Tackle Tactics » Tips-Techniques » Pro-Lure-Fishing-Tips » Take The Challenge!

Take The Challenge!

By Rodney Vardy

Most anglers have a handful of favourite lures that they use almost religiously. No, I don't mean that they only use them on a Sunday! It can be hard to go away from the tried and tested lures that have proven themselves. They are your 'confidence lures' and because you have confidence in them, they spend more time in the water. In turn because they spend more time in the water, you catch more fish on them and because you catch fish on them, you buy the same lures again when you need to re-stock. This cycle continues until you feel that you can only catch fish one way... with the same old lure doing the same old thing.

Does this sound familiar? Are you stuck in a rut? If you answered yes to either of these questions, then I encourage you to break the cycle and try something new! Yes, I know. New means change, and change can be scary... but change also brings opportunity. Opportunity to learn, to grow and to improve!

Who is to say that there isn't a different colour that is better than your old favourite? Could it be possible that a seductive curl tail will out-perform your faithful jerk shad? One thing is for sure, if you never try, you will never know!

So, you are up for the challenge... where do you start? Let me be your guide as I go through this very process and share my experience.

What fish, what lure, what tactic?

First of all I had to decide how I wanted to challenge myself.
Catching a new species? Try a new technique? Catch an old foe on a new lure?

I decided to stick with something that I know... estuary fishing and mainly my good friend, the flathead. When chasing flathead my confidence lure is the ZMan 4" DieZel MinnowZ in Gold Rush colour.

I have caught some great fish on this lure, everything from flathead to trevally, tailor to mulloway and quite a few in between.

So if I'm not going to use a DieZel... what will I use?

The internet and local tackle store were my best friends and willing accomplices in this exciting endeavour. The Tackle Tactics website www.tackletactics.com.au was a veritable smorgasbord of information, just there for the taking.

The options were many! Curl TailZ, CrustaceanZ, CreatureZ, Jerk BaitZ and more... enough to sink a battleship. And, if that is not enough to chew on, how about all the different colours!

After my online research I dropped into my local tackle shop.

If your local is anything like mine they will have a wall full of ZMan and TT Lures products to fire up your imagination and fill your tackle box.

I had a chat to the staff and told them what I had in mind. They were able to point me in the right direction and even offered me a few ideas based on their own experiences.

After looking at a few different options I decided to try 3 different lures -

1) ZMan 3.5" EZ ShrimpZ - Glow Chartreuse Tail

2) ZMan 4" Turbo CrawZ - Green Pumpkin Orange

3) ZMan 3" TRD HogZ - California Craw

Why did I choose these? Well basically I wanted to try a variety of shapes and colours that were totally different from my 'confidence lure'. No paddle tails, all new colours, all totally new to me... the challenge was on baby!

Putting it into action

It made sense to fish in a familiar area, one that I know holds fish, so I checked the tides and forecast and set off.

Guess what was in my tackle box? Just my new lures and definitely no DieZel MinnowZ!
I knew that if I was struggling with my challenge and I had my trusty confidence lures on hand the temptation would be too great. So, I removed that temptation and concentrated all my efforts on the new lures.

With the new lures came new rigging options.
What size hook, what weight jigheads and standard jighead or weedless?
The HogZ had a smaller profile and shorter body than my normal lures, so a smaller hook was called for. However, the lure still needed enough weight to make it to the bottom despite the strong current in that area. It took some experimentation, but eventually I found the right balance.

Even though the TRD HogZ looks a bit like a mutant ant eating a small action figure, the local flathead and cod jumped on as I worked it over drop offs. I worked the lure in roughly the same manner that I normally work a paddle tail. The bite was not red hot, but when I got my lure in the right place it was action stations!

In the name of experimentation, I also took on board some advice from the tackle shop and worked it slowly at times too, casting into the shallows and dead sticking it. The bream hits came thick and fast, but unfortunately the flathead sized jigheads were a little too large and I was unable to pin one.

Buoyed by my success with the HogZ, I moved onto the EZ ShrimpZ. Unlike the HogZ, the ShrimpZ is easily identified. Prawns are a natural food source of many estuary species, so I felt confident that this lure would be popular with the locals. I was right!

The ShrimpZ comes unrigged or pre-rigged with ounce of weight, but you can clip off weight as required. I normally fish 1/4 to 3/8oz jigheads at this location, so the ShrimpZ was good to go straight from the pack. Within a few casts I had my first hit and landed a flathead in short time. The lure had a lovely glide on the drop that the fish were finding hard to resist. Unfortunately, I enticed a hit from something with sharp teeth and on the strike my leader got snipped and the ShrimpZ was never seen again.

I turned my attention to the Turbo CrawZ, feeling confident that the flathead would also fancy it. As you would expect from its name, the CrawZ is a crawfish imitation. Crawfish is an American term and the Aussie equivalent would be the freshwater yabby.

Although I was fishing in saltwater, I was hoping that the ClawZ wafting in the current would attract any predators in the area looking for a snack. In my mind the CrawZ also looks enough like a saltwater yabbie or nipper to fit into the natural diet of estuary species. Whereas I had almost instant success with the ShrimpZ and HogZ, the CrawZ got no love. None at all.

I persisted and cast that lure many, many times on a variety of jighead weights, at a number of spots, but the fish were not interested. Upon reflection I believe that the fault did not lay with the lure itself. It looked great in the water!

You see, the area that I was fishing holds prawns... but does not have any yabbie beds. There is a well-known fishing adage, 'match the hatch'. I was fishing a yabbie imitation in a system that does not have yabbies. Who knows, on another day the CrawZ might get smashed every second cast, but I think it would be better suited to drifting over yabbie banks as the tide rises and the predators rush in for the kill.

Challenge complete!

But was it a success?
I suppose it depends on how you measure success.

Did I catch a fish on every cast? No
Did I catch a new PB? No
Did I catch on all the new lures? No

On the surface that would appear to be a fail. But look at it this way.

Did I catch fish using new lures? Yes
Did I catch fish using new colours? Yes
Did I learn more about fishing my local? Yes
Did I enjoy the challenge? Yes

When next you head to the tackle store I would encourage you to take the challenge too.

Grab a packet of ZMan in a different model or choose a new colour... and have fun!