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Softies in the Surf

By Justin Willmer

As tailor season swings around once again, I start to get asked the question 'do soft plastics work in the surf?' The short answer is yes, while the longer answer is that soft plastics can actually be more effective in the surf than a lot of other lure presentations. For example, metal slugs are popular for surf fishing, however their metal construction means that they need to be retrieved at a high speed, otherwise they will simply fall to the bottom. Soft plastics on the other hand can be fished slower, fished higher in the water column without having to be retrieved lightning fast and they feel realistic and have loads of action. When the fish are being harassed by larger predators, are finicky or the bite is tough, soft plastics have saved many a surf session for us. Here's 10 tips for fishing the surf, with a focus on getting the most out of your plastics in the surf.

1. Go the Distance

When fishing the surf you are often dealing with water movement, wind and long casts, so it's important to ensure you have the required jighead weights to fish effectively. I will take the same plastics with me that I throw in the rivers and estuaries, however my jighead selection will increase in weight from my 1/16oz - 3/8oz river kit, to a 1/4oz to 1oz surf kit. The 2.5" GrubZ and 2.5" Slim SwimZ will be fished on a 1/4oz 1 - 1/0, the 3" MinnowZ will most likely be on a 1/2oz 3/0 and the 5" Scented Jerk ShadZ and 4" SwimmerZ will likely be on a 3/4oz - 1oz 5/0. It doesn't need to stop there though, with 9" GrubZ, 6" SwimmerZ and 7" Scented Jerk ShadZ popular options for anglers chasing larger species in the surf, rigged on jigheads up to 2oz.

2. Match the Hatch

When it comes to soft plastic selection it's important to match the hatch, regardless of the environment that you are fishing. Make note of any bait that you can see in the area or any bait that fish you land cough up. Alternatively think about the baits that you use for targeting particular species, a 2.5" GrubZ might be a good worm representation for dart, a 3.75" StreakZ is a tiny white bait for tuna and salmon, a 3" MinnowZ is a larger hardy head profile that tailor love, while a 5" Scented Jerk ShadZ or 4" SwimmerZ is pilchard size and sure to appeal to larger predators.

3. Lures Colour

When it comes to lure colours for surf fishing it's hard to go past natural baitfish colours, such as Pearl, Pearl Blue Glimmer, Opening Night, Green Lantern and Shiner, however I always include a few out of the box colours such as Glow Chartreuse, Electric Chicken, Nuked Chicken Glow and Bubble Gum for when they won't bite and a reaction bite may be triggered by showing them something different.

4. Scent

I always scent my plastics. Soft plastics are realistic, chewy and you can fish them slower than many other lure presentations. Fish will often return to hit them multiple times before finding the hook, so in my mind scent makes the presentation more attractive, while also masking foreign scents, such as fuel and sunscreen. My go-to scents for surf fishing are Pro-Cure Super Gel in Sardine/Pilchard, Mullet and Bloody Tuna flavours.

5. Retrieves

The right retrieve is the one that gets the bite, so be sure to mix up your retrieves until you find what the fish want. Your soft plastic selection can also often dictate your selection of retrieves, to a degree. Curl tail plastics are loaded with action, making them ideal for slower retrieves and prospecting gutters for species such as dart, flathead, mulloway and golden trevally. Jerk Bait profiles have less built in action, cast further and get down deeper quicker. They are excellent for faster, more erratic retrieves and are a go-to on pelagic species, while also appealing to wide range of other species. Paddle tails are a good allrounder that can be retrieved with a wide range of retrieves from a slow hop to a fast burn.

An example of fishing the paddle tail was when my wife Sheri and I walked the beach early one morning in search of tailor. The tailor schools were small, finicky and broken up after being harassed by larger predators such as queenfish and kingfish. Cast a metal slug and the school would spook and speed up down the beach, however cast a plastic ahead of the school, work it slower and the fish would continue down the beach at a walking pace that allowed us to keep up with them. We would land about three fish using a slow roll (slow wind) and then they would switch off and stop following the lure. Change up to a hop, hop, pause and we would land another three before they shut down again. Change up to a burn and kill (three quick winds and a pause) and catch another three before they shut down. By rotating between these three retrieves we kept the school feeding, without spooking them and landed a couple of dozen tailor for the morning.

6. Where to Fish

Regardless of whether you are fishing bait or lures it's important to look for the most productive sections of the beach. Obvious structure includes rocks, points and deeper holes. Less obvious structure to think about includes banks that create eddies, foamy sections of water that fish can use for shelter or ambush and breaks in the outer banks that allow predatory fish to enter and exit from close in deeper gutters.

7. Read the Signs

It's important to make note of those key signs that the area holds fish. Find the bait, find the fish is an old saying and normally a winner. If there is bait in the area it is likely that at some point predators will come to feed on them. Many times, I have followed a school of bait as it moves along the beach only to have absolute mayhem ensue as a school of tailor, queenfish or trevally find the school and tear it apart.

