ARTICLE - Chuckin'Metal Final installment

[PaddyT]

Hi All-sorry for the delay-just finished my work stint in Qld and have moved back home, hope you enjoy!!!

Final Installment-Lures, tactics and the fish

Lures.

Metals can be broken up into 3 categories and every fisho should have some of each style. The first , longest serving and most utilised all round the world are the slow retrieve style of lure which was derived from a spoon. Some of the more famous ones are the ABU Toby, the Wonder Wobbler and even the mackeral spoons or Smiths Jig type of lure fit in this category. They generally wont handle much in the way of speed but the anchored single hook system of the Smiths jig and mackeral spoon will change that. They will catch pelagics with a high speed retrieve but line twist will end up causing grief.Having said that I have had a couple of days at Terrigal  chasing frigates when the only thing they would eat was a 10gm Wonder wobbler. This style of lure is an excellent choice for tailor, salmon , trout (caught plenty on wonder woblas, and the ABU Toby style is still used heavily in the northern hemisphere for trout), flatties don’t mind them either.

The next type are the all rounders. Probably first came about with the introduction of the Iron Jigs from the USA back in the late 60’s. There are quite a few types on the market Raiders are probably the ones I use the most. The big advantage with this style of lure is their versatility. They have an excellent action at “medium pace” with a slight flick of the tail, they can be used with a slow retrieve especially with a bit of rod tip work and at the other end they can handle a very fast retrieve without causing line twist if rigged with a dual ring system (as I explained previously). Other examples are the old 1/2x1/4 (very important to get the ones with the bevelled corners), some of the Japanese shore jigs (prices are ridiculous though), another surprise one is the Bumpa Bar from Nth QLd which can handle a suprising amount of speed, Halco Slices and Twistys are also very handy to have (just hate those stupid triple split rings Halco insist on putting on them-they inhibit the action of metal lures quite a bit, they are fine on large hardbodies though).

The final category are the pure speed merchants. The simplest and still incredibly successful barrel sinker and a treble hook has caught me everything from tailor, tuna, mackeral (spotties, spannies and they are actually a slimy mackeral weapon ) bonito etc. They are particular good on frigate macks especially painted metallic gold (I hope the guys that kept that secret for the last 40 years are not members on Fishraider -this was Central Coast magic). The commercial types are the Sea Rock/ Lead slug style of lure and all work well . Speed is often the key to getting hit and this is the type of lure to do it. A good little trick with these is to use a very fast retrieve-then stop-then fast again. The hits often come as you recommence winding. White is a good general colour choice.

 

Rock Tactics

Some general pointers here are

1.      Work the whole water column-you can count the lure down 1001, 1002,1003 etc-when I was really fanatical and didn’t know a ledge I would make my first cast with a hookless lure and count it all the way to the bottom so I knew the maximum sink time I had. So you can start the retrieve at varying depths and also work the lure IN the water all the way back to the edge its really important to not have the lure skipping in from 30-40 m out.

2.      Change the retrieve up-10 fast cranks/stop, 10 fast cranks is my goto for a couple of species-bonnies and mackeral will ignore straight retrieves and smash this all the time.

3.      Don’t go rockfishing without a rigged spinstick. Even when I go blackfishing or drummer fishing I take a spin stick. The number of times ive been quietly watching a float and had a school of tailor or whatever bustup is too many to count.

4.      Having said that-Summer/Autumn is the peak season-don’t expect too much mindboggling action in late winter-late spring, the East Australian Current is the key to pelagic action on the NSW coast

Boat Tactics

Use the wind-EVERY SINGLE SCHOOL OF BUSTING PELAGICS ive ever seen feeds into the current or wind. SO-DO NOT DRIVE INTO THE SCHOOL-go upwind/current and drift down on the school. And once again-DO NOT DRIVE INTO THE SCHOOL-just in case you didn’t get the message. Oh and if you troll through the school there is a special place in fishing hell just for you!!! Lure placement is also critical in this situation-cast in front of the school, not into the middle-fish don’t have eyes in the back of their heads, also as you arrive at a feeding school turn the boat away as you go neutral, this stops slack line situations from the momentum of the boat taking you closer to the fish and means you have full contact and situational awareness with your lure. Final factor is don’t discount using a longer rod when spinning pelagics from a boat, long casts on boat shy fish can make all the difference some days.

If you want to spin blind then look for places where tide/current converge in very clear water- I must admit its not something I do much from the boat as I can use my mobility to find fish (not an option on the rocks). An example of a spot where ive done well at times is Longnose Point in Pittwater.The other “bustup” is the deepwater bustup. This is how we catch a lot of spotty mackeral on offshore reefs. We see the baitballs and fish on the sounder, cast a metal out, let it sink very deep and use a very fast 10/stop/10/stop retrieve back to the boat. We don’t drop the lure straight under the boat as we want the lure in the water for a long retrieve.

 

Follows but No Commitment      

Happens all the time , or the fish just ignore what you are throwing at them. The most common solution to this is using a smaller lure , the second is wind faster . When this doesn’t work you start to get into the realm of other lure types eg when salmon are feeding on “eyes” in spring around Sydney-metals probably aren’t the number one choice.

Some notes about fish;

Bonito-speed and the 10 crank stop retrieve are very effective, not usually over fussy on what they will eat, 40-60 gm size lures probably the go to option.

Kings-big white lures have been my most successful off the rocks 85 gm white raiders are a very good start point.Speed is not so critical a lot of the time , I found a side to side wiggle from the lure at a moderate clip worked best. Kings can be hit and miss on metal-poppers/stickbaits/plastics and spinning with garfish are all more effective (on most days).

Tuna-match the hatch and wind fast-end of story really.

Mackeral-both spotties and spannies love speed but the 10 crank/stop retrieve works better than a straight crank. A short bit of single strand wire is usually needed with spannies but spots can be really wire averse-some days you just have to accept the lure loses.40 and 65 gm Raiders are my goto lures-purple or red and white flash tape seem to be best (but then again they are the ones I use the most so who knows with colour!!!!)

That just about sums up most aspects of chucking metal-hope you all enjoy the read!!!

 

[Green Hornet]

Great write up Paddy that bought back so many good memories of the high speed spin days.

Thanks for taking the time to pen it altogether.

[Rebel]

Great story. Super Info. Thank You.

[wazatherfisherman]

Another fantastic write-up! Thanks Paddy great info and great memories

[ICDumplingman]

So helpful and interesting mate!! Thank you!