goin soft on trout!!

[faro]

has anybody here had success with soft plastics on trout?? i finally convinced myself to put the flyrod away for half an hour during a session on saturday and found it very productive!! 7 rainbows in half an hour! all on a orange and gold squidgie wriggler and an orange illusion shad!! hmmm cant wait for the big smelting browns!!!

cheers Ben

[chaser]

Faro,
I was up stalkin sambar a coupple of weekends ago and while walking a little streem no more than 7ft wide (at its biggest) i was amased at the amount of rainbows crusing the creek :eek: ...... cant under stand y they have a closed season on them ? .... I havent had a go in the s/p yet and i was wishin i could of had a go that weekend :(
Cheers chaser

[faro]

the reason they have a closed season for trout is so that we dont interupt their breeding habits!! i think it is a good idea! rainbows however spawn in september through to october so i wouldnt feel guilty about catchin them, however if you get caught, there are hefty fines involved. Check out the natural resources website for the fisheries stocking programs.... you might just find a lake closeby that is stocked annually with rainbow trout!!

[chaser]

The main reason for me not under standing why theyve got a closed season on them is that there an introduced fish ....
Imagine how good the blackfish and the like would be going now ...???
There are even rivers closed all year round to fishing :confused:
You cant evengo fishing for blackfish in these areas?????
I know this subject was posted on another site and caused a huge descussion .
Dont get me wrong i love to catch them but there isnt even a size limmit on them so why is there a season ? ...... you cant catch bugger all fish in summer when u are allowed to fish:confused:
Cheers crash

[faro]

sorry i dont agree with you, most of my trout are caught in spring or autumn, this is when those little creeks really fire up and you can dry fly fish all day!!! i dont know why they havnt introduced a size limit for trout, and i really would like to see one introduced! i think it would help take the strain off small creeks or stockie dams that get poached within the first two weeks of stocking!!! and dont worry trout arent the only fish with a closed season, blackfish have a closed season from the 1st of sep to the 31 of dec!
cheers

[chaser]

I totally agree with the closed season on Blackfish . As they are a NATIVE fish .
Dont get me wrong here i love catching trout but imagine the native populations of fish if they haddent introduced Trout/Salmon to our rivers all the little galaxis and the like would not be endangred and the blackies would be huge ..
And lastly there is a sort of size limmit on trout in some areas where fish are released at around 20-25cm in length from your 10 limmit you can only have 5 UNDER 30cm in length so the released fish get there chance to grow(limits change in different pondige/system)
cheers chaser

[the_hide]

Faro I chase trout with the soft plastics, Ive done very well with the 60cm squidgie shad in neon , rainbow trout color and hot tomatoe (so much for match the hatch). Alot of my success is in the retrieve, I swim the shad so to speak rather than whip it , stop start or jig. Basically slow retrieve with some erratic actions now and then. I find that my hookup to strike ratio is way way better with the plastics for say 10 strikes its usually around 7 or so fish, I'm not even close to that with tassies, celta's or hardbodies. As a side note the bycatch of reddies is enormous on the plastics, even the little fellows can't get enough of them , I had a 12cm tiddler on the weekend with his mouth completely stuffed full of 60mm shad and size 1 jig head. I think its only a matter of time before soft plastics make some major inroads into trout fishing.

[Lizardboy]

I'd like to try out the mini tanks on the trout,
I reckon they'd go pretty well.

Lizard

[faro]

hide, i tried a few different retreives but the one that really stood out from the rest was just my standard bream hop!! did get hits on the straight retrieve but not as many as the hop!! also are there any particular jigheads or hook styles that help reduce the weed when fishing shad style plastics?? where i fish its very weedy but i've found that this is definately where the fish are holding!!
thx

[panger]

There are jigs designed for weedy conditions. I think they usually have pointy noses and the eye at the point to minimise weed collection. I don't think they're easy to get in Aus though.

You could also try a weedless hook with splitshot. I tried it on the weekend over rocks. It was great didn't snag at all and still managed to catch a flathead. Not sure the hook gape would be wide enough to take a fat shad though.

[faro]

thanks panger, might try and track em down!! would make the fishing sooo much more enjoyable
cheers

[the_hide]

Faro JV marine in Springy have the weedless jig hooks basically they have a palstic guard in front of the hook. They aren't easy to get. Theres a few ways to rig the hook "weedless" predominantly you leave the point of the hook still inside the plastic. Plenty of the american bass sites have hundreds of styles, do a search on the texas rig etc and you'll get all the info you need. The gamatsu (or whatever they are) use a wire jig hook so basically the hook will bend in the majority of cases freeing your rig , its then just a matter of straightening with pliers. If you use plastics alot and thats all Im using these days no hardbodies, bait or anything its well worth investing in a few do-it jig head molds to make your own, leads not that expensive and the aberdeen hooks when purchased in bulk are only around 8 or 9 bucks a hundred. They pay for themselves quickly. You can import them or get them from JV and other places, I found it cheaper to import three molds, and the hooks than buy two molds already imported.