Tag Archives: fishing with Zman soft palstics

Bribie – the old oyster jetty flats – 25 March 2014

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Tuesday

On Tuesday the tide and wind looked pretty good but it was probably going to rain. I could not resist another session at Bribie Island. I wanted to try a more scientific comparison of the GULP and Zman soft plastic lures, in an area where I was pretty sure there are fish. There are numerous problems in trying to measure lure success. However, flathead are a good species to work with, as they often lie around in groups of 4 or more.

Gulp
ZMAN 3.75″ Streakz in Shine
Plastics don’t get much bigger than this
Certainly swallowed that
DUO Jerkbait 120 SP
They seem to love this one
More wild weather

I wanted to compare the performance of the Berkley Gulp range with the Zman range. Although the ranges have similar offerings, none of their lures match up, exactly. I decided to compare the GULP 4” Minnow in the Pearl Watermelon colour with the Zman 3.75” Streakz in the Shiner colour. Both have approximately the same profile, although the Zman is a little slimmer. The colours are similar but the Zman is more translucent.

I started with the Zman which I loaded on to a TT Headlockz 1/8th ounce, size 1 hook jighead. This set up caught a fish at about 6-15 am. It was a flathead between 50 and 55cm. I cast out again with the same soft plastic and had another hit but no hook up. I decided to give the Zman 10 casts in a semi – circle and then switch to the Gulp and do the same thing. On casts 5, 7, 9 and 10, I got hits but could not hook up with the Zman.

Then I switched to a regular, fine wire, 1/8th ounce, size 1 hook jighead and put on the Gulp Minnow. I cast right back at the spot where I had caught the fish on the Zman and hooked another, after a couple of hops. It was another flathead between 45cm and 50cm. I continued to cast into the now fairly shallow water in a semi-circle. At the end of 10 casts the Gulp had caught three more Flathead – all were just under the legal size limit of 40cm.

So on the face of it – it was GULP 4” Minnow that caught more fish. I have mentioned before my theory that the texture of the Gulp soft plastics is much more fish-like than other brands. They also seem to be more porous, so they retain a scent trail for longer than most other soft plastic lures. But I could not see how this could make much difference in this situation. In these circumstances, where the fish are really aggressive in their feeding, they seemed to hit almost every plastic/ hard body that I threw at them – so why was the hook-up rate not as good with the Zmans?

Then I figured it out. I loaded another Zman 3.75” Streakz in the Shiner colour, but this time on the regular TT  finewire, 1/8th ounce, size 1 hook jighead. On the first cast I felt the hit, paused and counted to 10. When I lifted the rod the fish was hooked. I kept fishing with the same plastic for a while and I hardly missed a bite, converting about five bites in to fish. I know it is not conclusive proof but it seems that either the TT Headlockz are less sharp or the broader gauge hook required to hold the lock in place, prevents them from penetrating as effectively.

After I finished my experiment I moved to the south of the jetty and I decided to see just how big a soft plastic these flathead will attack. I pulled out a GULP 6” grub in a sardine-like colour. I put it on a Nitro Bream Pro 1/8th ounce, size 2/0 hook jighead. This was the biggest I had, and cast it out. After a few casts, I felt a bite. I paused then struck, but I was not attached. This happened three times, so on the fourth cast, when I felt the bite, I dropped the rod tip for a full count of 15 seconds. When I lifted it I had a flathead, but only a 42 cm long one. The lure was well on its way to the fishes stomach, so I kept it. I would recover the soft plastic later.

I finished the session with the DUO Realis Jerkbait 120 SP – a big hard bodied, suspending minnow. This also soon found the fish. In fact, it found the biggest two fish of the day – both well over 60cm. Just after 9.00 am, the incoming tide pushed me off the target area, so I gave up. The fish are still there and they are still hungry.

Bribie – Oyster jetty flats – 15 July 2013

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Monday

Another fishing opportunity – and another miserable weather forecast, cold wet and windy. You just have to get on with it. I could not start early but I was able to reach the Bribie Island Bridge just as the tide was starting to really run in, at about 9.00 am. Low tide had passed at about 7.45am. There was a thick grey band on the horizon and a cool south-westerly breeze.

I wandered out past the jetty, heading south to my usual stomping ground. As I did so, the wind dropped and the drizzle started. I only had about an hour before the incoming tide would push me back, away from the weed banks.

A few weeks ago there were some good mullet schools in this area, but they seem to have moved on. I waded quickly south, to one of the more productive spots, along a big weed-covered sandbank. There are nearly always fish of some kind here. I started with a GULP Jerkshad in the Orange Tiger colour – bright orange and yellow with a black fleck. I was fishing with 8lb leader and a 1/8th ounce, 1/0 jighead. The water was still and fairly clear despite the wild weather so I was trying a high contrast soft plastic.

