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Top 5 Lures Beach & Surf Fishing
By Justin Willmer
One of my favourite types of fishing is spinning lures from the beach... the scenery, wildlife and environment are spectacular and this gives you the feeling of being free and closer to nature, while the variety of species encountered can be both interesting for anglers and also adrenalin filled. You can be standing on the beach, watching the sunrise, catching a few whiting on beach worms that you caught earlier and then the water explodes in a frenzy of fins and teeth as a school of tailor, trevally or queenfish ambush the whiting.
Beach fishing is an accessible option for anglers in most parts of the country and the species can vary from Australian salmon and mulloway, to tailor, trevally and queenfish, blue salmon, barramundi and even a variety of reef species. No matter where you are in the country, if you have these five lures in your kit you give yourself a great opportunity of landing a variety of species. What follows is my 5 go-to lures for fishing the beach / surf, how I rig and fish them, along with the key species that I am targeting.
Heavy Metal - TT Lures Hard Core
One of the most popular lures in a beach / surf kit is a metal slug, chromie or whatever other name you prefer. A metal lure generally consists of a metal fish shaped profile with a tow point on the front and an attachment point at the rear where a split ring and treble are attached. The most consistent performer for me has been the TT Lures Hard Core metal lure, a lure that I have fished with solid success for over a decade and I believe this is due to its size, profile and action, as well as the heavy duty treble that is ready to go straight out of the pack.
The Hard Core comes in the most popular sizes of 20, 30 and 40g. I will generally cast the 20g on light spin gear, consisting of a 7' 3-6kg rod and 30 size reel, loaded with 10lb braid and 20-40lb leader. The 30g I will cast on a heavier 7-9' spin rod with a 40-50 size reel, loaded with 20lb braid and 40lb leader and the 40g I will generally cast on a heavier 9' rod or surf combo, loaded with 20-30lb braid and 40-60lb leader.
The 20g is a favourite as you can cast it for extended periods without fatigue, cover plenty of water and a myriad of different species will eat this realistic baitfish profile, from swallowtail dart, salmon and tailor, to mackerel and tuna. The 30g comes into play when I have located a school of fish and require more distance in the cast due to the wind or the proximity that the school is holding from the beach. It's also handy when fishing larger surf as a searching bait. The 40g I primarily throw when fishing bigger surf and wider gutters for larger fish species, such as tailor, trevally and queenfish.
There are three main retrieves I use when fishing the TT Lures Hard Core metal lure. The first retrieve is a flat out burn, a high speed retrieve and this is the most common. You won't outrun a queenfish and at times I find they like the lure breaking the surface, skipping and creating a bubble trail, while a tailor or salmon may want it slowed down a little so that it runs a few inches below the surface and this can often increase the hook up rate.
The second retrieve is a burn and kill, which I often employ when the bite isn't happening or if the fish are following but not taking the lure. The 'burn' is 3 or 4 fast winds of the reel and the 'kill' is a pause. By varying the speed and duration of the burn and the duration of the kill you will soon find what the fish want.
Finally, another retrieve that works for me is a steady retrieve with a twitch of the rod tip to make the lure dart around a bit more. This can sometimes trigger a brutal strike on the retrieve as the fish lines the metal up and just belts it. When using the second or third retrieve I will often increase the leader size as the fish is more likely to inhale the lure than on a straight high speed retrieve, where the treble is often hooked near the opening of the mouth. These lures are inexpensive, easy to use and they catch a stack of different fish, so they are a great starting point.
Pro Tip - Remember if you use the same retrieve, you can expect the same results... which is great when the retrieve is working, however if it's not, switch the retrieve up. We have had many sessions when the retrieve that worked last time hasn't worked and someone will 'crack the pattern' and say they want it slow and twitchier or they want it on the surface and everyone changes their retrieve and hooks up. The effective retrieve can vary from school to school or the same school switching off the lure after a few fish have been caught.
Sensational Stickbait - Fish Inc. Flanker
The Fish Inc. Flanker is a heavy-duty ABS stickbait with a weight inside it that allows long casts, a cool action and it has become a revelation in terms of getting fish to open their mouths and eat on a tough bite. It is available in two sizes, an 85mm 19g model and a larger 115mm 28g model. These can be fished using any of the retrieves mentioned previously and are one of the most realistic baitfish profiles that you will get your hands on, hence their success.
If the bait is tiny and the fish finicky, it's hard to go past the 85mm model and it can be fished on light spin gear, such as the 7' 3-6kg rod, 30 size reel, 10lb braid and 20lb leader, while I run the 115mm on the next size up in gear, such as 7-9' 4-8kg rod, 40-50 size reel, 20lb braid and 40lb leader. The larger, 115m Flanker is great when the fish are more aggressive, the bait larger (such as whiting and garfish), and when additional casting distance is required. The colour range is awesome also and this is a great weapon to have in your kit and a game changer in tough bite situations.
The Soft Approach - ZMan 3" MinnowZ
In recent years one of our most productive lures in the surf has been a ZMan 3" MinnowZ. This plastic is constructed from 10X Tough ElaZtech, so it stands up to toothy critters and we have landed 20+ tailor on a single soft plastic, along with queenfish, trevally and more. This plastic has good bulk in the body and an aggressive paddle tail that makes it one of the most versatile plastics around the country for a stack of different medium to large species, while also making it dynamite when fishing the beach / surf.
