sbarnden

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.

I measure it as a single with a gape the same size as across the two points on the treble.
 
But always need to check the action after to make sure it hasn't been compromised.

Then don't lift the fish up with the rod then. I often fish my light stick off jetties (7ft 3-14g cast weight) and unless it's a small and light fish, like gar or Tommy size I don't lift it with the rod, I either grab the line and hand line it up or use a drop net.
 
Just need to make a judgement on the size of the fish and how much of a bend it will put in the tip lifting it.

I measure it as a single with a gape the same size as across the two points on the treble.
 
But always need to check the action after to make sure it hasn't been compromised.

Then don't lift the fish up with the rod then. I often fish my light stick off jetties (7ft 3-14g cast weight) and unless it's a small and light fish, like gar or Tommy size I don't lift it with the rod, I either grab the line and hand line it up or use a drop net.
 
Just need to make a judgement on the size of the fish and how much of a bend it will put in the tip lifting it.

Then don't lift the fish up with the rod then. I often fish my light stick off jetties (7ft 3-14g cast weight) and unless it's a small and light fish, like gar or Tommy size I don't lift it with the rod, I either grab the line and hand line it up or use a drop net.
 
Just need to make a judgement on the size of the fish and how much of a bend it will put in the tip lifting it.

Then don't lift the fish up with the rod then. I often fish my light stick off jetties (7ft 3-14g cast weight) and unless it's a small and light fish, like gar or Tommy size I don't lift it with the rod, I either grab the line and hand line it up or use a drop net.
 
Just need to make a judgement on the size of the fish and how much of a bend it will put in the tip lifting it.

Just watched this from Totally Awesome Outdoors show (the new spin off from their Totally Awesome Fishing Show).
 

 
Making your own oil from fish guts. They are using it here for lamp oil but I'd guess its a ingredient in his personal secret oil blend previously featured on his shark fishing video's.
 
Anyone tried making their own oil from fish guts for burley instead of just buying tuna oil in bulk?

Just watched this from Totally Awesome Outdoors show (the new spin off from their Totally Awesome Fishing Show).
 

 
Making your own oil from fish guts. They are using it here for lamp oil but I'd guess its a ingredient in his personal secret oil blend previously featured on his shark fishing video's.
 
Anyone tried making their own oil from fish guts for burley instead of just buying tuna oil in bulk?

You can use a fly rod for yellow fin whiting. Especially if you don't mind polluting it with bait and making purist fly fishers gasp in shock and have a heart attack. Can be a great way to present a weightless or lightly weighted bait to the shallows where the whiting lurk.
 
But I would recommend a medium/light action general purpose travel rod outfit around 7ft with a 2500 size reel and 8lb line. Perfect for going for a walk flicking lures for salmon-trout or bream, or presenting light weight paternoster burley sinker rigs off jetties for tommies, silver whiting, gar and similar or stick float rigs for the same. Or chucking light sliding sinker rigs right in the shallows with live worms for yellow fin. Also good for throwing small squid jags either from the rocks or from the southern jetties off the end near the sea grass.
 
It's the snapper closed season but the charters will still be running for king George whiting, squid, gar and other basic bread and butter targets and would be a great way to get you onto them. If you want to more reliably catch something and learn the best techniques for them at the same time you are best getting a charter. I see charters as more of a fishing education thing than just transporting me to where the fish are and well worth the money when I could afford them.

Not the location you are after but my best success has been shore jigging for them while wading off Marino rocks.
 
Caught a lot on slim metal jigs such as leadfish and also silver halco twisters.
 
Definitely a viable target wading if you can cover rocky and weedy ground.
 
Had some nice follows and sightings wading on the northern flats out over the deeper weedbeds but not in the channels.

Not the location you are after but my best success has been shore jigging for them while wading off Marino rocks.
 
Caught a lot on slim metal jigs such as leadfish and also silver halco twisters.
 
Definitely a viable target wading if you can cover rocky and weedy ground.
 
Had some nice follows and sightings wading on the northern flats out over the deeper weedbeds but not in the channels.

Not the location you are after but my best success has been shore jigging for them while wading off Marino rocks.
 
Caught a lot on slim metal jigs such as leadfish and also silver halco twisters.
 
Definitely a viable target wading if you can cover rocky and weedy ground.
 
