Lure Help

[Grantm]

Hello FR's,

I have yet another question from my vast vault of fishing questions.

I am only a recent convert to the soft plastic and hb lure craze. Although ive got the hang of catching flatties, I am now wanting to upgrade my skill to EP and Bream. I have caught the odd Bream only on sp and cant put it down to anything other than luck.

Ive not had a problem in the past finding fish, all the normal haunts, racks shoreline etc have produced some good Bream for me with bait but the lures have not.

A couple of recent expeditions up Wyong river where there are "apparently" good Bream and EP have got me nowhere. I am finding some nice fallen trees and bridge pylons which look like potential spots then throwing 2 and 3 inch grubs, bass minnows and also our fav sx 40 all for nothing. Trying all different colours as well as all types of retrieves and even some unweighted stuff. All for zip.

Can anyone shed any light or give any tips. Is it that there are just no fish there, although local reports say there are. Or am I a fishing gumbie destined never to catch fish on lures. Yes i have fished other areas but the result remains the same. I also could be a tad impatient which probably doesnt help.

Do you guys find that certain areas will only work with certain lures. Do I have to keep trying different types until I hit the mark.

Any help or advice as usual will be appreciated (then probably forgotten knowing me)

Cheers

[Jethro]

G'day Grant

I can assure you that there are plenty of bream in Wyoung Creek and the odd EP (we have only ever caught 2). I am by no means an expert but we have pulled fish every time we have been there

What jig head weight and leader are you using??

My usual lure of choice is a 3" Bass Minnow in Pearl olive or a 3" Hawg with the paddels removed and we fish them on a 1/20th jighead and 6lb leader. Have gone down to 4lb a couple of times when they are being a bit finicky.

The retireve is very slow. Let the lure sink to the bottom, leave it for a few seconds give it a couple of little hops and leave it again. Usually the fish will hit it on the drop or when its sitting still.

It might be worth noting that both of the EPs that we have caught have been caught on 2" SPs. 1 on a 2" Bass Minnow in Smelt and the other on a 2" Fat Grub in Crawdad (I think thats what its called)

Things are pretty full on at work at the moment but when things quiet down I will see if we can get you out in the boat one arvo. It will be a lot easier to show you first hand

[Grantm]

Jethro I was hoping you would see my cry for help !

Jig heads are 1/8th or 1/16th and at the moment my leader is 9 pound and about a meter long. Maybe this is too heavy.

Mate id certainly be up for a run with you when we can organise it. Trying to find time is tough.

Thanks for the help, ill keep trying.

[Jethro]

Life would be so much simpler without work. We might try and tee up an arvo after work when I get back from Hervey Bay. I will let you know.

You might want to try down sizing your jigheads as there is usually no flow in the creek at all. We use 1/20th TTs or 1/32nd Nitros. We even tried weightless bass minnows on the weekend which produced a few fish.

The guy I fish with usually uses 8lb leader but he had to go down to 6lb on the weekend to get bites. Might be worth extending your leader to around 2m as well.

Other than that all you can do is keep trying. Up until I got the boat you could probably count on both hands the amount of bream I had caught on Sps. Then one day it just clicked and I caught more in one day than I had through out my entire fishing career

[Grantm]

Thanks Wacko,

Went out yesterday and stocked up with some goodies including 6 pd flouro vanish, couldnt find any 4 pd flouro anywhere but have some 4 pd mono which I will try in Wyong on the weekend as an alternative.

Just got to get out and get some lighter jigheads tommorrow, I like the look of those HWS ones on the other thread of Swoffas.

Cheers