Page 18 - BNB Fishing mag | May 2020

Streamlined plastics such as jerk shads sink quicker through the water column.This snapper was found in heavy current in the Brisbane River.
BTeginner’s guide to using soft plastics
HE water temperature will drop a pool or clean water. Make sure you have rapidly during May and this will a good selection of jig heads to choose see much more action in the rivers from to suit the plastics you will be using.
Local Luring
by KEITH STRATFORD
around Brisbane. Plenty of different styles of jig heads exist
Casting and jigging soft plastics is a very popular technique for targeting a wide range of species.
shad-style plastics with a big paddle tail have a lot of resistance when sinking through the water, where a streamlined jerk shad with virtually no tail has very little drag.
too. These can also change the sink rate. Long pointy heads will help a plastic sink quickly, where bulky heads like foot- ball heads create drag through the water
Many anglers find it difficult to choose a plastic and jig head to suit the area and conditions they are fishing, so this month I’m going to run through a few tips that might help you out.
For example, if I was fishing these plas- tics next to each other in 9m of water, I would use a 1/2oz head for the paddle tail and a 3/8oz head for the jerk shad.
and will sink slower.
Hook size also needs to be taken into
Soft plastics come in a huge range of sizes and shapes. I’ll keep it simple and break them up into a few styles.
Choosing the correct jig head so the plastic gets to the bottom without plum- meting like a lead balloon will increase your catch rate.
consideration. I like to have the hook coming out of the plastic about halfway down. This gives the fish a good chance of finding the point, whether biting it from the head or tail.
Paddle tails, curl tails, jerk shads and prawn imitations cover most plastics and they are all effective when rigged cor- rectly.
Each style and brand of plastic is differ- ent and will sink differently. It’s good to have a good look at the way they swim in
Rigging the plastic straight on the jig head is where a lot of people come unstuck. This is very important to get the plastic swim- ming straight and looking natural.
Each style of plastic will have a different sink rate through the water column. Bulky
Some plastics need to be rigged perfect-
* continued P19
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Page 18 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, May 2020
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