Tested: Storm Wild-Eye Twitching Nipper

While packing for a quick soft plastic session down at the local estuary and beach system of Ross Creek, I decided to put my favourite soft plastic to the test. This would have to be the Storm Wild-Eye Twitching Nipper.



Storm Wild-Eye Twitching Nipper Lures





Ross Creek is one of the family friendly fishing hotspots at Yeppoon because of its convenient access and wide variety of fishing opportunities. Whether you are fishing under the bridge for rock and estuary cod or casting at bream and whiting, there is always an opportunity to wet some line and have a good time.



I first started casting my little Storm Nipper along the rock and sand edge opposite to the beach, but close to the bridge, working my way up every few casts. While keeping an eye on the other fishers casting out live mullets, prawn sections and soft plastics it quickly became obvious that the dreaded toad fish were on the prowl, scoffing down baits and tearing soft plastics to shreds. Nobody, except a young boy who caught a minutely small bream, was able to hook up on decent fish, but managed plenty of toadies instead. While I got close to the end of a rock spit, I felt a subtle bite without a solid hook up. Half of my Nipper was missing, leaving me no choice but to tie another on.

 I cast the new nipper in a large rocky and sand patch with no currant and commenced my retrieve. The best technique is to let the lure sink to the bottom, give it a few twitches, then let it sink back down. Always reel in any slack, especially on the pause, because fish commonly hit the lure as it sinks back to the bottom. While twitching my little nipper I felt the smallest bit of tension on the pause and quickly lifted my rod to set the hook. Within a few quick seconds, a flatty was pulling line off my Okuma Flame 30 reel and put a nice bend in my Okuma graphite Travel rod. I landed the flathead with my new Okuma Lip Grips, which prevented me from getting a hand full of spikes. After a few quick pictures, the flathead was released without harm.



My Storm Nipper hadn’t sustained any gashes from the flathead so I continued to cast it amongst rocks and over the sand flat. Just a bit around the rock wall spit I was fishing off, I soon hooked a rather large, pesky toadfish that inflated it’s self while I was fighting its toothy beak for my Nipper. I got it back without any harm and recommenced casting.  Another nice flathead grabbed the lure just off a rocky edge and tried to snag me and break the line. He didn’t get to far before I cranked up my drag to stop him in his tracks and bring him back to my rock wall.





It wasn’t long before I had hooked up again on another Nipper munching flathead. I was able to see the flathead follow my lure to about 2 meters off the rock wall I was fishing from, before he smashed it right in front of me.



Flathead No.3



At this stage the Storm Twitching Nipper had raised a few eye-brows of the other fishermen throwing soft plastics without any success. Not long after being asked about my lure I cast it at the same sand flat where it succeeded to hook yet another flathead. 





49.5cm Flatty No.4





The score was four nil with the Storm Twitching Nipper clearly the go to lure for soft plastics. The four flathead measured from 37cm to 49.5cm in length and were all released without harm to fight another day. For additional information on the Twitching Nipper, go to the Storm Lures website link at the right of the blog page.