Soft plastics: as many species as I can possibly catch

[ChrisTaylor]

I mostly catch-and-release, so I'm not too fussed about the size of fish or catching species for the table (although I'm happy to taste pretty much anything). I do maybe 90% of my fishing with soft plastics. I'm no expert, and I'm not the guy wearing Daiwa-branded clothing and a GoPro screaming out 'fish on!', but I think -- think -- I've started to crack the code when it comes to plastics. This year I'm aiming to catch as many different species as possible. Mostly I'm figuring I'll use this thread to keep track of what I've caught -- so I guess I better start taking pix -- and to share my limited knowledge of plastics. I fish landbased, mostly at Frankston and Mornington.

My outfit: Daiwa Itchy Twitchy, w/ Shimano Stradic 2500FK. This is my go-to rod for almost everything. The braid is light -- 6, 8 pound? if I recall correctly -- and I usually use a 4 pound leader. My preferred plastics are Keitech 2 inch 'Easy Shiners', fished on suitably small jigheads (between 1 and 2 grams, with small hooks). My heavier soft plastics outfit is a Daiwa Supacaster, paired with a Stradic 4000 and 20 pound braid/16 pound leader. The latter I picked up for chasing mulloway, mostly, although I reckon it'll work for cod (a species I've never chased, and know three fifths of nothing about).


So far -- 24 Jan -- I've picked up:

• Snapper
• Flathead
• Aus Salmon
• Barracouta
• Mullet
• Toadfish
• Eastern Gobbleguts
• Estuary Perch
• Silver trevally
• Tommy rough
• Some kind of mackeral? TBC

In the past I've caught -- and been broken off by -- other species (either on plastics or using some other method), but I'm listing only what I've landed in 2020.

I have a few species I'm especially keen to catch on plastics, and they're mostly species caught in my local area: bream (which I've caught before, but haven't invested time in recently) and mulloway, of course, but also carp (I have some Strike Tiger nymphs, which will be my starting point), trout, redfin, garfish (seriously), flounder, mackerel (the species my tiny 'aji' plastics are actually designed for), King George Whiting ... and squid. I've noticed squid -- big and small -- hit plastics all the time, even when they're not biting en masse, so I'm aiming to eventually hook and land one. I'd be overjoyed to pick up species I'm not actually planning on investing time in, such as eel or those rock cod that lurk around the pylons at Sorrento. Mostly this is a 'because I can' exercise. I'm more than happy to take on board all kinds of advice, aside from the 'ditch the plastics and switch to bait or hardbodies' sort of advice, as that goes against the whole point of this pointless-ish exercise.

[purple5ive]

Good little challenge mate, all the best with it.
Only downside is being landbased will make things a bit tricky for you. But it's still most defenitely doable.

My favourite outfit for a long time was the itchy twitchy /luvias combo.

[mazman]

I've sort unofficially done similar a few years back. It's cool seeing what you can get to eat plastics.
If you are just looking to tick off species give the aji/mebaru gear a run at portsea/sorrento/blairgowrie/flinders piers after dark around the lights, the number of different species I've caught doing this is insane

[croe04]

sounds like fun, i'm beginning to get confident and have good fun fishing plastics, it almost seems more rewarding than other types of lure fishing.
good luck with the gars haha, serious feat if you manage that. I think berkley does scented maggot soft plastics which could be a place to start.
best of luck!

[Sebb]

Good idea to set yourself a challenge.
Itchy twitchy is a nice rod. I've got 3 Gen black rods now, lol.

Like croe said, you can use maggot plastic for garfish. Burley hard and you can fool them.

I've caught a big carp on strike pro crab and a mate caught on zman grub. For me, carp on plastic is often sight fish it. Look for them in shallows (usually coz they're feeding), use light jig head (so wont spook the carp) and cast right in front of their nose on their traveling path, leave a slack line. Strike when the plastic in its mouth.

Squid on plastic is definitely possible. I remember I went to Rye and had two rods, one with plastic and one with squid jig. The plastic looked more real in crystal clear water with no flow and the squid was following the jig but didn't hit, the squid took the plastic with no hesitation. When that happens, give some time for the squid before reeling in, hooking one single hook is harder than multi hook on a prong.
So if you happen to fish a squid area and get a bite/tap/pull but no fish when you strike, good chance its a squid. Just give some line and some time before striking.

Good luck!

[bowl]

Snotty trevally around strucure on worm soft plastic

[ChrisTaylor]

I had some white Strike Tiger nymphs to throw at gars, but I'll look into the maggots. I threw plastics -- green-ish nymphs -- in search carp today, spending a couple hours all up at Berwick Springs and the Jaycar lake. The former was very dirty, and there was no chance of seeing fish even in the shallows. The visibility at the latter was better.

[mazman]

I had some white Strike Tiger nymphs to throw at gars, but I'll look into the maggots. I threw plastics -- green-ish nymphs -- in search carp today, spending a couple hours all up at Berwick Springs and the Jaycar lake. The former was very dirty, and there was no chance of seeing fish even in the shallows. The visibility at the latter was better.

Try and get some small pearl mebaru/aji plastics for the gars. I've caught them on some ecogear plastics, not sure what their names are but the ones I use range from 1-2" and are slender in profile.

[ChrisTaylor]

I had some white Strike Tiger nymphs to throw at gars, but I'll look into the maggots. I threw plastics -- green-ish nymphs -- in search carp today, spending a couple hours all up at Berwick Springs and the Jaycar lake. The former was very dirty, and there was no chance of seeing fish even in the shallows. The visibility at the latter was better.

Try and get some small pearl mebaru/aji plastics for the gars. I've caught them on some ecogear plastics, not sure what their names are but the ones I use range from 1-2" and are slender in profile.

I have a few aji-style worms, both in a natural red and some more vibrant colours.

[purple5ive]

I've caught arrow squid on plastics a few times..
Other species easy to catch are reef species like parrots, goat fish etc.