Colour wise I like to fish natural baitfish colours, such as Pearl Blue Glimmer, Opening Night, Smelt and Green Lantern. Rigging wise I rig it on a 3/0 TT Lures HeadlockZ HD jighead, commonly fishing a 1/2oz jighead as it provides good casting distance and allows you to stay in touch with the lure when fishing surf. If you are beach fishing with less surf to deal with, you may be able to drop back to a 1/4oz or 3/8oz jighead. Again, we fish it with the three retrieves discussed previously, a straight burn (generally slower with a plastic than a metal lure), burn and kill and also a shaking retrieve. If you're catching tailor from a school and the bite stops or they're following and not eating, switch retrieves to try and make them eat.
The ZMan 3" MinnowZ is not just effective on the speedsters though as it allows you to slow down, hop the plastic on the bottom and slow roll it through gutters, which also produces a variety of other species including flathead and mulloway (jewfish). At times pressured schools and certain species will not respond to the higher speed retrieves with the metal lures and the school may even break up or flee. We have stood beside anglers who aren't getting the bites at times on metal lures and the ZMan 3" MinnowZ has produced the goods.
Upsize Me - ZMan SwimmerZ / DieZel MinnowZ
When fishing the larger surf gutters and bigger surf the ZMan 3" MinnowZ and the 1/2oz jighead may not be enough to get you into the action. In this situation we switch things up to a ZMan 4" SwimmerZ or 6" SwimmerZ as they have that mullet profile that is so effective, a large flat paddle tail that creates plenty of thump to attract predators and they can be rigged with a larger hook and heavier jighead weight if required. The ZMan 4" SwimmerZ can comfortably carry a 5/0 or even 6/0 TT Lures HeadlockZ jighead, which allows you to increase the jighead weight to 5/8oz, 3/4oz and even 1oz to get the additional distance and stay in touch with the lure in the waves and current. We generally fish this on our heavier 7-9' rod or surf rod.
The next step up is the ZMan 6" SwimmerZ, an excellent big fish lure, that we rig on a 7/0 or 8/0 hook, which allows you to step up to heavier weights again (we commonly fish 1-2oz), which allows long casts on the surf rod and a larger profile size and more aggressive action that helps to attract predators. Again, we prefer natural baitfish colours, such as Pearl, Opening Night, Shiner and Bad Shad.
The addition of the ZMan DieZel MinnowZ in both a 5" and 7" size has us pumped to fish these in the surf when the next opportunity arises. We will fish the 5" DieZel MinnowZ on a 6/0 TT Lures HeadlockZ HD jighead and the 7" model is capable of holding up to a 10/0, so we will rig I on the HeadlockZ Extreme 2oz 9/0 or 10/0, or the 1oz 9/0 or 10/0 TT Lures SwimlockZ which includes an attachment point under the head to attach a stinger hook.
Jerk It - ZMan Scented Jerk ShadZ
There's a reason why we always carry a selection of Scented Jerk ShadZ in our kit, their lack of in-built action. Lack of action sounds like a negative, however it is the exact reason why these plastics were designed and why they are so effective for our application. I recently saw a video of a jerkbait style plastic that has a swimming action... and my first thought was what a terrible design... that actually defeats the purpose of selecting a jerkbait style plastic. The lack of in-built action in a jerkbait and its sleek design allows it to cast a long way and also allows it to get down in the water column much faster and hold down in the water when fished, especially when compared to the other plastics in our surf kit which are paddle tails. If we want action and drag in our plastic, we select a paddle tail.
Scented Jerk ShadZ cast a long way, especially in the wind, they get down in the water column fast and then we supply the action by twitching, ripping and 'jerking' them, hence the jerkbait name. The versatility of this profile is that it draws strikes as it glides on the sink and then you can make it shake, twitch or dart aggressively depending on the target species and the mood of the fish at the time. Our kit is made up of ZMan 4" Scented Jerk ShadZ, rigged on 4/0 HeadlockZ HD jigheads, 5" Scented Jerk ShadZ rigged 5/0 or 6/0's and 7" rigged on 7/0's. This has you covered from smaller surf and smaller species, through to larger surf gutters, big surf and larger predatory species.
In terms of jighead weight it will again depend on application, however we may run a few 1/4oz, 3/8oz and 1/2oz for the 4/0's, along with 1/2oz through to 1-2oz for the larger Scented Jerk ShadZ. These plastics come pre-scented with Pro-Cure Super Gel Scent, a super-sticky scent designed to stick to virtually any lure type and I also carry additional Pro-Cure Super Gel to scent all of the plastics I am using every 30 or so casts. Not only does Pro-Cure mask foreign odours, such as fuel, sunscreen and bug spray, it also contains powerful amino acids, bite stimulants and UV Enhancement to attract fish and trigger strikes.
That is a quick look at my five favourite lures for fishing the beach / surf and an arsenal that should see you hooked up anywhere around the country, on a wide variety of species. Don't forget to keep an eye out for birds, bait and water movement created by structure such as rock, points, gutter entrances and headlands, and also remember to mix up your presentation and retrieves until you make the bite happen. All the best with your beach fishing adventures, it's a magic environment to explore and the fishing can often be as chilled or as frenzied as you choose to make it.
See you on the water...
Justin Willmer
Gear List:
TT Lures Hard Core Metal Lures
Fish Inc. Flanker 85mm Sinking Stickbait
Fish Inc. Flanker 115mm Sinking Stickbait
ZMan 3" MinnowZ
ZMan 4" SwimmerZ
ZMan 6" SwimmerZ
ZMan 4" Scented Jerk ShadZ
ZMan 5" Scented Jerk ShadZ
ZMan 7" Scented Jerk ShadZ
TT Lures HeadlockZ HD Jigheads
TT Lures HeadlockZ Extreme Jigheads
TT Lures SwimlockZ Jigheads