This really is one of the most exciting ways to catch fish and in particular our local kingfish are suckers for a well presented top water lure.

For the uninitiated here are a few bits and pieces that may help you get underway.

First and most important thing to realise is these things do work and they do catch big fish. Over the last 12 months i have seen many kings over 20 kg captured and a few around 30 as well. I have also seen 4 Marlin come in and chase these lures and this is not trying to target them they have been whilst we are targeting kings

 

One of the most common question i see is what is the difference between a stick bait and a popper.

Stick baits have a narrow or pointed nose, they are similar in many ways to a rapala lure but they do not have a bib to help introduce an action. The action imparted on a stick bait is generated by the angler, the basic technique to get a stick bait to work is to use the rod in a large sweeping manner, this will help to get the nose of the lure under the water and then swimming. At the end of each sweep you simply wind in the slack line. repeat the process until the lure is back to the boat. It is a hard action to describe and is much easier to ahow someone on the water, i was lucky enough to be shown by Konsihi, Mogi and some other Japanese legends.

 

Poppers- Have more of a cup faced nose, this helps to catch a lot of water when retreived. you can simply wind them in flat out which will create a lot of commotion and catch a few fish or you can use the similar sweep/wind technique mentioned above. The sweep wind style will help to drive the lure under the water and get it to swim a bit more under the water, i find this style will get more hits where the flat out winding will get a lot of follows.

 

Rods- Lots of people want to know what makes a good rod and which is best for both. This is one sport where we are asking a lot of a rod, firtsly it needs a supple enough tip to help with casting long distances(longer casts=more fish), secondly the tip cant be too soft or it will not be able to drive the lures under the water and make them work effectively and then lastly they need to have enough guts to run  heavy braid and handle big rampaging fish. That really is a lot to ask of any rod, then throw in the fact that different weight lures cast and work better with different rods too.

You will find a lot of the cheaper rods out there will do one or two of the things well but lack in some other departments, it is up to you which area you are prepared to compromise in.

The more expensive rods tend to tick all the boxes but usually within a range of lure weights. My opinion may be biased with rods being a carpenter dealer, but these rods really do deserve the reputation they have. Look for some of the other well known brands out there such as Hots, ripple fisher, jigging master and from what i hear the local Synit roids are meant to really do the business.

 

Reels- Lets not even enter the overhead versus spinning debate here, the clear winner with casting is spinning and i wouldnt even bother trying to do this type of fishing with an overhead reel.

 The two leaders are really Stellas and Saltigas, they have plenty of smooth drag, they are light enough to use all day. What more can i say.

For those on a tighter budget, look at the Finnor, Saltist, Twinpower and the saragosa.

 

Line- Braid is best by far, i use heavy line. Mainly because the lures are so damned expensive.

Leader- I find supple trace is best, it sits better on the spinning reels and casts well.

Knots-As with tying braid to heavy mono there will be issues, i use what i am comfortable with which is the PR knot common with many jiggers.

 

I hope this helps to get people going out there and hopefull raises a few mopre questions to.

I cant wait for this Spring, when those juvenile squid turn up followed by loads of kingfish up on the surface.

 

 

 

 

In respect of getting the action on the stickbaits etc there are some pretty useful videos on you tube that show you a number of different techniques. Worth having a search for if interested.

 

I reckon another useful thread would be one on rigging and hook preferences (ie trebles vs singles or doubles, and 2 vs one hook etc)