It did not take long. After a few casts, I felt a very slight grab. It could have been weed, but it felt a bit more solid. I dropped another cast in the same spot……….. nothing, except a clump of weed. I gave it one more try and bang, a flathead grabbed it and took off. The rod bent over and line peeled smoothly off the spool. The drag on the Shimano Stella 2500 had been expertly fixed by Neil at Jones Tackle – http://jonestackle.com.au/. It just required the adjustment of a small spring.

It was not a huge fish – about 50 cm, but it had plenty of fight in it. By the time it drew level with me, I could see it had completely swallowed the soft plastic. I pulled it over snipped the leader and slipped it into the keeper bag.

I re-rigged with the same plastic and peppered the area with casts. I did find another flathead so I moved about five metres further south. I put in a long cast and almost as soon as the soft plastic splashed through the surface of the water, there was a tug and then the line went slack. I wound it in to find the soft plastic Jerkshad and jighead gone. No idea what that was.

I tied on another Orange Tiger and cast it out. It was grabbed before it reached the bottom by an enormous Pike. It took plenty of line and made a few leaps, but it was nicely hooked in the side of the mouth, so the rod and drag soaked up the acrobatics. When I dragged it up close to me and unhooked it, I measured it at about 45cm.

Another grey morning on the flats
Thats what we like to see
The first flathead had plenty of attitude
Swallowed the whole GULP jerkshad
This Pike was over 45cm
Big Pike can easily slice through a light leader
A very grey day
The best fish of the day
Just over 60cm
Its been a while since I had some weight on the end of the line
Zman Minnowz in Houdini colour scored well today

I swapped over to a Zman Minnowz soft plastic in the Houdini colour. I thought the paddle tail might stir up the flathead. The tide was moving up fast and the drizzle kept falling. I only had 20 minutes left and then I would be pushed to far back to see where I was casting. After a few minutes of working the Zman I felt stop dead on the bottom. Then the fish started swimming. For the first time in ages I had a good fish hooked and I realised how little work my drag had been doing. I decided to pull it back to the shoreline – it was too big to grab while wading. After several good runs, I pulled a good 60cm flathead up, on to the sand and put it in the keeper bag.

The tide was now too high to carry on here, so I finished fishing at about 12.00 noon.

Bribie – Oyster jetty flats – 23 May 2013

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Thursday

I was back in Brisbane and keen to fish at Bribie Island again. I wanted to see if the Flathead were still around, so I drove up, just after dawn on Thursday morning. The wind was light, but cold from the southwest. I had come through lots of fog on the drive up but by the time I reached the Bribie Bridge, the sky was clear.

I started on the island side of the bridge, fishing from the bank, without my waders on. The water was very clear and the tide was slacking off. It was about 6.30am and it would be high tide at 7.32 am. I tried a few plastics here and felt a few bites, then lost a few tails form various soft plastic lures. Small Tailor or Pike are usually the culprits in this location.

At 7.30 am I decided to warm up with a coffee while the tide turned. This period of slack water does not produce many fish for me so I decided to wait 30 minutes. Then, I drove back over the bridge, to the mainland side and pulled on my waders.

It was now about 8.15 am and there was still plenty of water at the mangrove line. As I waded out into the clear water I was shocked at how cold it had turned in just a few weeks. Unfortunately, the bright sunshine and clear days have triggered the algal bloom (snot weed) in the weed beds and this will soon be a pain in the neck.

There was plenty of bait in the shallows and I waded south to the oyster jetty. I started with a GULP 4” Minnow in the Smelt colour. My legs were already cold after ten minutes in the water and I backed out on to the shoreline to warm up.

In the crystal clear water I could see a very fresh looking flathead lie. I paused at the jetty and put in a few casts just south of it in the shallows. On the second cast a fish hit the plastic hard and then dropped it. I dropped the rod tip hoping it would have another go – and it did. It took off but was nicely hooked. When I subdued it and pulled it closer I could see a nice, 60cm flathead in the clear water. I pulled it up on to the shoreline and put it in the bag for supper.

Very cool but a plenty of sunshine
Clear evidence of a flathead
Gotcha
Best of the day
The water was great for seeing what was going on
Rod bent on the first fish of the day
Clear water
Cold water – clear day
Trying some new ones
The second fish took a Zman
Next one on a Zman
And another a bit further out
Zman Minnowz in the Houdini colour
Only a few were too small today
I waded back with a full bag at low tide
This is the time to survey the terrain
Pretty sure this was where the first fish of the day had come from

I moved to the south and swapped over to a Zman Minnowz in the Rednone colour and fished around the base of the mangroves, near the drain that empties off the flats. After a few casts I had another good flathead – this on measured just over 50cm.

As the tide receded I moved further south, towards the channel marker. Over the next three hours I fished with both the Zmen and the Gulps and caught another 9 flathead. I kept 3 more, all around 45cm, to fill my bag for a good family fish feed. Of the 9 only two were undersize.

The fish had been quite spread out but they kept coming. It was a couple of days before the full moon and the tide I was fishing had been the smaller of the two on that 24 hour period. This moon and tide combination seems to be proving pretty a pretty successful fishing period for me.