2nd attempt

[Tezza]

Hi all,

I posted on 26/11 looking for advice about bream fishing, although I had Clyde River in the thread name of my post. Having had no responses at all I guess that noone really wants to talk about the Clyde.

I have had my boat in the water now and looked around the Clyde between Nelligen and Batemans Bay and I think I have found a couple of spots to try.

I would really like some info about which soft plastics to use as a beginner and how to rig them correctly.

I dont want to know about anyones secret spots, just some info aimed at a beginner.

I know I will need to put the hours in and am quite keen and prepared to do so.

Some (any) info about successful plastics or hard bodied techniques, especailly retrieve rates, rod and wrist actions etc would be good.

regards

Tezza

[dacobra]

Hi Tezza,

Go to the following site and read the three articles about
soft plastic fishing -

www.fishraider.com.au

I am an (ex) public servant and spent a lot of time trout fishing
with lures before chasing bream and lizards. The fishraider
articles helped me and I hope you pick up some pointers.

Shame you are so far away as we have a few things in common.

Good fishing!

[Aquaholic]

Mate get yourself the Squidgie video (part 1 - The Basics). It will show you how to rig a soft plastic and also an idea on how to retrieve the plastic.

As for proven plastics - I still find it hard to go past the Berkeley 2" Power grubs in Pumpkinseed and the Red/Smoke Glitter.

One tip on rigging - make sure the tail of the plastic wriggles on the drop. I find most of my hits are on the drop straight after the lure has hit the water, so if your tail isn't working, then it will not appear as attractive to the fish,

Hope this helps

Billy K

[eddystone]

Hi,

I would recommend gettin squidgies secrets 2. I hired the dvd and it has both volume 1 and 2!!! Not sure what the VHS has if it only has volume 2 or what.

If you do have to choose get volume one as there is heaps more relative info.

This is a good tape but this doesn't mean you have to buy squidgies. These texhniques will work with other sp's too.

Atomic fat grubs in 2" and 1.5" sliders are both good.

hope this helps
eddystone

[zimeric]

well in terms of spots, i think you cant go past any substantial structure - trees, logs etc
if there is manmade structure such as boat houses bridges etc they are even better as the bream congregate to feed off the bits n peices that make these structures home.
Water levels - high tide is best i think
Water colour - clearer water is more difficult to fish shallow as the fish spook easier but in 3 metres or more its great as you can see the fish and they arent as skittish.
dirty water is great as well but needs to be fished more intelligently. hardbodies are good - worked nice nslow so the fish can find them

ive also found that colour isnt so much of an issue on dirty or tannin stained water - except of course the real garish ones that never catch anyway!

hope that helps!

[Tezza]

Thanks dacobra, Billy K, eddystone and zimeric, some good tips there. My kids have decided to buy me a package that Shimano have put together which has a 6'6" Shimano Taipan Rod with a reel, the DVD with Squidgee secrets pt 1 and 2, some squidgees, a cap etc, so I guess that I will be set up somewhat come xmas.

Unfortunately, I cant watch the DVD till then but I guess by the new year the kids won't ever let me watch it again because they will be sick of it.

In any event, I was particularly interested to hear that a lot of fish get caught on the drop. Is this because the cast has taken the lure right in close to the structure and it has bounced back doen the rocks or pylons or whatever, and that is where the fish are congregarting? What about retrieve rates across the bottom, is slower better?

I was also interested to hear that there are many soft plastics that will work. I just read in the latest Modern Fishing mag that some longer soft plastics are working and that most bream will take such lures head first. Is this the case also with the smaller lures in your collective experiences?

Anyway, its getting late and one must go back to work tomorrow so I must be off. Once again, thanks for the info, hope to catch up with you again soon and I look forward to posting my own photo showing my first bream on soft plastics.

Also good to know that dacobra is/was a public servant too. We are not such bad blokes either! I will certainly check out fishraider!

Regards

Tezza

Gday.
IMO the reason many fish are caught on the drop is that this imitates an injured fish in the most realistic way. if youhave ever seen an injured fish drop throught the water coloumn this makes sense. This is even more conclusive when using Jerk/Stick Baits.

You cant got wrong with Ecogear's range of platics mate. Id try the Paramax and Grassminnows to begin with. Watermelon and Watermelon/Pearl is a killer colour.

HTH

Dave

[Tezza]

Thanks Dave, I guess it stands to reason that if the lure makes a little frantic movement on the way down that it should look like a wounded baitfish.

Are there any tricks to imparting the right type of movement on the way down?

And what about when you reach the bottom, do you let the lure stop for a while and retrieve slow or do you move the lure in small steps towards you?

On another note, dacobra told me to go and look at some pages on fishraider.com.au however I can't seem to get to the page, does anyone know if the site is down or moved?

regards

Tezza

[dacobra]

Hi Tezza,

Sorry mate - its www.fishraider.com

Go to the site then click on articles and read the 3 soft plastic
pieces.

Good fishing.

Not a problem at all mate.
I personally, cast at my structure and allow the plastic to drop all the way down along the structure (pylon most commonly), and then pause when it reaches the bottom. Then a couple of light jigs, then pause, and so on till my lure is well out of the strike zone. The pause as the lure slowly goes to the bottom and sits one the bottom is when most strikes occur. I leave a small amount of slack in my line and watch it carefully looking for any movement in it which indicates interest from fish.
Its not easy to explain, but once seen in real life, it is pretty simple.
HTH

Dave