I opted for an 80gm jig which I dressed the assist hook up with a Madeye octo skirt in the pink colour,
while Jadon used a 5" paddle prawn in glow with an octo skirt on a 1oz jig head.
fishing started off slow as we only got out to the spots at lunchtime due to early morning commitments.
after a couple of spot changes we finally found some fish with Jadon landing a nice 55cm dhufish on the paddle prawn. This was the first time I had seen the Madeye lures in person and was very impressed with their elasticity and general toughness, I hooked a dhufish on the jig about 5 minutes later but mine was under size he was sent back to the bottom with a release weight to help ensure survival,
we continued to fish for a couple more hours producing a few small breaksea cod but had to call it quits about 3 and head in.After the success on the weekend I went out the following Tuesday for a solo mission to my inshore snapper spot with the intention of getting a pinky on soft plastic. I had rigged a 5" paddle prawn and lumo octo skirt on a 1oz TT jig head when I arrived at the spot the sounder was showing some really solid arches and I knew the snapper were here. Due to work I was unable to get out till 530 which only gave me about 40 minutes until sundown I had a quick drift over the spot to find which way the current would push my boat as there wasn't a breath of wind. Once I anchored on the spot I began casting the plastic as far from the boat as possible and just using a small slow hop working the plastic all the way back to the boat, on the third cast right under the boat I had a solid hit but missed the hookup I immediately dropped the plastic back down to the bottom when smash another big hit but missed again this went on another 4 times I stated to think I had a big cuttlefish attacking the lure when on the 7th hit I finally hooked the culprit and fought the fish to the surface right as the sun was setting I pulled a dhufish on board that was smack on 50cm so I let him go to fight another day. Because the sun had gone down I decided I would put a bait out figuring the plastics wouldn't do to well at night......I cast a yellow tail out the back on a snelled 5/0 and small running bean sinker rig and within a minute was smashed by a pink snapper about 65cm, knowing the paddle prawn and octo skirt were lumo I decided to charge them up using my head lamp as I still haven't caught a pink snapper on plastic yet, after about the 5th cast I had a solid bite and hooked solid to a nice fish, with big head shakes and long runs I was worried about being busted off on the reef as I was using a Daiwa Caldia 3000 on a Gomoku PE 1-3 with PE 1.5 braid and a 30lb leader after about 5 very intense minutes I was able to subdue the fish could not believe was about to nett! A 7 kilo WA dhufish in 14m of water on a madeye paddle prawn at 7pm! I instantly fell in love with these plastics they are super strong and the dhufish clearly love them!
I spent the weekend in Albany and my aim was test the paddle prawns down there to see if I hadn't just fluked the dhufish. My father and I headed out on his boat Saturday morning and the weather was less then favourable typical Albany so we tucked up against a headland and fished in 20-40m. the old man hooked up first using a 5"paddle prawn and was fighting a really good fish on 20lb gear he was getting smoked when the fish wrapped him up and busted him off. The way the fish was fighting we both were calling it for a dhufish, with big head shakes and real powerful lunges back to the bottom. He set the precedent for the rest of the morning session we got a few undersized breaksea cod and swallowtail when he hooked a second fish and the fight lasted about 20 seconds before being bricked I hooked up immediately after on 30lb gear thinking I might have a chance to land one of these brutes...but luck was not on my side I got stitched up even quicker TWICE! we had to call it quits as the weather was deteriorating,. luckily enough Sunday was looking much nicer.
We had an invite on his friends 26 foot trophy and the plan was to head out to the back of breaksea island and fish some lumps in the 60's I rigged up an orange 5" paddle prawn and lumo octo skirt on a 4oz nitro elevator jig head. First drop before the plastic even hit the bottom I hooked up and shortly after landed a 36cm swallowtail, the wind was up and the drift was quick so we reset for a second drift I was up the front of the boat and casting my plastic as far forward as possible as everyone else was fishing baits and I did not want to tangle. while I was feathering line out on the Daiwa Saltist 30H and T-curve Lucanas jig rod the plastic got hit and line started peeling while it was in free spool I engaged the reel and set the hook, line was getting ripped from the reel at great speed my first thought was a southern bluefin tuna all I knew was I had a hooked a good fish....for the next 20 minutes I fought the fish as he dragged me from the front all the way to the back of the boat and managed to finally tire him when I got colour my PB sambo at 1.2m long and approximately 14-15kilo. Is there any fish that wont smash these paddle prawns? The 3 times I have used these prawns they have out fished bait every time not just with numbers of fish caught but the quality too.If you want to fish plastics at night the lumo paddle prawns are the definite way to go! I will be targeting some inshore snapper at night using the awesome glow of the lumo Paddle prawn.
Jadon showing off a horse of a pink snapper and a nice sambo taken on a Madeye 5" paddle prawn.
catch ya next time
Corey Chandler
