Deep Water Plastics

Andy Gunn

After many years of chasing reefies in the shallows on plastics and having great success, I have turned my attention to the deep water, fishing in depths from 50 metres through to 90 metres. When it comes to fishing deeper water not only do you have the depth of water to deal with but also any currents that are running. While on good days it is possible to drift water of this depth with the aid of a sea anchor, it can also be done from an anchored boat.

I generally use rods around the 10kg range matched with around a 5000 size reel. Depending on your preference you can use spin or overhead reels spooled with braided lines.

When fishing the deeper water you still need to pay close attention to the size of the jighead you are using. Too heavy a jighead and the plastic will just rocket straight to the bottom and the fish won't be interested. On the other hand, too light a jighead and you may not get your plastic down to where the fish are holding. I prefer to use the larger size plastics for this style of fishing.

On a recent trip out to Caloundra Wide, on Queensland's Sunshine Coast, we anchored the boat over a good show of fish on the sounder. I rigged a ZMan 7" Scented Jerk ShadZ on a TT Lures 1 1/2oz HeadlockZ HD jighead, before slowly sending it to the bottom in around 70 metres of water. Once the plastic was around 40 metres down, I would stop the plastic every 5 metres and give the rod tip a couple of flicks to get the plastic moving and see if I could draw a strike from any fish in the area.

After sending the plastic down a bit further I felt the line start ripping out between my fingers. Flicking the bail arm over, I felt the rod load up on a nice fish and after a short fight I had a nice pearl perch at the boat. The next drop down got a solid strike just up off the bottom and this time the fish felt a lot better. Again a short fight and I had another nice pearl perch on the boat. Using this technique I was able to land a few more pearlies this trip and also some nice snapper.

A couple of days later we were heading up to fish off the bottom end of Fraser Island. Again using the ZMan 7" Scented Jerk ShadZ rigged on a 1 1/2oz TT HeadlockZ HD jighead, I sent the plastic to the bottom, stopping it on its journey to see if I could attract any attention. It wasn't long before I had line stripping out from between my fingers. After flicking the bail arm over I set the hook on a nice squire (snapper) and it wasn't very long before the fish was at the side of the boat. Two more drops for two more squire and I was impressed with the action of the ZMan Scented Jerk ShadZ.

On the next drop it felt as though something had spooked the fish that had been down there on previous drops. The plastic this time made it to the bottom without being hit. Once on the bottom I flicked the bail arm over and started flicking the plastic off the bottom. After getting no strikes doing this, I wound the plastic up about five metres off the bottom and started the process again. It wasn't long before the rod doubled over and line started peeling off the reel. There were a few anxious moments, with the fish almost getting me back into the reef, but I managed to get the fish's head turned and coming towards the boat. A few more good runs and I had colour on the fish but still deep down. Not sure what species the fish was, I backed my drag off knowing it was well up off the bottom and not wanting to pull the hooks. Before too much longer I had what turned out to be a 10kg amberjack at the side of the boat.

Not long after this we moved on to one of our pearl perch spots and that was where I had my best ever session on pearlies on plastics with over 12 fish on the one plastic and it's still rigged for my next trip!