Soft Plastic Lures!

[Quicksilver]

Hello fellow anglers was just wondering if many of you use soft plastic lures like Savage Gear Sandeels, Fiiish Minnows or creature lures like crab/crayfish? Got into this type of fishing a few years back after many years of bait fishing in the sea partly due to health issues forcing me to travel lighter and i really got the bug for catching Wrasse on soft plastic lures, not a fish everyone is keen to catch but the array of different colours on them always amazes me, probably caught more and bigger wrasse on lures than i ever did on bait. Not generally something i would keep for the pan but i have eaten one in a fish pie before and where there's wrasse there are usually some pollack kicking around which i do enjoy eating, deep fried in tempura batter with sweet chilli dip is very nice!

 

[rorymax]

I have caught 1 ballan wrasse on a spinner when fishing for pollack, ballan wrasse are grazers and I am surprised at your success with soft plastic lures, are you spinning for wrasse or 'hanging' or ledgering the plastic bait as a lure ? Very interested to hear.

Ballan Wrasse are very good to eat but the bones are so numerous and pretty fearsome, another thing I find unusual about the Ballan is it's teeth, almost like a human teeth set.

One way of avoiding the 'bones' problem with the Ballan is to put 2 skewers through the fish (scale it first) and suspend over a pot of boiling water, as the fish steams the flesh will fall off (you can aid this with the judicious use of a fork or similar pointy thing) into the water below, lovely easy eating.

 

[Quicksilver]

I don't really see them as food but more a sport fish on light gear but if i get a deep hooked one which is rare i won't let it go to waste. Ballans will attack all manner of soft plastic lures even when they are still on the bottom (dead sticking) i do prefer to keep my lure on the move though sometimes just a simple sink a draw bouncing over the rough ground or a very slow twitch hard on the bottom just try and mix it up a bit to provoke fish into hitting the lure as they are not always actively feeding. I crush the barbs when i'm after wrasse to make unhooking easier as those big rubber lips are very tough and as long as you keep the pressure on it makes no difference to the catch rate.
I use texas style weedless rigs and a few other weedless set ups mostly.

 

[Dave]

I've spent a load on lure fishing equipment, and i still have not had a chance to use it! Ive been meaning to go to the menai straits to give it a go. Its just getting around to it.
Ive got a load of fancy lures, Yo Zuri minnows, cant remember what theyre all called. And a pink anodized rod japanese reccomended by henry gibley.
Im gonna have to get around to it.

Nice fish. I wouldnt have know what that was if i caught it. Im mainly fly fishing rivers for trout and some grayling.

It was the sea bass i fancied going after and maybe cod. from the rocks.

 

[Quicksilver]

Plenty bass fishing around Wales Dave don't know the areas well myself but have seen a lot of reports elsewhere from around the Menai area. I have found the soft plastic lure fishing more addictive than the bait fishing, it's great to just grab rod n reel and my small rucksack with fold up Lidl net and head off at a few minutes notice and no smelly bait to faff around with either

 

[rorymax]

Quicksilver, what defines weedless rigs, I will google texas style, any others you recommend.

cheers

rorymax

 

[Dave]

I think a weedless rig, is where the hook stays in the body of the lure.

Plenty bass fishing around Wales Dave don't know the areas well myself but have seen a lot of reports elsewhere from around the Menai area. I have found the soft plastic lure fishing more addictive than the bait fishing, it's great to just grab rod n reel and my small rucksack with fold up Lidl net and head off at a few minutes notice and no smelly bait to faff around with either

LOL. I got the same net.

 

[Quicksilver]

If you look in the lure pics i posted you can see how the weedless hook point sits along the lure to minimize snags, you can also 'skin' the hook point which basically buries the point just under the surface. There's loads of different ways of rigging them, have a look here for rigging options http://www.bassdozer.com/articles/soft-plastic-fishing.shtml

 

[rorymax]

I'm thinking of ordering some of those cranked hooks, what sizes are recommended, I don't want to buy the entire range , just a couple or three sizes that give reasonable versatility for use.

Thanks,

rorymax

 

[Quicksilver]

I usually buy size 2 and 1/0 for wrasse may go 2/0 & 3/0 if i'm using bigger lures to target pollack and bass, shop around as some those hooks are silly money. AGM Products have a good range in stock and won't cost the earth.

 

[rorymax]

I usually buy size 2 and 1/0 for wrasse may go 2/0 & 3/0 if i'm using bigger lures to target pollack and bass, shop around as some those hooks are silly money. AGM Products have a good range in stock and won't cost the earth.

Cheers, I will look up AGM Products.

I was looking at these, for some reason, clicking the link does not bring up the page, but if you paste the link into your browser it works ???

http://www.aliexpress.com/item/60PC...hweb201527_1_71_72_73_74_75,searchweb201560_9

OOPS, link not working, but search aliexpress for 'fishing hooks' and there are a few on the first page.

 

[Quicksilver]

Couldn't get the link to open, be careful ordering from outside the EU as you could get hit with import duty and courier charges! Got some cheap ones off fleabay in 100's that have been pretty good.
Here's another little weedless rig i use when things are quiet and it's only small fish around, think it's called cheburashka jig!
https://scontent-lhr3-1.xx.fbcdn.ne...=c55f3069514d7383ed1c514eedbbec2f&oe=56887E4B

 

[Quicksilver]

Thought i would add a few pics of how the lure is rigged on a weedless hook for anyone that has never tried this method before. Will be making some homemade soft plastic lures and jig heads next week so will add a bit more as i go along.

Close up of how to 'skin' the hook point which helps reduce the chance of being snagged up, just pull the lure gently back towards the eye of the hook and slide it back over the point!

Some soft plastic lures have a small grove on the top which the hook point fits neatly in and also reduces snags!

 

[Uilleachan]

Nice Wrasse and trio of Cuddies.