fishingworld.com.au | February 2015 | 19trevally and mackerel will eat just about
anything. However – and this is a very big
“however” – these “black” days are extremely
few and far between when it comes to
land-based lure casting. Most of the time
gamefish are extremely wary when venturing
into shallow waters, particularly those like
longtails and Spanish mackerel which have
adapted to hunting in sub-20m waters.
We’ve noted that big lures can often spook
surface feeding fish on impact after casting.
I’ve found quite often the smaller the lure you can
cast at least 70m, the better. Small lures often
catch big fish when land-based lure casting.
The three main lures that dominate the
metal lure market on the LBG front these days
are the Spanyid Raider, Surecatch Knight and
Halco Twisty. The ideal design is a diamond
shape with brass or steel being the preferred
construction material. The classic diamond
shape offers action, castability and durability.
While the above lures have accounted for many
great land based captures, they’re not perfect and
often need to be retro-fitted with stronger
hardware such as rings and trebles for serious fish.
As mentioned previously, lead lures are less
popular than the brass/steel models due to
durability issues. Nevertheless, the lead models
can be used from wharfs, breakwalls and low
lying ledges. They can be particularly effective for
finicky tuna and mackerel in shallow locations.
This is due to their smaller profile compared to
the diamond shaped varieties.
On most of my metal lures I replace the
split rings and trebles, usually with two rings
at the back connecting to the treble (for extra
leverage when in the mouth of the fish) and a
solid ring attached to the front split ring
allowing a better connection to the leader.
This is a pretty bulletproof configuration
when targeting big fish.
While there is a growing trend towards using
single hooks rather than trebles, I believe big
trebles will catch you more fish. I was almost
exclusively using single hooks on the back of
my metals a couple of years ago, but quickly
grew tired of missing hook-ups. I’m currently
using 2/0, 3/0 and 4/0 VMC 9626 trebles on
most of my metal lures due to their strength
and relative affordability. However, I’ve been
experimenting with Gamakatsu Siwash singles
on small metals (30–40grams) due to the
smaller treble often pulling out mid-fight.
The Gear
The gear being used when high speed spinning
from the rocks these days has also changed
dramatically from the tackle used by HSS
pioneers such as Ron Calcutt, Lyn Donahue and
Jack Erskine, among many others. Outfits in
or many, LBG spinning is the pinnacle of lure
casting, and more than just a sport. Very rarely do the
elements impact on a sport as much as LBG spinning
so it’s quite ironic that such a challenging form of
fishing is dominated by the use of simple metal lures ...”
F
Threadline or overhead?
The choice is yours,
although it needs to be
noted that many serious
spinmen prefer qualit y
high speed overheads
loaded with mono.