Getting Started on Soft Plastics

Hi Peoples,

Getting started on softies can be a daunting task. I recently had 2 newbies wanna get started on sp's in my office and it was an interesting challenge to give them the info they would need to get started and not enough info so they would be confused by the experience.

So what did i tell them?? or more so, what did i think was the must know stuff to get a new fisho strated n sp's and give them a chance to catch something???

First off the education dept was around the rods and reels used nowadays for lure fishing. I felt b4 we got into the convo of lures and jigheads the best place to start is at the begining, of course, so that is with the differences in tackle and the benefit of the the new tech stuff. This was easy to understand and while they didnt quite comprehend everything was a good basis by which to continue...

The braid line was a good talking point as both were unaware of the new gsp stuff and only ever saw or used mono. It was an important point and recommended using braid at all costs.

So once the rod, reel and line education was over, the lures and jig heads were a natural extension of that. I basically labelled the lures (sp's) into two categories. Lures with in-built action and lures without any action. Basically any lure that has a tail that swims upon movement or a lure that has no action as it is retrieved without the manipulation from the angler.

Upon that convo i discussed jigheads. I indicated a round jighead for the in-built lures and an angular head or bullet head for no-action lures. This made good sense and after discussing the pysics of water and an angular jighead indicated how a lure with no in-built action can come to life.

Lastly i discussed leader. I didnt go into too much but basically said it helped tell the lie to the fish. Only the fish should see the mainline not the fish...

I didnt go into technique too much but suggested the lure should always make contact with the bottom after each hop. and that was about it. The very basic stuff to get a greenhorn rigged up and ready to cast a lure.

I felt if i gave anymore info it would be overload. The rest really can be learnt along the way. But no doubt the best way to teach them is to take them on the boat and let them see how its done first hand.... seeing really is believing!