Rig and lures for sardine run

[Ziggy]

In anticipation of the sardine run (if it ever happens!) what rig and lures would be appropriate? Any ideas?

[jaenswart]

Well from the offshore side of the the jig and drop trace works best. Couple of trebbles, run them at speed throug the shoal, tap off and let the hooked ball of sardines drop down beneath the shoal...bam fish ON

[Ziggy]

I am talking about lure fishing - using a 10ft spinning rod (Aerocast) and a sustain 5000 - with 15lb or 30lb braid - I thought that bullet type or candy spoons would work well - what you think?

[jaenswart]

In my experience when the fish are feeding on sards, anything remotely rezembling an injured sard will get smacked. Just don't go too light as the sharks are plentifull and any prolonged fight will result in the taxman coming up tops

[Poenskop]

Sorry! Wrong Topic I dont know how that happend.

[benniejordaan]

You know what they say?

MATCH THE HATCH!

This is what I've come up with!

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[REEFMAN]

Fishing lures in the Sardine run? I would use a cheap metal spoon like a Sheppie Bomber with a short bite trace - the chances of you getting bitten off are big! Game fish and predators will take anything that moves, and many of them are toothy critters. So there's no point in using expensive lures like the Iron Candy's and the Chase spoons... you're going to go through them too quickly... 2c

[jaenswart]

Bennie you have my address, you can send me that one any day thx

[Ziggy]

reefman - I agree....I cant understand why candy and chase spoons are so expensive - especially candy where you have to change the links that are incredibly weak - and also change the hook

[jaenswart]

I change out hooks, clips and links on most lures anyway, just do not trust the factory fitted ones. It's expensive but when I get hooked into that fish of a lifetime the odds are a bit on my side.

[deep 6]

I change out hooks, clips and links on most lures anyway, just do not trust the factory fitted ones. It's expensive but when I get hooked into that fish of a lifetime the odds are a bit on my side.

You'd think that a good lure maker would supply his product sans hooks and clips to leave the decision up to the buyer.
That way he can put his lure out at a more affordable price. Food for thought.

[benniejordaan]

You'd think that a good lure maker would supply his product sans hooks and clips to leave the decision up to the buyer.
That way he can put his lure out at a more affordable price. Food for thought.

Good idea.

Some lures will work better with different hooks. For example: If the rear and belly rings are close, singles may be too long and catch each other. Or a heavier treble on the belly may give a lure more balance.

Each lure is made and the weight/buoyancy adjusted for the required action. The smaller the lure, the more slender, the more difficult it is to get right and the slightest change can alter the action. A big heavy hook on the tail will kill the action of this lure.

Edit: Just to add, a lure builder may not add hooks but will recommend the best hook arrangement for the lure.
Commercial lures are sort of good! They are safe lures to fish with, very little can go wrong. Pretty much predictable. A custom hand made lure is different. The lure should be perfect and therefore works better but the slightest change throws it off balance and it doesn't work the way the builder intended.

[Neilg]

Spoons that u can throw a long way is the way to go

Go assist hook way but using bleeding wire with a snell "knot", a tad shorter than the lure, tie to front of lure, vertical jigging style

Distance is very important, and so is a 1mm leader of about 1m in length

Like said most of the action is below and on the side of the shoal, you can retrieve faster than normal with erratic action

Remember its a frenzy ( fish and anglers )