Author Topic: A learning experience (Read 247215 times)

Steenie · « **Reply #20 on:** January 15, 2015, 08:24:30 AM »

Quote from: colin on January 15, 2015, 08:16:41 AM

. Hi Steenie do you think the colour was significant in these catches ?? Am going down and wondering if I should succumb to T,A.

The glow colours are really effective in low light conditions before or just after sunrise. Some prefer the green glow, others the pink glow. Rob Kyle has caught some really good fish on north coast with pink glow, whilst others like Barry Wareham had good success on green glow. So.....I have both and alternate between them. I started this morning with green glow and did not get any chases. Switched to pink glow and got picked up after a few casts.

SAfish · « **Reply #21 on:** January 15, 2015, 08:26:36 AM »

Steenie, can you please post a close-up photo of the lure, I want to see if I can find any at my local tackle shop.

Steenie · « **Reply #22 on:** January 15, 2015, 08:41:02 AM »

Quote from: SAfish on January 15, 2015, 08:26:36 AM

Steenie, can you please post a close-up photo of the lure, I want to see if I can find any at my local tackle shop.

Here is the blue glow. Pink and greem glow is exactly the same with the white underside.

SAfish · « **Reply #23 on:** January 15, 2015, 08:53:09 AM »

Cool, thanks. I feel a bout of TA coming up!

colin · « **Reply #24 on:** January 15, 2015, 03:58:43 PM »

Quote from: colin on January 15, 2015, 08:16:41 AM

. Hi Steenie do you think the colour was significant in these catches ?? Am going down and wondering if I should succumb to T,A.
The glow colours are really effective in low light conditions before or just after sunrise. Some prefer the green glow, others the pink glow. Rob Kyle has caught some really good fish on north coast with pink glow, whilst others like Barry Wareham had good success on green glow. So.....I have both and alternate between them. I started this morning with green glow and did not get any chases. Switched to pink glow and got picked up after a few casts.

Thanks . Colin.

jball7204 · « **Reply #25 on:** January 16, 2015, 05:53:40 PM »

Quote from: Steenie on January 15, 2015, 08:24:30 AM

Quote from: colin on January 15, 2015, 08:16:41 AM
. Hi Steenie do you think the colour was significant in these catches ?? Am going down and wondering if I should succumb to T,A.

The glow colours are really effective in low light conditions before or just after sunrise. Some prefer the green glow, others the pink glow. Rob Kyle has caught some really good fish on north coast with pink glow, whilst others like Barry Wareham had good success on green glow. So.....I have both and alternate between them. I started this morning with green glow and did not get any chases. Switched to pink glow and got picked up after a few casts.

Pink seems to work very well. I was throwing a green glow bullet one day without success and borrowed a pink and BANG!! Only Shad, but makes me think. I dont have enough pink in the metal lure boxes....need to make a plan....

Steenie · « **Reply #26 on:** January 16, 2015, 09:40:47 PM »

Quote from: jball7204 on January 16, 2015, 05:53:40 PM

Quote from: Steenie on January 15, 2015, 08:24:30 AM
Quote from: colin on January 15, 2015, 08:16:41 AM
. Hi Steenie do you think the colour was significant in these catches ?? Am going down and wondering if I should succumb to T,A.

The glow colours are really effective in low light conditions before or just after sunrise. Some prefer the green glow, others the pink glow. Rob Kyle has caught some really good fish on north coast with pink glow, whilst others like Barry Wareham had good success on green glow. So.....I have both and alternate between them. I started this morning with green glow and did not get any chases. Switched to pink glow and got picked up after a few casts.

Pink seems to work very well. I was throwing a green glow bullet one day without success and borrowed a pink and BANG!! Only Shad, but makes me think. I dont have enough pink in the metal lure boxes....need to make a plan....

I must say whenever I use the pink one I am just waiting for a strike. The green one glows stronger than the pink though, and I think it will comes to its own in less clear water or really low light conditions.

Steenie · « **Reply #27 on:** February 04, 2015, 09:43:35 PM »

I had an awesome session at Cape Vidal this morning. I arrived there at 06h30. At 07h00 I went tight with a really good fish on a pink glow couta casting spoon on the sandy beach just south of where the boats launch. This fish took some good line, but unfortunately I lost it due to the hook dislodging from the fish (very frustrating!). I tried for quite a while further without any bites. I then moved the couple of km's south to right in front of the lighthouse and started casting a couta casting spoon.
From cast number one I could feel bumps on the spoon and saw some chases from big garfish but could simply not connect. I changed to a Chase no 5 bullet spoon (that I shined nicely up last night with Mothers white metal polish) and the shoal of large garfish just went crazy! Cast after cast from between 09h00 - 10h30 they smashed into the spoon. Not an easy species to hook, with their needle-shaped beaks. In that time I hooked into 4 really big ones, landing 2 of them. They gave me all the hell with them jumping clean out of the water in front of those foul deep water ledges with the big swell.

Cast after cast they were attacking the spoon, but now and again they gave some other fish a change as well. I lost an absolute bus of a largespot pompano (Wave Garrick) right at my feet after an awesome fight to get it out of the deep over the ledges (very frustrating!). I finally managed to also land a green spot kingfish on the chase no 5 that really gave a great account for its size in the deep water in front of the ledges.

Of the 7 hook-ups I only landed 3 fish, so my inexperience with fighting fish on braid is still showing, but I got some good practice today! Braid is so direct and the margin for error very slim. And any slack in the braid in the big shore break – fish gone!

