Fish that fall for Soft Plastics
By Bob Ives
On a good day, you could probably hook at trout with a picture of a
worm on a diaper pin, but most days you’re going to have to know your
stuff a little better than that if you want to consistently catch fish.
There are some baits that will catch most any type of fish you can think
of, like a live worm or minnow. But soft plastics are a little
different.
For example, you can catch a catfish on one, but that is more of an
accident. Pound for pound, that’s not going to be your go-to bait for
that species. But there are some for which you would always want to have
some soft plastic fishing baits on hand.
Bream
Bream are a very good prospect for fishing soft plastic in Australia.
You won’t want to use large plastics for bream. Something in the 3 inch
range will do. Good baits for bream include Berkley Power Baits in 3"
Bass Minnow, 2" Atomic Fat Grubs and 2" Power Hawgs.
Australian Bass
Bass really go for plastics, and in Australia they do well with most
any plastic you can throw at them. The first thing you might want to try
them on is Flukes, or soft plastic Jerk Shads.
Brown Trout, Rainbow Trout, Lake Trout
Trout like plastics too, but just as bream, you might not do as well
with them if you use a 7 inch lizard with eight legs, a tail and a
doorknob hanging off it. Trout will want something a bit more subtle and
life-like. Berkley does make a little plastic worm that looks like a
night crawler and you can put it on your hook the same way, but for
trout, try small plastic minnows a little bit above the bottom.
Flat Head
Flathead like live baits, so be sure to keep the bait life-like by
jerking. They are like to be hiding under cover, so if you think you are
going to be bring your bait past one, pause it right before then give it
a jerk, and pause, etc.
Offshore Soft Plastics Species
Soft plastics are not just good baits in freshwater, but saltwater as
well. Some species that anglers have caught on larger bait fish type
plastics, like 5 inches or larger, include big snapper, yellowfin,
yellowtail kingfish, trevally, amberjack and john dory. You will
definitely need a jig head for these. A 12 inch soft plastic eel could
be a real winner in the briny, too, and might just land you a marlin. |
