How long do you give a lure before you cut it off?

[donga]

Well I've come to the realization that I totally suck at catching bream on lures. Its about 10 trips now I haven't caught a bream. I mean I'd be happy with a by catch of a 10kg mulloway once in a while but I've been well and truly bleeding Quite literally yesterday after I cut my foot haha.

My question is, being landbased, how long do you keep throwing the same lure before you give change it? I usually keep the same lure on, walk up the river for aslong as I go and on my way back I will try another lure. Unless I get snagged or cast it into a tree

Does having experience and knowing what type, or what colour allow you to keep the same lure on all session, as you KNOW that if there is fish there they will eat it? I do try to vary my retrieves as much as I can but its proving fruitless.

I'd like to here your thoughts as to be honest bream on lures to me is starting to become a hassle. It used to be very therapeutic for me to walk the bank fishing, even if I wasn't catching fish. Now its getting to the point where its frustrating and my confidence/patience is wearing very thin. Even to the point I'm considering selling some of my gear off.

Thanks for your time

[sexton]

I think we would all be happy with a 10kg Mulloway as a by-catch

Don't sell your gear mate keep at it. Things will fall into place soon. Don't give up!
The main thing is confidence...Don't loose it, because as soon as you do, the fishing will fall down hill massively!

With time on the water your experience will grow

Put the word out and seek to go fishing with someone else who is experienced and does well in your area. Perth can be a hard place to fish. Keep going, the rewards will come soon enough.

As for changing lures, I tend to stick with my confidence lures that I know catch fish. But after an hour or so of no action on my chosen lure then I will change lures to something else. Sometimes a slight difference in size of lure or colour can be a turning point. In clear water I like to use more natural colours and in dirty/murky water I like to use darker solid colours like good old Carmen Red. That colour never seems to fail.

The tides have been really low in the mornings lately, so maybe fishing later in the day as the tide has risen a bit could see the fish being more active...Just a thought.

[jackdawg]

I'll change the lure I'm throwing every 10 to 15 minutes if I have not caught a fish, change for depth and action mainly. Once a lure catches a fish I generally leave it on until I have not caught anything for a while.

[Shortly]

I said this to someone else recently and im going to say it again.

Take a day out of your life and go and fish Moore River.

When I first started fishing with lures in March last year I wasn't catching anything. I was a true at heart bait fisho and had no confidence what so ever in catching bream on these stupid plastic lures and couldn't imagine why a bream would choose plastic over the real thing.

Then, one day, my partner said come on were going to Moore River. I used zman 2 inch in motor oil and every third cast I was pulling in a bream. I gained confidence in the lures and realised it wasnt anything I was doing wrong. I just had the wrong mind set.

The following weekend we fished the Swan and i started catching bream on soft plastics, then flathead and grunter. On Wednesday I caught my biggest bream (32cm) on a hard body.

Sorry for the life story but I truly believe I would of given up plastics if i hadn't proven to myself at Moore River that I could catch fish on them.

Now to answer your question, there is no set time to change your lure, there are times we go through 10 lures in a day swapping between them to catch a bream, sometimes it works, sometimes we still get nothing. The swan is a hard place to catch a bream when your a beginner on plastics.

Make a time limit yourself, say every 10 casts or so change your lure.
If the water is clear use a clear/natural colour lure, if its cloudy use a darker lure, its just a matter of trial and error to see what the fish want if anything.

[donga]

Originally Posted by sexton

The main thing is confidence...Don't loose it, because as soon as you do, the fishing will fall down hill massively!

With time on the water your experience will grow

Thanks for the reply

I know what you mean about confidence. When I was fishing consistently a few years back, I started to get some consistency. Even outfished mates with bait at times! Was a great feeling. With every cast there was an energy and enthusiasm that the next big one could be just a cast away. Now when I cast out, theres nothing. No excitement, no hope really just a feeling I'm wasting my time! Not a good feeling, takes the fun out of it. I hate to say it, but Im starting to enjoy sitting on the bank and soaking a bait more than lures, and that's not a road I want to go down!! Goes against everything I've known

Ive been trying to figure out where im going wrong. I know the lures I have catch fish. Ive tried longer leaders, every retrieve I can think of, different times of the day and tides. Sunny, overcast, windy, dead calm, light rain....

Might take your advice and try tomorrow afternoon. See how it goes

Im heading to Exmouth in March, Im hoping I can atleast catch something there, haven't been up there in a few years hope this pattern doesn't continue with the pelagic species!

Cheers

[donga]

Originally Posted by Shortly

I said this to someone else recently and im going to say it again.

Take a day out of your life and go and fish Moore River.

When I first started fishing with lures in March last year I wasn't catching anything. I was a true at heart bait fisho and had no confidence what so ever in catching bream on these stupid plastic lures and couldn't imagine why a bream would choose plastic over the real thing.

Then, one day, my partner said come on were going to Moore River. I used zman 2 inch in motor oil and every third cast I was pulling in a bream. I gained confidence in the lures and realised it wasnt anything I was doing wrong. I just had the wrong mind set.

The following weekend we fished the Swan and i started catching bream on soft plastics, then flathead and grunter. On Wednesday I caught my biggest bream (32cm) on a hard body.

Sorry for the life story but I truly believe I would of given up plastics if i hadn't proven to myself at Moore River that I could catch fish on them.

Now to answer your question, there is no set time to change your lure, there are times we go through 10 lures in a day swapping between them to catch a bream, sometimes it works, sometimes we still get nothing. The swan is a hard place to catch a bream when your a beginner on plastics.

Make a time limit yourself, say every 10 casts or so change your lure.
If the water is clear use a clear/natural colour lure, if its cloudy use a darker lure, its just a matter of trial and error to see what the fish want if anything.

Thanks mate

Yeah I have tried the Moore at time, although not recently. Even when I was catching Bream in the Swan I Couldn't manage to figure the Moore out. Hired a Kayak there (which was terrible coz it was windy) and hired a dingy there too and travelled up a bit, but still nothing on lures

Its pretty limited landbased really I think. I gone for a fair hike through there and starts getting pretty inaccessible after a while. Had a great session there where Bream were smashing mulies on gang hooks!

Might be worth a try in the near future to, thanks for the tips

[bassbandit]

more than I do...sometimes I fruitlessly persist with the same lure...change it up, make sure each change is significantly different from the last. By significant I mean, different colour, different action.

For example if they aren't hitting the surface on say a Sammy 65 I'll switch to subsurface and throw on a little hardbody. If they arent hitting rattling types, switch to a silent type etc. Sometimes u can crack the code...other times the fish wont play no matter what u do!