Steenie · « **Reply #28 on:** February 04, 2015, 09:55:27 PM »

I got up at 02h30 this morning and departed from Durban for Vidal. I wish I was there before sunrise already, because that water was cooking with some good fish. After my spinning session I did some productive afternoon work with the sugarcane farmers on the Umfolozi flats. Was great to mix work and pleasure all in one day!

GT · « **Reply #29 on:** February 04, 2015, 10:47:52 PM »

Congrats on a great outing there and thanks for sharing once again.I'm absolutely

. (Work and play on the same day) Hope you get that big one soon. You really deserve it with all the work you putting into it.

Steenie · « **Reply #30 on:** February 04, 2015, 11:01:12 PM »

Quote from: GT on February 04, 2015, 10:47:52 PM

Congrats on a great outing there and thanks for sharing once again.I'm absolutely . (Work and play on the same day) Hope you get that big one soon. You really deserve it with all the work you putting into it.

Thank you - the pleasure the spoons are starting to give me is seriously addictive. I am really starting to get a handle on how to work with these fast swimming spoons. One and a half hour of smashes on the spoon flies past (sadly to quickly) when you are fully focused on you, the lure and the fish!

jball7204 · « **Reply #31 on:** February 05, 2015, 06:43:34 AM »

That is a good session. Nicely done!!!

Half-Pint · « **Reply #32 on:** February 05, 2015, 07:33:38 AM »

Well done Steenie!

Always enjoy reading your posts

Zak-e-Boy · « **Reply #33 on:** February 05, 2015, 07:57:26 AM »

Steenie, Firstly well done with your catches. If i may make a suggestion, if you are using the hooks that those c/casters come with they are extremely sharp, very strong and very thin and light, great hook but with a tiny barb. When fishing off the beach and you have a fish coming through the white water,
side wash, back wash, running towards you and sometimes a shore dump, unless the fish is hooked solidly around some bone or hooked "deep" the hook is going to start tearing the mouth of the fish, especially the ones with soft mouths. I have found, and there may be some giggles now....the hooks that work best for me for spinning off the beach is, number 1, the cheap 4/0,5/0 H/D Bandit short shanks. For two reasons, they have "extra" large barbs and the thickness of the hook tears less easily through the soft parts of the mouth and you can throw them away when they loose their point because they soo cheap. The second hook which I use on my spoons is VMC Short Shank it's a good strong hook however the barbs are not as big as on the Bandit. I used to hide my spoons with Bandit hooks in my hand when talking to the spinners on the beach.... not to be secretive, but just in case they laughed. But naturally each to his own ideas !

[size=78%] [/size]

L Hooker · « **Reply #34 on:** February 05, 2015, 07:59:36 AM »

Well done, and thanks for the report

carll · « **Reply #35 on:** February 05, 2015, 11:27:16 AM »

Quote from: Zak-e-Boy on February 05, 2015, 07:57:26 AM

Steenie, Firstly well done with your catches. If i may make a suggestion, if you are using the hooks that those c/casters come with they are extremely sharp, very strong and very thin and light, great hook but with a tiny barb. When fishing off the beach and you have a fish coming through the white water,
side wash, back wash, running towards you and sometimes a shore dump, unless the fish is hooked solidly around some bone or hooked "deep" the hook is going to start tearing the mouth of the fish, especially the ones with soft mouths. I have found, and there may be some giggles now....the hooks that work best for me for spinning off the beach is, number 1, the cheap 4/0,5/0 H/D Bandit short shanks. For two reasons, they have "extra" large barbs and the thickness of the hook tears less easily through the soft parts of the mouth and you can throw them away when they loose their point because they soo cheap. The second hook which I use on my spoons is VMC Short Shank it's a good strong hook however the barbs are not as big as on the Bandit. I used to hide my Bandit hooks in my hand when talking to the spinners on the beach.... not to be secretive, but just in case they laughed. But naturally each to his own ideas ! [size=78%] [/size]

Great tip Zak, thanks for sharing. I dont really mind people laughing at me, its the numbers that count in the end. I like to fish with soft plastics-jerkshads and bucktails. I had now mastered the angling method with bucktails and I love it....

Poenskop · « **Reply #36 on:** February 05, 2015, 12:22:40 PM »

Once you have mastered the bucktail there is not much beating it.

Zak-e-Boy · « **Reply #37 on:** February 05, 2015, 12:39:47 PM »

Anyone interested to know which hooks I am talking about, see the attached pic. There are two lots of Bandit Hooks out there, the ones in the light blue packaging with what appears to be Jap/Chinese writing on are the ones I prefer to use on some of my spoons.
Maybe it's just the packaging ?

Steenie · « **Reply #38 on:** February 05, 2015, 01:03:28 PM »

Quote from: Zak-e-Boy on February 05, 2015, 12:39:47 PM

Anyone interested to know which hooks I am talking about, see the attached pic. There are two lots of Bandit Hooks out there, the ones in the light blue packaging with what appears to be Jap/Chinese writing on are the ones I prefer to use on some of my spoons.

Great - awesome advice! On the chase no 5 bullet I had the Daiichi DH55 size #14 on yesterday. Its a damn good hook, but you are right, its barb is tiny compared to the hook in your picture. I will certainly rig one of my spoons with your suggested hook and start to experiment. I think especially with fish that jump and shake their heads during the fight this could very well be a factor.

Steenie · « **Reply #39 on:** February 05, 2015, 01:07:07 PM »

The small barb on the Daiichi.