Had some nice follows and sightings wading on the northern flats out over the deeper weedbeds but not in the channels.

If you want to be dirt cheap fishing for a feed then you only need a few things, probably be able to set yourself up for under $20.
 
1) A hand caster. Usually can buy one rigged with a running sinker rig for a couple of dollars. Rods can help you cast farther and reels make it easier to retrieve and stay neat but just to catch fish a handcaster can do pretty much everything you would want from most shorelines, rocks, breakwaters and jetties.
2) A squid jig. Can buy a cheap jig for a couple of dollars which will work just as well as most of the expensive ones even if its not as pretty.
3) A selection of tackle odds and sorts. A spool of cheap bulk mono line. Hooks, can buy variety packs cheap enough. Sinkers, again a variety pack of ball sinkers cheap enough. Swivels, again, variety pack cheap. Floats, bubble, weighted casting, big squid floats. All pretty cheap again.
 
First, get yourself down a jetty or breakwater where there is ground that holds squid well within chucking range. Cut off the running sinker rig from the hand caster and tie on the squid jig. Chuck it out as far as possible and work it back with slow pulls pausing to wind the line up each time. If there are squid around you will get into some pretty quickly. You can set it under a float and chuck the whole thing out and wait if you're feeling lazy but you will get more bites if you constantly cast-retrieve.
 
Now you have plenty of squid tubes for the table and squid head and tentacles for bait.
 
Now you can cut the jag off and put on a rig of your choosing - running sinker, paternoster or float rig. Bait up with squid and start fishing. Almost everything loves fresh squid. You should be able to get into most fish.

Check out the kanalgratis YouTube channel in their tie tv section. Had a very good 'fly' they used in perch pro with a cone head, beads, Mylar tube, epoxy and their wiggle tails. Lots of other good patterns too.

All the advice I found when starting fly fishing was buy the best rod you can afford, then the best lines you can afford and finally whatever reel you can get with the money left over.
 
Unless you are chasing large game fish the reel is just a line storage device. If you are going to chase bigger fish which in SA would be large salmon, mullies, kingfish, snapper and tuna then you will be a better reel but anything large arbor with a smooth drag should do.
 
The insane prices for fly fishing gear is more of a status symbol than anything. Like it is in any hobby really.
 
I've caught up to some good sized barra on my entry level Orvis encounter 8wt combo with no issue.

All the advice I found when starting fly fishing was buy the best rod you can afford, then the best lines you can afford and finally whatever reel you can get with the money left over.
 
Unless you are chasing large game fish the reel is just a line storage device. If you are going to chase bigger fish which in SA would be large salmon, mullies, kingfish, snapper and tuna then you will be a better reel but anything large arbor with a smooth drag should do.
 
The insane prices for fly fishing gear is more of a status symbol than anything. Like it is in any hobby really.
 
I've caught up to some good sized barra on my entry level Orvis encounter 8wt combo with no issue.

All the advice I found when starting fly fishing was buy the best rod you can afford, then the best lines you can afford and finally whatever reel you can get with the money left over.
 
Unless you are chasing large game fish the reel is just a line storage device. If you are going to chase bigger fish which in SA would be large salmon, mullies, kingfish, snapper and tuna then you will be a better reel but anything large arbor with a smooth drag should do.
 
The insane prices for fly fishing gear is more of a status symbol than anything. Like it is in any hobby really.
 
I've caught up to some good sized barra on my entry level Orvis encounter 8wt combo with no issue.

Digging up an old topic,
 
Anyone given the Molix Supernato a go?

 
Love the idea of it being weedless for the deepest snaggiest sections and being able to adjust the sink rate by adding/removing water into the body.
 
Also liking the look of the new Jugulo "FS" with the weight at the back. Looks to be great casting lure for salmon into strong winds, wonder if its going to make it here to BCF and how long it will take.

 
Noticing a few in their global range that don't appear to have filtered through to our local distributor. The Audace range and Brigante for instance.

Have to remember that next time, and get some lip balm. Finns 40G is advertised as being so slick you can just pull the knots out, haven't got any to try it but planning on it for one of my setups.
 
Other than that I've also enjoyed using the cheaper fused braids. That extra stiffness goes a long way to reducing casting knots and haven't had many issues with it.

