What are the hooks to use when you use the soft baits? Size, style etc. Keen to have a go from the rocks but I have not even seen a soft bait out of the packet so I don't know what to get and how to set it up. Picks would be handy

50 views and counting. Seems like i'm not the only one interested in this topic or otherwise there must be a big secret on that you all arn't telling me

Apologies in advance for the quality of the cell phone pics

Basically there are two types of hooks, jig heads and worm hooks. Jig heads are probably best suited for shallow water. They are easy to put the softies on to, you just push the hook through the nose and push it out through the top of the soft bait. If you push the hook through too far the bait will be all crooked looking, it should lie nice and straight.

Some pics for worm hooks:

The lower one is the worm hook



Start like this with the hook going through from the top of the bait




A really fuzzy pic showing how the hook fits into the slot on the bait...


If you push the hook through too far it looks like this the pic shows a jig head but  its the same thing for a worm hook



The Cyclops type sinkers are a great way of fishing in deeper water


Or a 'Captains Rig' you can make yourself and still works well, it's easy to change the weight for the conditions. You can just tie your trace to the split ring


I have laminated photo copies of knots that I keep on my boat, if you forget they make a handy reference and you can pass them on to your crew after you've tied their knots for them 5 times when the baracouttas are hungry


You should learn to tie the uni knot, albright knot or yucatan knot and the lefties loop.
Tie one to two metres of 20 to 30lb mono or flurocarbon to your braid using the albright or yucatan or back to back uni.

Use a lefties knot to tie on a jig head so it has a loop that allows movement and a uni to attach your line to a Cyclops or the ring of the captains rig. They will have enough movement as they are.

That is only a few ideas and they aren't cast in stone but they all work well.

We have 19 articles on softbaiting in our Advice and Info section - everything from getting started to the tricky stuff. Smudgie has made a great job of his reply and you may also be interested in some of those articles as well. More [here]

Are there any easier ways of sliding softbaits on jigheads? At the moment I'm having a real hard time jamming the soft bait up onto the head and often get my finger gnarled by the hook.

Thanks DIY :)

Toady ... not sure what you're doing wrong but lay the lure alongside the jig head so you can judge where the hook should come out. Push the hook into the lure and feed the point through until it's in the right place to exit the lure. Then ease the lure along the jighead until it is on fully. Hope that helps.

Thanks Smudge. Is it a lot easier to bend the hook into the soft bait instead of pushing the softbait onto the jagged edges of the lead? Cause every time i push the softbait pass 2 edges( on the jighead) it then gets stuck and is really hard to push it right up onto the main lead bit.