Stickbaits

Just in case you've been living under a rock and havent dialled in on the revolution that is 'soft plastics' then this blog won't help much.... but for those of you that understand at least the basics of plastix and the difference between the type of plastix that are available you might actually get something out of this...

Stickbaits, jerk minnows, jerk baits... call them what you will, and usually that will be a name inherited from our yankee mates, these lures are without doubt THE most deadly soft lures you can use.

My assuption on this revolves around attack triggers in fish. Fish have in-built or natural instincts. For most species a natural instinct is predation. Fish must eat but in the process if this can be achieved with minimum fuss the better. So if a fish can sense another fish injured or dying, the natural instinct is to snaffle that fish, which renders itself an easy meal...

The stickbait mimics a wounded or dying bait fish superbly. In fact i would go so far as to say it does that better than any other lure i know. What's interesting is that the lure in itself has no built in action whatsoever. Its basically a long streamlined piece of plastic, unlike fish or worm profile lures that have tails that swim or flutter when the lure is worked.

Where the stickbait gains its movement is in the jighead. Usually jigheads used for stickbaits are angular or shaped heads that resemble a bullet. If you've ever watched a James Bond movie and seen baddies shooting bullets into the water. You would have noticed the effect water has on the trajectory of the bullet. It basically maked the bullet deviate violently as the water catches the shaped edge of the bullet. same premise with the jighead. When twitched, and sometimes violently, the jighead darts off in erratic fashion. The lure and jighead combo then has the effect of mimicing a wounded fish....which basically does the exact same thing when its dyaing or wounded.

Unlike other plastix with in-built action, which require little imput from the fisho to work, the stickbait requires a good deal of imput from the angler. Its truely a matter of deception, and really, isn't that what using lures is all about.

Working the lure is at the discretion of the fisho. My old man tweaks the lure gently where i probably am a little more violent. You can do 1, 2 or 3 up-sweeps of the rod, side- sweeps, downward sweeps...really the only limit is your imagination.

Also these days i wipe S-Factor all over my lures. The scent is actually water soluable and fish can taste the lure without even having it in thier mouth..im told from a range of up to 1 meter??? Cool stuff.

So there you have it. The 101 on stickbaits. There's still a heap i havent covered but the fun is getting out there and learning something for yourself.

Baitcaster V's Eggbeater

Hi All,

Once again i had this little question rear up in coversation. Some fishos advocate baitcasters some advocate spin reels. So which is a better fishing tool????

I'll try and give you my synopsis on the subject but im no means an expert on baitcasters. I do however use them when i feel its going to do a better job than a spin reel. So when when is this the case????

Fishos up north in the tropics live and die by thier baitcasters and probably use them for more purposes than i do. I was born and bred on spin reels and as such feel more natural in my hands. Usually i will use a baitcaster though in these scenarios.

a) Fishing for bass with diving lures or moderatly sized top water lures - I find that i need a minimum of 7grams to effectively cast a baitcaster. There are some gun casters out there that can flick feather weight lures on baitcasters but i aint one of them. I get too many backlashes, or better known as a birdsnest.

b) Flicking lures for Jewies - I tend to use baitcasters here with lure weights over 3/8thoz jigheads. If you've spend hours on end for days on end flickin heavy jigheads with big plastix on 7 foot rods you will know how the wrist and elbow feels after the punishment. Using a shoter rod, which is typical of a baitcast rod will allow better leverage and assist in jerking the lure with minimal angler imput.

This can also be the case for big flatties as well. If your chasing crocs in deep tidal water then the heavy lead you need will also neccessitate the use of a shorter rod.

c) Flickin lures up north for Barra - Pretty much the mainstay of baitcasters here in OZ anyway. This needs no explaination so i will just say that if you used a spin reel to throw around a few gold bombers up north you might raise a few eyebrows...its an elistist thing, as baitcasters or more so fishos that use them have a perception that using a baitcaster requires more skill.

To some extent this may be so. A baitcaster requires more skill initially to cast well without birdsnests but still has some flaws of thier own...

Some of these are;

a) Difficult to cast light weights - especially into the wind. This can be a real pain in the arse. Spin reels are far superior in this dept. and in the right hands can weild spin equipment with frightening accuracy.

b) Not friendly to beginers - As mentioned, they turn off southern anglers who have grown up using spin reels as first choice. They can seem a little foreign and take some getting used to to cast well.

C) Cast distance - Contrary to belief baitcasters, in general, lack cast distance. Now i say this with some hesitation as most distance casting champs use overheads in comps. But lets face it, how many grass roots fishos are able to cast a reel like a distance casting competitor. Its a bullshit comp that proves very little, and in no way indicative of actual fishing scenarios.

Spin rods are usually longer and the ease of use with spin reels means the average angler can make longer casts and fish further from the boat etc. You cover more ground this way too, which usually means more fish.


While there may be a heap of other arguments, these are the ones that are most prominent with me. Is one better than the other??? I dont think so. Each system is just another tool for the toolbox. I try to use whatever tools are best for the job and each fisho will have his or her intepretation of what the best tool is.

My only advice is to experiment. I go thru phases as well, so what i use for a particular application today might not be the tools i use for it next month. Its just a matter of fine tuning and basically how you feel on the day.

Good luck. Hope this helps clear the air a little on the subject.

2008 Hawkesbury Classic

Hi Guys,

Just dropping a quick note today to chat about the 2008 Hawkesbury Classic. I enetr this tournament/competition every year and ahve been bridesmaid too many times to mention.

I have missed out on the podium by a couple hundred grams a few times and it just might be the year im promoted from bridesmaid to bride. I fish the comp with my uncle Andy, a prolific jew catcher in the local waterway. But this hasnt meant a podium finish, far from it. While we catch our fair share of jewies in the Hawkesbury it just doenst seem to happen on the first weekend in November. Bugger!

The comp is an all species gut and gill comp, which i have a slight issue with. In this age of ecologically friendly practices surely they can devise a system where fish are photographed and released instead of donked on the back of the head and dispatched. This is especially so for flathead where the bigger specimens are breeders. Makes no sense really.

The comp has different sectors, a heaviest fish section, then heaviest species section, bream, flathead, whiting and jew. Usually the heaviest fish is a jewfish but any fish other than sharks and rays can qualify.

So the gameplan is to fish live baits at night for jewies and during the day flick big 6 & 7" plastix around for either jew or flatties. That was the plan last year and we nearly done it. Hope this year the gods are smiling on us!

I'll keep you posted on the results.