Well done that man what a great post off information   you could not have said it any better it will help a lot of people great stuff man.

Hi John welcome to the site can't weight for more info.

I whent out for a fish with the Capten & Mike from Berkley Aus in september and man i was hooked. The fish we got on the sp on the drift in the foul snaps from 3-8lb, yellowtail, spottys, kahawai, john dory,trevally all in a day on sp. My bb snap on a sp is 23lb on a berkley realistix rainbow smelt boy did that fish hit that sp hard.

Talking with the Capten on the way back from fishing if us in the trade and people like you and useing the wright tackel people will not be useing bait in two or three years time. For me iam hooked.

                Keep that good info comeing Tiny.

great stuff John! you have certainly inherited your fathers enthusiasm for getting out there and catchin fish. Next time your back here, i want you and ya dad to get Ian White out with yaz and show him, no just remind him how it's all done. .  ..  tell Joker to get in touch with Ian and demand he gets the Haines on the briney.

Your dads old haunt around Waiwera has been fising well i  hear.

@kezza

Yeah I have noticed the storm range of non integral weight lures they are there but they don’t have the selection as the others do, I have found them fairly rigid and well I guess “plastic like” not as soft and flexible as say Berkley lures, so I would be wondering how this affects the movement of the lure in the water. Again a personal preference, not saying they don’t work because they wouldn’t be on the shelf if they didn’t work. How ever I do like their grubs that have the hidden weight on the hook that sits in the middle of the lure so the sinking lure doesn’t nose dive it flutters horizontally. There is an ozzie company which makes similar over here on a say size 4 or 3 hook and is straight and is ideal for most sp’s their called TT lures.

@Wizard

Rigging/threading sp’s is tricky to start with but can be done well over time, ill give you a few pointers.

1        choose a lure, say a blue fox fish or a Berkley 3” minnow/drops hot

2        Choose a suitable jig head for the conditions and make sure that the hook isn’t too big for the lure. You only want the hook to fill say 30% tops 50% of the body of the lure otherwise you will restrict the inbuilt action of the lure or the movement you put to the lure if it is a form of stick bait like the Berkley drops hot minnows.

3        Once both of the above have been selected lye the lure on its side and grab the jig head and put it against the side of the lure, push the jig head snug up against the start of the lure and take note of where the (u) of the hook is on the lure, this is where the point of the hook will have to come out.

4        Now grab the lure in one hand and push the point of the hook into the centre of the lure (this is easiest while looking straight down on the lure) thread the lure onto the hook slowly (this doesn’t have to be done in one motion) keep an eye on the hook as it passes through the plastic and make sure it is on dead straight. The flash from the moulding process is a good guide for this, when you get to your ponit you measured out push the hook through the lure and out. And you’re done.

5        A few more tip, look at the lure from all angles to make sure it is as close to straight as can be and then tie it on and give it a test swim in the water beside you before you start fishing with it.

Hope this helps wizard.

@ joker.

Of course I used spell checker otherwise id make a twat out of my self J

I’ve got plenty more tips up my sleeve guys. Feel free to ask

Oh on another note there are a few DVD’s on the market worth getting hold of. They all cover Australian fish but the techniques will work on nz fish. Take Australia bream. They are very similar to snapper only smaller and much harder to catch on lure, but what will work for bream will work for snapper. They also catch king’s snapper and all the usuals on the DVD’s too

1 squidgie secrets with Steve Starlo and Kaj Busch. Part 1 part 2 and part 3. Are worth a watch. They show a lot about what you can catch and show you a lot of fish catching with a little bit of education here and there. Still a good buy on ebay.com.au or if you can get your local shop to order it even better.

2 the Berkley soft plastic DVD. This one is excellent and informative as hell. “mad dog” the pro who I think needs to take Ritalin in the vid goes through in depth through tackle, lines, casting, lures, jig heads, different fishing situations, and different fish including trout. And is a top video for anyone starting out. Even on how to tie knots.

So yea I would recommend this one to anyone to start out on and the squidgie one for an enjoyable watch and to explore the possibilities

Well Done Son.

It really is my son. I feel really cheated cos he buggered off to Aussie just when I started to like him. He would make a great fishing buddy.

Its a great post and I can personally vouch for the effectiveness of SP's through John's zealousness on his annual trips back home. Around the buoys they are like instant livebait and work where poppers are not  working and the dropper rig with multiple SPs are lethal on the drift.

Come on John, fess up. You put it through a spell checker first - didn't you?

Cheers, Dad

Well done, very informative. i'll certainly take aboard several of those suggestions,

Cheers, Stu.

Dang that is a comprehensive and informative first post John, its interesting you mention leaving a soft plastic Just floating above the bottom (presumably in a rod holder unattended -so to speak) .I remember reading something Sam Mossman wrote in a fishing news awhile back where he found it to be very effective on one particular fishing trip out.

Again great post can't wait to read more of your postings.