Lures
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{{+1}}Zerek live mullet{{-1}}
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The Zerek Live Mullet is a jointed soft plastic swimbait that is built from the super strong TPE material. They swim well reaching depths of around 2 meters on a slow roll and of course swim a little shallower on faster retrieves.{{end}}
Last Updated: February 3, 2021
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{{+1}}Jackall Transam vibe 95mm{{-1}}
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The Jackall Transam 95mm weighs 20g and is the first vibe that I caught barra on in Central Queensland and it is still my favorite. It sinks quickly and has a really tight vibration at a range of speeds.{{end}}
{{+1}}Chasebait – flick prawns{{-1}}
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Incredibly realistic and made from ultra durable and flexible 10X material this is my favorite TPE type bait for chasing barramundi in salt water. I like to carry both versions in my "TPE baits" lure box so I have options in relation to retrieve speed and water depth.{{end}}
{{+1}}Molix Shad 140 swimbait{{-1}}
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This jointed soft plastic swim bait is ready to use straight out of the packaging and is a favorite of mine for deeper water.
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The form and a very fish like swimming action of this paddle tail are complemented by a small spinner under the the belly which adds just enough flash to bring it to the attention of close by barra even in discolored or moon lit waters.
Another plus is exposed hook on the top of the lure and a set of trebles under the head that together give this lure a very a good hook up rate.
Comes in a great range of colours with "321 - Black Gold Tiger" as shown above being my favorite.
It fishes well at a range of speeds and even on a slow roll it has a great action.
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{{+1}}Castaic Jerky J Swimbait 5 inch{{-1}}
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The Jerky J Swimbait 5" is the little brother of the &' version. It's a great lure to employ at those times when barra are looking for smaller baits or when smaller baits that land softly are required.
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My three favorite colours are:
- Salt and pepper as in the top of the photo above
- Golden shiner
- Green Shad as in the bottom of the photo above
The three hooks that I rig this paddle tail soft plastic on are from top to bottom in the photo above:
- Owner Flashy Swimmer 5/0
- An alternative is to rig it on a 5/0 Owner twistlock to which has been added a few turns of lead wire that has well coated with a couple of layers of red nail polish.
- Owner Nitro Saltwater Pro 5/0 1/6 oz
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{{+1}}Bomber{{-1}}
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Bombers in general are a very well known lure and it's likely that one or more colours are represented in lure boxes across Australia than any other lure. They have a retrieve depth of 2-3 feet when cast but on a longer troll swim down to 4-8 feet even at a slow speed.
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{{+1}}Yakamito Hyper Jerk 90 minnow{{-1}}
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{{+1}}Happy Rock Softies – grub{{-1}}
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This just one of the Happy Rock softies that is a credit to its designer Trev Burgess. He gave me my fist one probably two years ago and I have been using them ever since.
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Unfortunately Trevor passed away in a tragic boating accident at Lake Awoonga on 4th September 2020. A very sad day for our fishing community ... RIP Trevor.
This is the only grub soft plastic that I carry and I fish it with confidence in those very quiet times when we can see the fish on the sounder but they are not interested.
I rig it up weedless in two ways.
- The first is on a 5/0 Owner Flashy swimmer ... this can be fish as you please but the original retrieve that Trevor described to me was a very slow roll.
- An alternative is to rig it on a 5/0 Owner twistlock to which has been added a few turns of lead wire that has been well coated with a couple of layers of red nail polish.With such a small amount of weight this softy can be fished really slowly with the tip of the rod imparting gust a few twitches.
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{{+1}}Powerbait – Hollow Belly{{-1}}
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Powerbait hollow belly soft plastics are available in 5" and 6" versions and I use them for both weedless and jig hook presentations.
The four colours that I use are:
- Tennessee shad
- Hitch
- Bone shad
- Blue gill
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Weedless hook presentations
In those cases The reason for that is that they are indeed hollow and so when a barra munches on them there is little resistance in squashing the lure and exposing the weedless hook and thus enhancing the chance of a hook up.
For the 6" hollow bellies the two weedless hook set up I favor are:
6/0 Owner Flashy Swimmer
6/0 1/6 oz TT Chinlock
For the 5" hollow bellies the two weedless hook set up I favor are:
5/0 Owner Flashy Swimmer
5/0 1/6 oz TT Chinlock
For the 5"
Jig presentations
For the 6" Hollow Belly the three hooks that I rig this paddle tail soft plastic on are from top to bottom in the photo above:
- Mustard Big Game Head Size 10/0 20 gram (7/10 oz)
- Mustard TT headlock size 7/0 1/4 oz and 3/8 oz
For the 5" Hollow Belly the three hooks that I rig this paddle tail soft plastic on are from top to bottom in the photo above:
- Mustard TT headlock size 5/0 1/6 oz and 3/8 oz
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{{+1}}Slick rig 130 – competition tuned with stinger or blade{{-1}}
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I have progressively modified the Slickrig by reducing the internal weight so that it swims mid water, have modified the tail so that it swims better at a slow speed, added a subtle rattle to make it easier for barra to detect the lure and finally have added either a spinner or a set of trebles under the lure to induce and convert more hits to hook ups.{{end}}