based gut jabbing. So by the end of the season it was hard to find a spot that isn’t bruised, to rest the rod on. 
 
that’s when I started thinking about comfortable butt caps
The added bonus I hadn’t considered was the ergonomics of having a fatter butt while casting. My rods had slight tapers before I shortened them. But making the butt fatter means you don’t grip as hard. 
 
it not a huge deal but it is noticeable- and it was a pleasant surprise the first time I used one - even my bream rods have them now
 

A lot of tools you swing have a fat bit at the end - so do my rods 
I originally used fat bits of cork because my guts would get bruised during Jewie season. (I used to fish for them regularly with heavy live bait gear)
Jabbing the rod butt into your guts on the strike and holding it there during the fight can leave a mark with skinny,/poorly shaped or metal butt caps. 
 
I always fish around structure so you have to hit them hard and fight them hard when using heavy-ish bait gear. In one spot I have to strike, then run 30m up the bank, to change the line angle, so I had a chance at getting them out. It was a clumsy affair with lots of adrenaline based gut jabbing. So by the end of the season it was hard to find a spot that isn’t bruised, to rest the rod on. 
 
that’s when I started thinking about comfortable butt caps
The added bonus I hadn’t considered was the ergonomics of having a fatter butt while casting. My rods had slight tapers before I shortened them. But making the butt fatter means you don’t grip as hard. 
 
it not a huge deal but it is noticeable- and it was a pleasant surprise the first time I used one - even my bream rods have them now
 

A lot of tools you swing have a fat bit at the end - so do my rods 
I originally used fat bits of cork because my guts would get bruised during Jewie season. (I used to fish for them regularly with heavy live bait gear)
Jabbing the rod butt into your guts on the strike and holding it there during the fight can leave a mark with skinny,/poorly shaped or metal butt caps. 
 
I always fish around structure so you have to hit them hard and fight them hard when using heavy-ish bait gear. In one spot I have to strike, then run 30m up the bank, to change the line angle, so I had a chance at getting them out. It was a clumsy affair with lots of adrenaline based gut jabbing. So by the end of the season it was hard to find a spot that isn’t bruised, to rest the rod on. 
 
that’s when I started thinking about comfortable butt caps
The added bonus I hadn’t considered was the ergonomics of having a fatter butt while casting. My rods had slight tapers before I shortened them. But making the butt fatter means you don’t grip as hard. 
 
it not a huge deal but it is noticeable- and it was a pleasant surprise the first time I used one - even my bream rods have them now
 

A lot of tools you swing have a fat bit at the end - so do my rods 
I originally used fat bits of cork because my guts would get bruised during Jewie season. (I used to fish for them regularly with heavy live bait gear)
Jabbing the rod butt into your guts on the strike and holding it there during the fight can leave a mark with skinny,/poorly shaped or metal butt caps. 
 
I always fish around structure so you have to hit them hard and fight them hard when using heavy-ish bait gear. In one spot I have to strike, then run 30m up the bank, to change the line angle, so I had a chance at getting them out. It was a clumsy affair with lots of adrenaline based gut jabbing. So by the end of the season it was hard to find a spot that isn’t bruised, to rest the rod on. 
 
that’s when I started thinking about comfortable butt caps
The added bonus I hadn’t considered was the ergonomics of having a fatter butt while casting. My rods had slight tapers before I shortened them. But making the butt fatter means you don’t grip as hard. 
 
it not a huge deal but it is noticeable- and it was a pleasant surprise the first time I used one - even my bream rods have them now
 

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.

Awesome tips and insights there Des.👍



 

SUNSHINE … ON MY SHOULDERS MAKES ME HAPPY
.
I had checked the weather ahead for this week.
And I could see there was a spell of Sunshine ahead.
So I managed to rearrange my week and set off fishing on this Sunny day.
It was such an enjoyable day, fishing in the brilliant sunny conditions today. And there were some good results.
.
 
Here are a few reasons why sunny days are great for lure fishing Yellow Fin Whiting on the Sandflats.
.
Simply put, on sunny days you will catch more Yellow Fin Whiting !
There is the extra warmth in the water that a sunny day adds. Increasing the fish metabolism and their eagerness to feed.
There is usually much better water clarity on sunny days.
Your lures are so much more visible to the fish.
Bright sunshine will also reflect a lot more off your lures, gaining the fish’s attention from a long way off.
Fish will notice your lure from a much greater distance, and often come hurtling in, at right angles from afar. Most often this happens very late in your retrieve.
Importantly, strong sunshine produces an extra “attractant”. Another stimulus. Something extra for YFW to chase.
The strong overhead sunlight casts a strong shadow from your lure onto the sand below. The stronger the sunshine, the stronger the shadow, and the stronger the stimulus.
Yes, in bright sunshine, you will often see whiting chase the lure shadow cast onto the sand. They will chase and frustratingly grab at the shadow along the sand, before looking up and striking the lure above.
.
The sunny days also provides the fisher with better visibility.
One can clearly see all the terrain on the sandflats. It is much easier to identify and target your casts to known fish holding spots.
Structures like sand steps, shallow ledges, gutters and channels can all be easily seen and cast towards.
You can spot fish a lot easier and further away, in bright sunshine without disturbing them.
Sight casting your lures to and hooking up visible fish while wading the shallows is such a thrill.
The greater visibility of the lure, the chase, the strike, the runs and the fight of the hooked fish, all enhances the experience for the fisher.
It is so much more fun in Sunshine.
.
But really, on these days, it does not matter if you don’t catch fish ! Sunshine on your shoulder just makes you happy.
.
This day started with light winds creating a strong ripple on the surface, under the bright sunshine of a clear blue sky of a hot day.
Clear or lighter coloured lures work better in strong sunshine for me.
These were my successful lures today.

 
Zipbaits Skinny Pop and Fakie Dog DS in their clear colours took fish.
 

Smaller lures are easily seen in bright sunshine, and are a bit more subtle in the high visibility and light wind conditions. .
A new lure I tried for the first time today; Zipbaits ZBL Zoea Lipple 45F Floating Lure Col:248. A small juvenile shrimp imitation worked very well. I think they may have been designed for Bream but I knew they would catch YFW on days like today.

 
Jackson Ebi Panic in the clear colour comes to the fore in these conditions.
The ever reliable Sugapen in MB16 was still producing the goods. Although it was the smaller 70mm that was successful rather than my fave size, the 95mm.

.
As every thing is seen so much clearer on these days, I don’t like to give shy fish a second look at the lure immediately. If they have chased the lure and have not committed, my next cast will be 90 degrees away to let them settle before I cast back at them. On windy and cloudier days fish are more aggressive and you can send repetitive casts their way with out scaring them off.
.
The breeze died down later in the afternoon. And the water had glassed off.  Fish were getting timid, not hooking up well with many dropped fish.
I finished with 16 fish. Ranging in size, from 30 to 40CM. With 5 fish around the 40cm mark.
.
Sunshine on my shoulder made me very happy on this day.
Cheers, Des
 

I made up a few last night and it renewed my hatred of working with tiny split rings
So I made up these rings.
Too weak for attaching a hook to but plenty strong for the spinning blades