The Basics of Lure Fishing

There are many questions asked about lure fishing. Whether it be the colour, size, diving depth, the type of lure or the retrieve it all comes down to where you are fishing and what you are fishing for.

It really pays off to examine the fishing location to see what natural food is already present for the local fish. One easy method is castnet around the area and record the species of fish caught or keep an eye out for yabbies or worms. One of the first decisions is to use soft, hard body or metal lures. In the case of sand flats and beaches where yabby and worm holes are present a soft plastic yabby, worm or grub would work great. In an estuary where mullet, herring and other baitfish are present hard body lures and paddle tail softies work well. In an offshore location larger hard bodies and metal slugs or jigs are usually the lures of choice.

Colour:

Colour also depends to the natural species of the fishing location. If the water is fairly clear more natural colours like the mullet, silver or nordic perch in the selection of Rapala lures is the best choice. On the other hand if the water is a little murky I would suggest bright unnatural colours like the fire tiger, hot steal or even the parrot colour.

Size:

The size of a lure is specific to the size of a targeted fish. If a lure is to big the fish can be intimidated and not provoked to attack, but if the lure is to small the fish would just let the opportunity to strike pass. This is why it is very important to swap lure sizes every now and then till you find a size with the highest response rate.

Depth:

Another very important aspect to lure fishing is the depth of the lure which is caused by the bib or the rate of the retrieve. This is where a fish finder becomes a fisherman’s best friend as lures can be fished just over the bottom for fish like flathead over structures without snagging for barramundi. The other option to diving or sinking lures is surface lures. These lures consist of poppers like the Rapala Skitter pop and stick baits like the Rapala Glidin Rap, X-rap walk and Subwalk.

Take not in the difference in size of the bibs, the minnow on the top is a shallow diver, while the shad is deep.

Hard body lure Retrieves:

There are a wide range of retrieves that cause different actions from a lure. When using a bibbed minnow or shad a standard retrieve is achieved just by reeling the lure in at a constant pace. Another is to twitch the rod causing the lure to aggressively dart in different directions which can imitate fleeing or injured baitfish. When using popper surface lures the rod is held forward then pulled back in a downwards motion, causing the slack of the line to pull the popper forward and splash across the surface of the water. It is vital to pause every few hits and not to strike if you get a fish following the lure. The technique becomes very rhythmical and easy the more it is used and can be used on fish like small bream and whiting to large GT’s and kingfish. When using bibless lures like the Rapala X-rap Walk, subwalk and Glidin Rap, the rod is used to retain the set action of the lure. On a standard retrieve the lure will wobble from side to side but when it is twitched it darts in from left to right in a very appealing motion that to stimulates predatory fish into striking the lure. The storm Kickin Stick is an exception to most hard body lures as it has a jointed body. A standard retrieve causes the lure to ripple very effectively. With the sinking model if the lure is twitched hard and then given slack the lure does a turn and faces away from the fisher which often causes fish to strike. A constant twitch retrieve causes a side to side motion as the body ripples and lures in fish for a bite.  

A range of high quality rapala hard body lures including the new Clackin Minnow

Soft Plastic Retrieves:

Most soft plastics are either classified as a curl tail paddle tail or jerk shad. The main retrieve for curl tail lures is a lift drop then reel in the slack before repeating. For paddle tails a constant reel in but at different speeds is the best as the speed determines depth. Jerk shads require more personalised retrieves. The best is usually to twitch the lure one two or three times before letting it sink a bit. There are a few exceptions to the classified soft plastics. The Storm WildEye Twitching Nipper lures is the first. The best retrieve for yabby lures is to let the lure completely sink before twitching it a few times before letting it sink again. This method is deadly for all fish that eat yabbies as it twitches through all the water columns. The Storm Live kickin minnow and live kickin shad are the second exception to soft plastic fishing. The three features that set them apart is that they have jointed slits in their sides to help them wobble, they has a realistic forked tail section for extra action and they are prefitted with internal weights. To fish These lure affectively let them sink down to the desired depth, comense retrieving the lure remembering that the slow the retrieve the deeper the lure is going to swim. The occasional flick can entice shut down fish that are not hitting baitfish with a normal healthy action but rather an injured easy meal.

A packet of Stimulate Slam soft plastics 



Storm WildEye Nippers

Metal lure and Jig Retrieves:

There are two main types of metal lures, which are generally used in deeper water. The first is the standard metal slug which is retrieved by first letting it sink then reeling it in at a moderately fast speed with the occasional pause. Another is to strike the rod the reel in the slack at a high speed. This causes a dart and pause affect. The other main type of metal lure is a jig. These are fished by dropping them over the side of the boat and letting them sink till they are at the bottom. They are then jerked and wound up through the different water columns but mainly target bottom dwelling fish like samsonfish, amberjack, kingfish and trevally. A Slow Jig like the Williamson Yabai jig is designed to imitate cephalopods instead of fast moving baitfish. They are fished off the bottom by slowly lifting the rod then letting the lure sink back down. A small amount of slack is wound in on every drop to allow the lure to slowly work it’s way up through the water column. There is no point on working the lure all the way up to the top, so once the lure is out of the strike zone, it’s dropped back down to the bottom.



The Williamson Yabai Jig



I hope this post helps anyone who wants to improve their lure fishing techniques. If you have any questions feel free to contact me at rhettthorne@hotmail.com

Rhett Thorne