Birds are another sign that there may be bait or feeding fish in the area. I once watched a single seagull as he cruised just above the water watching intently. It felt like he was watching something and a quick cast ahead of the bird saw a 70cm tailor hooked and landed. Birds diving and feeding means get a lure in there quick, however don't forget those birds that look like they are watching something and even the areas where birds gather... they may be smelly but often show there is plenty of bait nearby.

8. Spotting Fish

When it comes to spotting fish the first thing you need is a decent pair of polarised sunglasses. These will protect your eyes, cut the glare and improve your chances of spotting bait and fish. Over the years the pro net fishos on Fraser Island gave me a few tips that have helped me locate fish when fishing the surf. Here's a few things to keep in mind -

Don't look at the waves, look into the waves. It sounds weird, however you have probably all seen those drawings that trick your eyes when you look at them and you are looking at a cube, then suddenly into a box, looking at two different images combined into one, or you squint and magically see a hidden image in a bunch of spots. Once you convince your brain not to look at the solid outside of the waves and actually look into them you suddenly see mullet schools, schools of dart and even individual fish cruising in the waves.

Look for colour changes in the water. Patches of grey and black may be weed or rock, however they may be schools of fish. After a while you begin to get better at spotting fish schools and can begin to pick the species and density of the school based on the colour of the patch. It is also often easier to spot the shadows left by schools or individual fish, rather than spotting the fish, especially in shallow water. Keep an eye out for shadows moving along the bottom and suddenly you will see the fish moving above the shadow. It's hard to beat spotting a cruising fish, leading them with the cast and then watching them change direction slightly to eat your plastic and get your drag screaming.

9. Beach Cart

Over the years we have had a few different beach carts, from golf carts to home made contraptions with BMX wheels and a crate occy strapped on. Our most recent addition has been a WheelEEZ Beach Cart, designed for beach work and perfect for loading in everything for a fishing session. It allows you to be mobile when vehicle access is restricted due to tides and it also allows you to walk the beach and look out for structure to fish, bait, fish schools and so forth. We generally fish about two kilometres each way from our campsite, however we have travelled up to a 26km round trip with the cart. In our cart we have a 26L icebox with drinks, food and ice for keeping fish, a four holder rod holder, wading bags, lures and tackle, basic first aid and a Railblaza Camera Boom for taking photos with fish.

10. Gearing Up

When it comes to plastics, we run ZMan 10X Tough ElaZtech plastics as you are often dealing with fish with teeth, such as tailor. If you are really unlucky you may get a tail bitten off first cast, however most times we get about twenty tailor out of a single ZMan 3" MinnowZ, which is pretty good value.

Jighead wise it's TT Lures HeadlockZ HD jigheads as they are built on brutally strong Mustad black nickel chemically sharpened hooks, making them capable of handling big fish in the surf.

Rod and reel wise I will generally run three combos to cover smaller to larger plastics, casting distances and target species.

1) A 7' 3-6kg rod, 2500-3000 size spinning reel, 10lb braid and 10-20lb leader is perfect for spinning for dart, tailor, queenfish and other species in small surf or when long casts aren't required. This is the combo that I will use 90% of the time for casting 2.5" - 4" plastics. A heavier 7' option (7' 5-8kg with a 4000-5000 spinning reel) can also be included if you have room.

2) An 8-10' 5-10kg rod, 5000 size spinning reel, 20lb braid and 20-40lb leader is perfect for larger plastics and larger predatory species, including kingfish, tuna and mulloway. This is my go-to for larger plastics, surf and target species and longer casts where we fish, however you may need to step up to the next combo or longer again for monster surf or slow tapering beaches that require longer casts.

3) A 13' 8-10kg rod, 6500-8000 size spinning reel, 30lb braid and 40-80lb leader is my big gun for casting big plastics on heavy jigheads when prospecting large surf gutters or specifically targeting big fish such as GT around points, rocks and drop offs.

I now find myself casting more soft plastics in the surf than any other presentation and the result has been a wider variety of species landed, along with some quality captures. Next time you plan a surf session, think about the bait in the area and your target species, it just may be worth throwing in a couple of packets of plastics and jigheads in case an opportunity arises. It may even be a game changer like it has been for us on many occasions now. All the best with the fishing.

See you on the water...
Justin Willmer

Gear List
TT Lures HeadlockZ HD jigheads

ZMan 2.5" GrubZ
ZMan 2.5" Slim SwimZ
ZMan 3" MinnowZ
ZMan 4" SwimmerZ
ZMan 6" SwimmerZ
ZMan 3.75" StreakZ
ZMan 4" Scented Jerk ShadZ
ZMan 5" Scented Jerk ShadZ
ZMan 7" Scented Jerk ShadZ

Pro-Cure Super Gel Scent -
Pilchard Super Gel Scent
Mullet Super Gel Scent
Bloody Tuna Super Gel Scent