Posts Tagged ‘Paddle tails’
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Paddle tail soft plastics are my go to starting point lure when fishing for barramundi. From all the different types of lures the paddle tails, well at least the good ones as described below, have an swimming action that barra often home in on. Retrieves can be at various speeds but my preference is a slow roll, sometimes the slower the better. Barra will regularly follow just inches behind working out what it is. Throw in a pause of just a second right up to say 20 seconds and that is often all it takes to convert the follow into a strike.
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{{+1}}Soft plastic – paddle tail plastisol based *****{{-1}}
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Soft plastics are a great offshore option. I particularly like dropping Alpha Gar and Alpha prawn soft plastics on 1 to 2 ounce weighted jig heads or elevator jigs so as to cheat fast tidal runs and have a chance at connecting to big predators.{{end}}
Last Updated: February 21, 2022
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{{+1}}Alpha prawn – open/top pour soft plastic{{-1}}
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These 130mm long top pour soft plastics are my take on a soft plastic imitation of a prawn and I use them when targeting not only barramundi but also other larger fish that thrive on prawns such as fingermark, flathead and grunter.{{end}}
{{+1}}Alpha Gar – open/top pour soft plastic{{-1}}
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These are big soft plastics for big barra. I make them in just 6 colours and fish them in Awoonga Dam which is of course a freshwater impoundment. I also fish them in coastal barra waters including Gladstone Harbor and the Narrows.{{end}}
Categories: Lures, Lures - Barramundi
Tags: #fishonfly, Barramundi, barramundi lures, Paddle tails, pouring 
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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}}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}}
{{+1}}Castaic Jerky J Swimbait 7 inch{{-1}}
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The Jerky J Swimbait 7" is one of just a handful of soft plastics I rely on when Barramundi fishing in competitions.
Predominately this is a dusk, dawn or full moonlight soft plastic.
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My three favorite colours are:
- Green Shad as in the top of the photo above
- Boneless Chicken which is a translucent pink colour
- Blue 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:
- Mustard Big Game Head Size 12/0 20 gram (7/10 oz)
- TT Head Hunter / Warrior 8/0 12 gram (3/8 oz)
- Owner Flashy Swimmer 516-080 10/0 (1/2 oz)
Also I note that when required, as in top example, I also add either a willow or beetle silver or gold spinner mounted on a screw in twist lock.
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{{+1}}Cake-n-eat-it – paddle tail soft plastic{{-1}}
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As the name implies these flies are built using a soft plastic lure body. I am happy to call this a fly because I fish it on a fly rod and fly line, cast it, retrieve it and land fish caught on it in the same way that I do when fish a traditional fly made of say fur and feather for say a brown trout in Lake Jindabyne NSW.{{end}}
Categories: Flies, Foam and poly flies, Saltwater - estuary, Saltwater - tropicalTags: Paddle tails No Comments »