Surfcasting - Softies in the surf

Part two of this series

Rigged and ready to go. A five inch jerk shad

1 Place the worm hook onto the Gulp! and note where it should enter and exit.

2 Pass the hook in through the nose and out the bottom.

3 Slide the tail along the hook???s shank until the hook has to be turned around to accommodate the worm hook???s kinked eye. The hook is now also correctly positioned for piercing the body, but you???ll need to bend the tail to get the right entry and exit angles.

An array of colour combinations and types suitable for a variety of surf species.

A Gulp crab and jerk shad on Kane???s popular IMP pulley rig (floating and non-floating).

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I’m going to show you some rigs to make your Gulp! baits work well for you. We'll also look at correctly placing your Gulp! baits on the hook to get the best results.

Perhaps the biggest advantage to using Gulps!, apart from all the extra fish you'll catch, is that there is no need for special rigs. All the favourites, such as running rigs, ledger rigs and pulley rigs, work as well using Gulps! as they do with fresh baits.

My first successful experience with Gulps! was when using the ledger rig. I placed fresh baits on the top dropper and a Gulp! crab on the bottom. Every fish I caught ignored the fresh baits and picked the crab instead. The two kahawai are still out there somewhere getting a little larger, but the two gurnard provided a tasty breakfast for ‘her indoors' and me.

The only difference I have made to a standard ledger rig is in having a very short dropper on the top and a longer dropper, as the bottom one. The reason for this is that I believe this better imitates the natural order of food in the surf zone.

I place a crab imitation on the bottom dropper so that it sits fair and square on the seabed. This is where fish normally find crabs when hunting for them. After all, crabs try and hide in the sand rather than swim about over it. I haven't tried them yet, but a sand worm imitation should work well on this dropper, too.

On the short top dropper I place a fish imitation, such as a jerk shad or swimming minnow. If you use the jig set-up I suggested last month, this bait will move about in quite an erratic manner. A small float on the trace to add a little extra buoyancy completes the picture.

Running rigs have been used by surf­casters since Adam first fished the Ninety Mile. They are a very effective rig for both fresh baits and Gulps!. The running rig tends to place a bait on the sea bed, so crab and worm imitations would be prime candidates to use.

The pulley rig is a different beastie altogether. The trace on this rig sits well above the seabed and therefore is a prime candidate for the Gulp! fish imitations. Fish them in a situation where there is quite a bit of current flow and they can be very effective indeed.

With rigs now covered, I think it's about time to look at how the various Gulp patterns are placed on the hook, as I've seen some very strange methods of doing this in the past.

The peeler crabs are dead easy. I mount them much the same way as a real crab. This involves passing a 5/0 Gamakatsu Octopus hook through one leg socket and out through another leg socket. Some people leave these two legs on, but I like to take them off. This leaves the hook well clear and horizontal as the crab sits on the bottom.

The fish-pattern Gulps! can also be mounted on the Octopus hook range. Just pass the hook up through the head so that the point protrudes well above the top. But there is a better way!

The offset worm hook takes a little extra time and effort, but is well worth it. First, place the worm hook on the side of the Gulp! fish, as in the first photo above, and make a note of where the hook should enter and leave.

Push the hook into the nose and exit the bottom of the bait, as in photo two. Now all you need to do is to pass the hook up through the belly and out through the top of the Gulp! You should end up with something like photo three. Worm patterns are mounted in much the same manner.

Last month I mentioned that fellow surf-fishing fanatic, Kane Wrigglesworth, was getting out and having a regular crack with softies. Well, it's got to the point he's got some pretty worthwhile things to say, so take it away, Kane...

Soft baits from the surf
Have you ever arrived at the beach brimming with enthusiasm and expectations of a huge catch, only to have your hopes dashed upon opening your bait-bin and finding the white plastic bag you forgot to label doesn't resemble bait after all, instead containing some old, freezer-burnt sausages or steak?

A return trip home is too far, the best bite time is right now and the fishing trip is ruined!

Or is it? Soft-baits to the rescue! A great alternative for even the most poorly organised surfcaster, but also a proven winner, and a must-have item in any surfcaster's arsenal. In this article I will share with you a few tips on how to use soft-baits on the various rigs I have had success with, as well as what soft-baits to choose in relation to the intended target species, along with the locations and times of day to use them more effectively.

