{{+1}}Barramundi lures{{-1}}
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There is no doubt about it … lures catch more fishos than fish. If you walk into any fishing shop these days you can expect to find a wall or walls of all sorts of lures … wow, where to start.
I have mates that have boxes and boxes of lures and it's common to see them sorting through those overstuffed boxes and trying to find lures that they think will do the job.
Well, my approach is a bit different and is much the same process as I applied when I was representing Australia and Fly Fish Australia in World, Commonwealth and Oceania Fly Fishing Championships. What I always did for my fly fishing and now do for my lure fishing is to sort my flies, and now lures, into categories and then to only carry into competitions those flies and now lures that have earned a place in my category selection to cover a particular purposes in a competition.
I am confident that the lures in just my 4 barramundi lure boxes set out below provide me with enough ammunition to target barramundi in almost any situation.
I might only have a one or two lures in each category to cover each fishing option but from the work I do in working out how, where and when to fish each lure, before adding a lure to any of my competition boxes, I know its the best lure for the job and how, when and where to fish it ... if a lure doesn't make the grade it just doesn't get added to that category or it's associated competition lure box/s.
In competition fly fishing I was always very careful not to over stuff fly boxes as there is nothing worse than not being able "to see the wood for the trees" or having to many fly options for the same job and "opps!" none for others.
The same applies to my lure boxes. I select my lure boxes carefully so that lures are not hidden away under other lures, are not exposed to the elements unnecessarily and are not tangled up.
It doesn't matter if it's competition fly fishing, competition lure fishing or just social fishing you will get so much more out of you're fishing experience if you have confidence in every fly or lure that you tie on. You don't want to be wasting time, particularly, in a competitive situation continually swapping flies or lures in the hope that I stumble onto one that works.
Testing lures is a lot of fun but at the end of the day, for me, it’s all about working out if a new fly or lure should be assigned one of those valuable spaces in one of my categories and consequently my competition fly or lure boxes. I don't add a fly or lure to my competition fly or lure boxes just because I like the look of it. New lures have to earn that position and that only happens under only two circumstances.
- After identifying a gap in my competition fly or lure arsenal for a particular purpose or place I have worked out when on how to fish a new fly or lure to fill that gap.
- I come across a lure that is better at its job in my fly or lure arsenal than a fly or lure that is already in one of my fly or lure boxes. That doesn’t happen often but when it does, the fly or lure that is being replaced drops down to one of my overflow boxes of flies or lures.
Box 1 - Traditional plastisol based soft plastics
I have more confidence in soft plastics than in any other type of barra lure and as a consequence soft plastics are my "goto" lures for a lot of my barramundi fishing.
Box 2 - Soft and hard Vibes
I do like fishing Vibes also and as you can carry a dozen or vibes in a relatively small lure box I nearly always take a selection whenever I go fishing.
Box 3 - TPE swim-baits, chase-baits & Barambah swimbaits
TPE lures in the form of swim-baits, chase-baits and prawns are very realistic representations of natural food items and in many cases have very realistic swimming actions . They have really come into there own in just the last few years and can be a great alternative to other classes of lures.
These are very realistic representations of bait fish and in some cases other critters and in many cases have very realistic swimming actions . They have really come into there own in just the last few years and can be a great alternative to other classes of lures.
Box 4 - Hard Bodied lures
A lot of restraint needs to be exercised when setting up or adding lures to your hard bodied lure box. This is an area where lures definitely catch my fishos than fish ... make your choices carefully. Having said they hard body lures definitely do have their place.
My casting hard bodied lures
Lures in this box are predominant used for casting but from time to time they are trolled and from time to time lures in my Pryml had bodied lure trolling box are cast.
Surface lures
Top 2 meters
2+ meters to 3 meters
My hard body vibes
I only carry two very hard body vibes but each of those have unique properties as explained in their respective posts.
Belista juggenaut
Samaki hardlicious vibe 110
My trolling hard bodied lures
Lures in this box are those that dive to below 3 meters and are predominant used for trolling and but from time to time they are cast and from time to time lures in my Pryml had bodied lure casting box box are trolled.
3+ meters to 5 meters
5+ meters plus
Then of course there is the elephant in the room when it comes to what I don't carry. These lures are fantastic baits but, after so much frustration with Zman lures being accidentally stored with other brands of lures and even other non Zman lures I made the decision to not carry any Zman soft plastics in my competition or social fishing kit.
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.
If I were to carry any Zman soft plastics these two would be included.
Z Man paddle tails
Z Man frogs
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