I've bulk spooled from quite a few 'reputable' tackleshops and found it to be pretty crap. Get heaps of casting knots, etc.
 
Cheap braid doesn't seem to last for me more than a year or two because of breakoffs and casting knots depleting the spool.
 
Power Pro has been good. Best braid I have and which I'm loving is Power Pro Bite Motion. Slick, thin, cast like a dream and almost never get a casting knot with it. On the exact same outfit with a spare spool I'm running a bulk spooled recommendation from a 'reputable' tackleshop which I get non-stop grief with. When I get the change I'm scrapping it and changing it to something new.
 
Want to give Finn's 40G a go as that looks nice. Other than that I've heard Ok things about 'Kast King' which you would have to get online but looks fairly affordable. Only downside is that they only do 'heavier' line classes starting at 10lb upward, so not for your finesse bream outfits. Gets very affordable though for their heavy bulk spools if you are doing jigging or game fishing. $80US for a 1000m of 8-carrier 80lb with free shipping. Haven't tried it myself but seen some positive reviews from guys out in the US on youtube, including some charter guides. http://www.kastking.com

I've bulk spooled from quite a few 'reputable' tackleshops and found it to be pretty crap. Get heaps of casting knots, etc.
 
Cheap braid doesn't seem to last for me more than a year or two because of breakoffs and casting knots depleting the spool.
 
Power Pro has been good. Best braid I have and which I'm loving is Power Pro Bite Motion. Slick, thin, cast like a dream and almost never get a casting knot with it. On the exact same outfit with a spare spool I'm running a bulk spooled recommendation from a 'reputable' tackleshop which I get non-stop grief with. When I get the change I'm scrapping it and changing it to something new.
 
Want to give Finn's 40G a go as that looks nice. Other than that I've heard Ok things about 'Kast King' which you would have to get online but looks fairly affordable. Only downside is that they only do 'heavier' line classes starting at 10lb upward, so not for your finesse bream outfits. Gets very affordable though for their heavy bulk spools if you are doing jigging or game fishing. $80US for a 1000m of 8-carrier 80lb with free shipping. Haven't tried it myself but seen some positive reviews from guys out in the US on youtube, including some charter guides. http://www.kastking.com

I've bulk spooled from quite a few 'reputable' tackleshops and found it to be pretty crap. Get heaps of casting knots, etc.
 
Cheap braid doesn't seem to last for me more than a year or two because of breakoffs and casting knots depleting the spool.
 
Power Pro has been good. Best braid I have and which I'm loving is Power Pro Bite Motion. Slick, thin, cast like a dream and almost never get a casting knot with it. On the exact same outfit with a spare spool I'm running a bulk spooled recommendation from a 'reputable' tackleshop which I get non-stop grief with. When I get the change I'm scrapping it and changing it to something new.
 
Want to give Finn's 40G a go as that looks nice. Other than that I've heard Ok things about 'Kast King' which you would have to get online but looks fairly affordable. Only downside is that they only do 'heavier' line classes starting at 10lb upward, so not for your finesse bream outfits. Gets very affordable though for their heavy bulk spools if you are doing jigging or game fishing. $80US for a 1000m of 8-carrier 80lb with free shipping. Haven't tried it myself but seen some positive reviews from guys out in the US on youtube, including some charter guides. http://www.kastking.com

I've got vision ikon breathable waders. Got them when I was fly fishing in Helsinki and love them. Feels just like wearing clothes and can layer what I've got under them for the temperature I expect. Don't think I could go to anything but breathable now because of the comfort and flexibility factor. Price is a bit of an issue though, waders and boots set me back about $500 off. Looking at getting some new lightweight shoes now for boating and kayaking which will be easier to swim in if I tip over and won't scratch the deck like my studded rock hopping boots would. The other big advantage with breathable, a lot safer if you wind up swimming in them!

I've got vision ikon breathable waders. Got them when I was fly fishing in Helsinki and love them. Feels just like wearing clothes and can layer what I've got under them for the temperature I expect. Don't think I could go to anything but breathable now because of the comfort and flexibility factor. Price is a bit of an issue though, waders and boots set me back about $500 off. Looking at getting some new lightweight shoes now for boating and kayaking which will be easier to swim in if I tip over and won't scratch the deck like my studded rock hopping boots would. The other big advantage with breathable, a lot safer if you wind up swimming in them!