Relevant soft-baits to target species
There are so many brands of soft-plastics available these days - Squidgies, Mr Twisters, Berkley Gulp! to name a few - and all have fish-catching potential. They come in a wide range of bright colours, are nice and pliable to impart enticing movement, and some are scented for that extra enhancement. It can get pretty damned confusing figuring out which soft-baits to choose when casting off the beach.

Consideration should be given to the available food sources on the beaches you intend to fish on, and which ones the fish will likely be feeding on.

I always like to randomly examine the stomach contents of fish I have caught and see what they've been feasting on. Crabs, shrimps, shellfish, anchovies, whitebait - all sorts of sea creatures feature at various times.

Also, taking time to search the beach along the shoreline or in amongst the edges of holes and gutters on a surf beach will reveal many of the main food sources.

Once we know what the fish are feeding on in the area, it makes sense to select a soft-bait that most resembles the applicable food source. In the surf I mostly use soft-baits that resemble crabs and shrimps. Berkley Gulp! has a two-inch (5cm) peeler crab that is so realistic that, on several occasions, it has been ambushed by gurnard and kahawai. I've seen a few snapper crunch these crabs down as well.

Another favourite soft-bait of mine when targeting kahawai is the Berkley Gulp! 5-inch (13cm) Jerk Shad in the ‘Sapphire Shine' colour. It looks just like a pilchard, with flecks of glitter throughout the body to resemble shimmering fish scales. The shape of the Jerk Shad is streamlined to give it as natural movement as possible, looking just like a fleeing baitfish when shifted around in the surf.

You will find, however, that some of the off-the-wall colours, such as pink and chartreuse will fish extremely well, too. I've always found greens and yellows have worked well for me when using other artificial lures and flashers on gurnard, and pink is very effective on snapper. I have also observed over many years of surfcasting that brighter colours seem to fish better on bright days, and dull, dark colours work better on darker, overcast days. I believe that this is in relation to the shadow or silhouette they cast against their surroundings, making them stand out more.

There are also luminescent soft-baits for use at night and in periods of low light. They can be made to glow using a headlamp or torch, and having used lumo tubing and beads on my traces very successfully before, these will work a treat as well.

Several of the latest soft-plastics are scented - an added attractant. To me the jury's out on this one. In the surf I believe the key to all soft-baits is their ability to be moved or suspended from a rig that incorporates movement. A hungry fish's attention is caught by a moving (either naturally or erratically) bait that resembles a fleeing or wounded baitfish or crustacean. Jerking the soft-baits about at your feet in the surf when retrieving your cast, it's not hard to see why they can be so devastating.

Split-tailed minnows, jerk shads and grubs all move erratically when retrieved, twisting and turning in the turbulent shallow water. This leads me into my successful soft-bait rigs.

The long-cast IMP pulley rig
My most effective soft-bait rig in the surf, the Breakaway Imp clip is used to clip my soft-bait down and achieve maximum casting distance. Particularly when fishing shallow, sandy surf beaches, distance can be the difference between going home with a bin-full or going home without a scale.

My soft-bait, be it a two-inch Peeler Crab or a five-inch Jerk Shad, is rigged up on a single 4/0 Gamakatsu Octopus circle hook, which is then cradled under the Imp clip, enabling it to travel as one for greater distances.

As soon as the clip splashes down in the water, the clip arm is pushed upwards, releasing the bait away from the main rig body (see photo). Set on the pulley rig, it allows the soft-bait to have plenty of movement, and gives the fish the ability to run with the soft-bait in its mouth with minimal resistance, until it runs out of trace as the mainline swivel stops against the Imp clip and the sinker. Once this happens, the 4/0 circle hook is driven into the side of the victim's face without the angler having to strike or set the hook. This is beneficial to the surfcaster, as often he or she is not holding onto the surf rod at the time - rather it's resting in a rod stand.

