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Got a question or maybe an answer? This is the place to share your experience and get some help from other readers.
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 What are the best soft plastics for flathead and bream?Craig Gibbs writes: Hi, I'm just starting to realise that the soft plastics that everybody is raving about actually do work, judging by all the feed back I'm gathering from different manuals and fishing mags, etc. My question is, can somebody tell me what the best "plastics" are (colours as well) for use on flathead and what the best ones are for bream? I'm presuming these things have seperate names for identification purposes so rather than going into a tackle shop and buying blind if I could ask for specific pieces it would be much easier. Also is a special rig used for these things or do you just tie them on, jig them a little and hang on? Thanks, Craig. (30 October 2002) Harry replies: Yes, soft plastics do work well for flathead and bream. I've found the "Squidgees" woork particularly well for flathead, simply casting out, allowing to sink and slowly retrieving them works really well. You can add a few occassional really small twitches of the rod tip which will induce some really hard hits. Use a short length of heavy nylon leader material (around 15 kg) tied on with an Albright knot to protect from cut offs. Avoid steel traces. Squidgees of any size are excellent in natural colours (personal preference) and use the basic lead head jigs available, rigging them so there aren't any bends in the soft body. They are already scented so you don't need to add any. For bream I've found better results from the small bream grubs by "Slider" to be really good around structures such as bridge pylons, etc. Use the smallest lead jig heads you can cast to the structure and let them free fall to the bottom. With each cast use the same technique several times then try something a little different until you find what works. Use at least a dozen casts to a likely spot before moving on to the next. Try a little Halco catch scent with these little grubs... just rub a little in. For colours try red, brown, and the "prawn looking" green colours for starters. When using these little jigs, run on faith that they work until you actually catch a few... it's just trying to work out your technique in the beginning, but they will work as well as, or better than, other conventional methods. You'll need a fairly light weight rod with a fast or extra fast taper set up with a small threadline reel (1500-2000 size - I use a Penn Spinfisher and a few different rods like the Daiwa Pro-caster X) and 3 kg line with a flourocarbon leader of around 6 kg breaking strain tied on with an Albright knot. Hope this helps, Good luck. (19 November 2002) Peter Jolly replies: I have used soft plastics on flathead for about 5 or 6 years now and by far the best one I have found is the Mr Twister brand, they are just a basic twin tail lure with a lead head that you get in a pack from KMart. The best colour I have used is a black body, black lead head with a pink eye, I have used as many colours as I can find and the black ones out fish them 3 to 1, possibly the contrast makes the difference. The rigs I use are a bit different than Harry's (see above), most of the time I use steel trace (fine guage) with a black plastic coating on it or just the line straight to a snap swivel. I have not used them much at all on bream so I really can't comment on that one. They are great fun to use and are cheaper than bait, especially on flathead. (25 November 2002) Glenn Dingle writes: I am taking the kids to Docklands to fish this weekend, I keep reading about soft plastics to be used for bait. Are these a still bait like frozen prawns or are they meant to be retrieved as a lure type bait? (29 November 2002) DON'T FORGET TO TRY OUR NEW ONLINE FORUMS FOR QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS AS WELL! If you have any answers for Craig or any other questions or comments, use our contributor's form and be in the running for some great monthly prizes. |
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