Soft Plastic Fishing - Simple Solutions

 As a charter-boat skipper specialising in soft-bait fishing for over five years, I have seen lots of anglers come aboard, ranging from highly experienced to first-time novices.

During this time I have seen the same mistakes made time and time again – and not only by the inexperienced! Fortunately, most of the issues are not serious and the anglers still catch some fish anyway, but, by the same token, it doesn’t take much to greatly increase one’s chances of hooking and landing fish if the time is taken to refine the techniques, either.

The purpose of this article, therefore, is to identify the most common problems and offer my opinions on how to rectify them.

Casting forward

Unless fishing in foul ground or very shallow water less than 10 metres deep, I have rarely seen the casting forward technique out-fish the simple drop-and-drag technique. The exception is highly skilled anglers, who are very good at determining where their lure is in relation to the sea floor, know how to keep their line reasonably tight, and are able to detect bites by watching their line.

If you’re a novice soft-bait fishermen, try dropping your lure to the bottom and letting line out until your line angle is about 45-degrees and your lure is dragging along the bottom. Now all you need to do is drag it along the bottom and lift and twitch it every now and then. If finding it hard to stay on the bottom, use a heavier lead-head, deploy the sea anchor, or try both.

I have noticed many fish take the lure upon reaching the bottom, so it pays to repeat this action by winding up and dropping back down every now and then. I also believe when fishing in a group it’s a good idea to take it in turns winding up to the surface and dropping back down again – this can help to attract a school of snapper to your boat.

Striking problems

Striking too hard often comes from fishing stretchy monofilament, as you generally need to strike long and hard to set the hook. However, when fishing low-stretch braid, there is little need to do this. In my opinion, when a fish hits your lure it’s better to wind your reel and lift your rod, seating the hook.

And if the fish doesn’t hook up, don’t keep winding! Instead, drop your lure back to the fish and, more often than not, it will come back for another go.

Also, some anglers end up with their rods right above their heads when trying to hook a fish, pointing the rod to the sky and winding the reel frantically. Don’t do this, as it is a common way to snap your carbon-fibre fishing rod!

To avoid this situation, always keep your rod reasonably low when working your lure, so there’s plenty of leeway afterwards to lift and set the hooks in response to a bite. (And this applies to when you’re fighting a fish, too – only lift up to about 10-10.30 o’clock before winding down.)

Pulling against a peeling reel

I often see anglers continuing to frantically wind the reel handle and pump the rod when fighting a good fish, without realising that their reel’s drag is still releasing line (as it is designed to do when a specific pressure is reached) at the same time. Worst case scenario means too much load is produced so something breaks, but, more often, lots of line twist is generated, making tangles and handling problems more likely to occur afterwards.

So when your rod is under load and line is leaving the reel, just keep a bend in the rod and let the fish take line. Eventually it will stop, which is when you can proceed to repeatedly lift your rod and then wind down again, gathering the line with your reel and bringing the fish in closer.

Often, if the line still won’t come in, there’s a fair chance you’ve set your drag pressure too lightly – or the fish is simply too big for your rig!

What a drag!

I have also seen anglers adjusting their drag while playing a fish. In my opinion, this is a no-no. Before starting fishing, set your drag to around a third of the line’s breaking strain (or even half if you’re particularly confident about your ability and knots) and leave it alone afterwards.

To check soft-plastic reel drag settings accurately, you can use milk containers. Fill one (or two) with water, tie your line to the end, and lift: one litre of water weighs one kilogram, so you can adjust the amount of water in the bottle(s) to get the right weight. This will give you a feel for how much drag there should be when pulling line off the reel with your hand – the gauge I use a few times a day to determine the drag when out fishing.

Use your rod to fight the fish

When fighting a good fish, novice anglers often keep their rod in one position and try to use their reel as a winch to move the fish. This will wear the reel out pretty quickly and tends to twist the line. Instead, use your rod to lift the fish until it reaches about the 9.30-10.30 o’clock position before starting winding your reel to keep the load on as the rod is lowered smoothly back down to a comfortable angle again, stopping winding at this point, then lifting the rod once more. Repeat this action as many times as is necessary, and remember, if the fish wants to take line at any stage, stop winding, keep the rod elevated and let the drag do its job.

Braid too heavy

While 10-15kg braid is fine for deepwater soft-plastic fishing, it will be too heavy for your average snapper when jerk-shadding in the shallows. Here, you’ll find 3-6kg braid is usually strong enough, and as it helps to give your lure a better action, you’ll hook more fish, too. An exception to this is when targeting big fish in foul ground, where it’s important to drag them out of the foul.

Leader issues

We use 7kg fluorocarbon for jerk-shadding and up to 10kg fluorocarbon when deepwater soft-plastic fishing for snapper or when targeting the bigger fish. Fluorocarbon in these strengths rarely breaks when fighting a fish. Once again, the lighter your leader is, the more action your lure will have.

And this also applies to the length of the leader: one rod-length is all you need – any longer tends to diminish the lure’s action and can reduce the distance of your casts. If you think about it, if you have a three-metre length of leader and you’re fishing in eight metres of water with, say, 15 metres of line out, that equates to one-fifth of your line being leader – a relatively thick, stretchy material that reduces your lure’s action, holds up more in the water, makes bites harder to detect, and leads to less effective striking.

Lifting fish aboard

Modern soft-plastic rods have a high carbon content, which makes them very light to hold but powerful for fighting fish. However, they are fragile and need to be handled with care – so don’t use them to lift fish onboard. Instead, use a net or gaff. Rubber nets are the way to go, as hooks get caught in string mesh, and some net-cord material is also hard on fish slime, making them less likely to survive if released afterwards.

Be adaptable

If not catching fish and you know there are fish present, change something! I often see anglers happy to fish the same lure on the same jig-head all day, yet they’re catching nothing. Experiment with different shapes and brands of soft-plastic lures – there are plenty of different and effective types to play with on the market now. So give them a go as it could be the difference between catching and not catching.

This also applies to your technique. If casting forward is not working, try dragging; if twitching is not working, try a few slow retrieve and drops; or keep the lure still. Otherwise, simply take time out to watch your mate, who is catching all the fish, and then copy him!

Image 1: Upon hooking up, don’t keep winding while the reel is unloading line. Instead, simply hang on and try to enjoy the ride. (Photo: Mark Kitteridge)

Image 2: Don’t lift the rod too high when fighting fish, as this can point-load the rod, causing it to break. This is about as high as you should ever go. (Photo: Mark Kitteridge)

Image 3: If casting out into shallow territory, try not to lift your rod too high while working the lure back, as this limits your ability to set the hook properly. (Photo: Mark Kitteridge)
 

	This article is reproduced with express permission of Paul Senior by Paul Senior  - 2011 Photos by: Mark Kitteridge Re-publishing elsewhere is prohibited Originally published in New Zealand Fishing News