Author Archive
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{{+1}}Low snag fly – jelly prawn{{-1}}
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I tie this fly on a #1 or #3/0 unweighted worm hook to which I add my own weight. Even though the natural jelly prawn is only about 4cm long versions bigger than that dont seem to worry bigger fish and I am guessing that they are more tuned into the colour, form and function of the oversized representation of a jelly prawn and see the bigger offering of protein as a bonus.{{end}}
Last Updated: August 19, 2021
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{{+1}}NSW – fishing season reminders{{-1}}
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Bass, Trout, Murray Cod, Eastern freshwater Cod & Murray Crayfish{{end}}
{{+1}}Knots – Chatto’s snelled front stinger knot for flies & lures{{-1}}
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This is a process that I have developed over the last year or so to mount a stinger hook in front of big soft plastics that I fish in low light or in dirty water. I am confident that this process will be fantastic for adding a stinger to a fly.{{end}}
{{+1}}Z Man DieZel MinnowZ – 7″{{-1}}
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Barra love big baits and this softy is getting up there. This is one of may favorite baits for low light or in dirty water conditions{{end}}
Categories: Barramundi, Lures, Lures - Barramundi, Zman ElazTech
Tags: ZMan paddle tails 
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{{+1}}Z Man 10X Tough ElaZtech based soft plastics{{-1}}
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Quicklinks
For a long time I resisted having any Z man soft plastics in my barramundi soft plastic arsenal because of the damage they did to other types of lures. Because thay have some fantastic soft plastics I have now come to grips with that and have finally got used to keeping them separate from my plastisol and non-Z Man TPE soft plastics, swimbaits, vibes etc. th
Z Man softies are made from Z Man's own secret proprietary TPE material called "ElaZtech". This proprietory TPE material melts and deforms traditional plastisol based soft plastics and consequently Z Man soft plastics must be stored away from all plastisol soft plastics in a non-PVC based container or their original sealed packaging. Zerek Chasebait, Transams and other TPE lures made from relatively standard TPE material don't have the secret proprietary additive that is in "ElaZtech" and will suffer the same melting and deforming problems that traditional plastisol based soft plastics suffer if stored in the same container as any Z Man soft plastic.
» ZMan paddle tails, Zman frogs,ZMan paddle tails
Z Man SwimmerZ – 6″
This is my favorite medium size soft plastic paddle tail swim bait and has a great mullet shaped profile and realistic swimming action at any speed. I rig it in two ways. On TT Headlock jig heads generally in 1/4 oz and 3/8 oz sizes It has a big advantage over most other paddle tails […]
Zman frogs
Barramundi are very susceptible to frogs when they actively swim over their domain so it’s wort having a couple of frog type lures in your kit. Follows are often visible and hits are electric.
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{{+1}}Z Man SwimmerZ – 6″{{-1}}
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This is my favorite medium size soft plastic paddle tail swim bait and has a great mullet shaped profile and realistic swimming action at any speed.
I rig it in two ways.
On TT Headlock jig heads generally in 1/4 oz and 3/8 oz sizes
It has a big advantage over most other paddle tails rigged on jig hooks in that with a drop of superglue behind the lead weight on the or on the shaft it is almost indestructible.
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On TT ChinlockZ both un-weighted and weighted.
I only rig the Swimmer Z on these hooks if barra are feeding on frogs. As for the Headlock Z I like to use a little superglue to make the rigging more durable. For the ChinlockZ I put justa drop of glue on the short horizontal shaft on the hook and on top of that bit of soft plastic which is touching the retainer weight on the ChinlockZ.
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There are three colours that I favor in this lure range. Pearl is a great anytime colour for barramundi and accordingly it's one of the first colours I tie on. Gold is a great option also and over the last few months at Awoonga in particular gold and black lure combinations such as "dark ale" have been catching a lot of fish. I like Ayu as a shallow water option and rigged with just a 1/4 oz of weight on a #8/0 TT Headlock it's the colour I fish around the margins of the lake and particularly over weed gardens and the gutters around the weed beds. If your picking up too much weed with Headlock rig it on either an unweighted or lightly weighted #8/0 Chinlock.
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{{+1}}Adding an up front stinger hook to a paddle tail soft plastic{{-1}}
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This is a set up I use when I am fishing big paddle tail soft plastics in the dark or in discolored water. By big soft plastics I am talking about baits like my 20cm swimbaits or 18cm Castaic Jerky J Swimmers.{{end}}
{{+1}}Scrounger – articulated minnow{{-1}}
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This is the third in my series of scrounger flies and like the scrounger baitfish and the scrounger jelly prawn it's tied on a worm hook which in soft plastic parlance is also referred to as a weedless hook and more often than not this fly can be retrieved not only through weed but also over or around most structure such as detritus matter, drowned timber, rocks etc, in rivers and lakes, without being snagged up.{{end}}
{{+1}}Adding lead to a “weedless” AKA “worm” type hook{{-1}}
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Weight can be added to a fly in many different ways and they effect how the fly sinks and swims also in many different ways. This is how I add weight to weedless / worm hook when I am going to use the fly to make a fly similar to my Scrounger fly.{{end}}
Categories: Archive, Articles parent, Big fish, General articlesTags: Big fish flies, Flathead No Comments »
{{+1}}Low snag fly – baitfish{{-1}}
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This fly can be cast onto a muddy bank, right into mangroves and onto rock bars and then can be retrieved over and through all manner of structure with an extremely low incidence of getting snagged up.{{end}}