To really gain the full effect of getting your soft-bait moving and attracting your next victim, the addition of a small float to your trace as a buoyancy aid is extremely beneficial. The float lifts the bait off the sea floor, enabling the fish to view it a lot better. It also provides the soft-bait with movement, enticing fish to snap at it. This movement is achieved by waves and currents in channels and gutters lifting and jerking the soft-baits around violently, creating a lifelike scenario.

Another benefit of the float is its ability to avoid crab attacks, particularly when using scented soft-baits; fish love 'em, but crabs do, too, and they'll happily sit there chewing the hell outa ya soft-baits! The float lifts the softy off the sea floor.

Two-hook dropper rig
The two-hook dropper rig, with two hooks attached above the sinker, gives anglers the ability to deploy two soft-baits on the one rig. I like to fish a four-inch (10cm) Swimming Mullet on the top hook and a two-inch Peeler Crab on the bottom hook. Again, 4/0 Gammy circle hooks are used on this rig, and they have led to the downfall of a gurnard or two as well as several kahawai.

The only drawbacks with this rig is that the distance achieved when casting is greatly diminished due to the rig flailing about, and the baits don't tend to move about so much when settled on the seabed.

Standard running rig
The standard running rig with a sliding sinker and short traces is another option. I've only fished soft-baits staticly on a BOS sinker. However, to allow baits more movement, try using a 4-5oz ball sinker with a trace 350-450mm long. The ball sinker will allow you to cover more ground, known as ‘walking the dog'. You can slowly retrieve your baits once cast, or walk along the edge of a channel following your soft-bait as you go, making sure to keep in constant contact in case of a sudden take.

As far as traceline for soft-baits goes, there is no ‘correct' line to use. However, I do suggest trying fluorocarbon trace such as Berkley Vanish or Black Magic Fluorocarbon. The benefits of using fluorocarbon trace over normal trace materials includes its relative stiffness. Unlike nylon, fluorocarbon doesn't tend to become springy and tangle around your lead or main rig body. It is supposed to be virtually invisible under water, which is great for surfcasters when using it in shallow, clear water for a stealthier approach.

Ideal trace weights are 20-30kg - any heavier in fluorocarbon and you can strike a few problems. When tying knots to clips, swivels and hooks using fluorocarbon, care must be taken while pulling up the knots. Fluorocarbon is quite stiff and tends to grab onto itself, so it's important to tighten knots slowly and provide a bit of spit or moisture to prevent friction burns to the trace itself. Pull it too tight too quickly, without moisture, and it can easily break. And even if it doesn't break straight away, you can be certain it will when into a good fish later on.

Times of day
Aggressive feeding tends to take place at the change of light first thing in the morning and late in the evenings, particularly in the surf shallows. When the sun goes high in the sky the fishing can die, so it makes sense for optimum results to fish the soft-plastics during the change-of-light periods, when the predators are able to sneak into the shallows to ambush their prey with less risk of being detected.

Locations
As mentioned earlier, to gain the best results using soft-plastics, fish the shallower, sandier surf beaches. The current and wave action moves the soft-plastics around more aggressively. Casting into a channel or the edge of a sandbar, right on the edge of the white water, where the predators hide and sneak up on their prey, is the best area to place soft-plastics.

On a plain, featureless deepwater beach, the angler needs to provide movement to the soft-plastic, unless there's quite a surge or swell coming in. Casting and slowly retrieving your soft-bait with a two- or three-ounce jig head, or using a running rig (as mentioned previously) with a short trace and wound slowly back to the shore, will ensure the soft-bait has plenty of movement to entice fish to strike.

Perseverance and trial and error in any form of fishing is paramount for a technique to become successful. Just lobbing the soft-bait out for 15 minutes, catching nothing on it, and saying it's a waste of time and money, will be a mistake. Have an open mind, take the time to trial and error the technique, and soon you will realise how rewarding using soft-plastics in the surf can really be. And a good, hearty feed of fresh fish could be your reward!

Thanks, Kane. Next month, in part three of this series, I'll show you how to put two baits on a running rig and pulley rig, and how to put ‘eyes' on your fish pattern Gulps! by using Gamakatsu Snappa Bite hooks.

If combining two top fish-catching products into one doesn't turn your crank, the Grim Reaper must have got you already!