Advanced Soft Plastic Techniques With Rory Benn-Clibborn

In this masterclass, I chat with Rory Benn-Clibborn from Perch Palm Lures about various advanced techniques for fishing with soft plastic lures. These methods, commonly used and proven tournament winners overseas, can provide Australian anglers with new ways to target fish. Here’s a detailed breakdown of the techniques we discussed, focusing on practical application.

Drop Shot Rigging Soft Plastic Lures

Introduction to Drop Shotting

Drop shotting involves using a weight at the end of the line with a hook tied above it. It’s similar to the Paternoster rig commonly used in bait fishing and allows the lure to hover above the bottom, providing a natural presentation. It’s a slow fishing technique suited to when you’ve found fish and want to keep the lure in front of them, less suited to prospecting or searching for fish.

Key Components:

• Weight: Tungsten cylinder or teardrop shape for sensitivity and snag resistance.
• Hook: Straight shank drop shot hook (DSR hook) or EWG worm hook tied with a Palomar knot.
• Lure: Can work with nose-hooked worms, grubs, prawns, and creatures, but most commonly with worms. Worms can be nose hooked or wacky rigged (see below).

Technique

• Casting: Use a high rod tip, allow a bow in the line for slack so the fish can suck the lure in effectively. This assists greatly with hook sets..
• Retrieval: Drag the weight slowly along the bottom, creating subtle movements. Shaking the rod tip is a more commonly used method, but Rory finds dragging to be more effective and less likely to spook fish.
• Fishing Style: Effective for species like redfin, especially in winter when they are less active. Consider exploring this technique for yellowbelly, bass, estuary perch, barramundi and fingermark.

Tips for Drop Shotting with Soft Plastic Lures

• Line: Fluorocarbon for sensitivity and shock absorption.
• Depth Adjustment: Modify the dropper length based on the fish’s position. When casting, short droppers work best in shallow water and longer droppers are better for deeper water.

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Texas Rigging Soft Plastics

Introduction to Texas Rigging

The Texas rig involves threading a soft plastic lure onto an EWG worm hook and using a sliding bullet weight. The weight can be restricted from sliding too far up the line by using a bobber stopper, or pegging it with a toothpick. Rory rarely does this except when fishing heavy structure. More typically, the free running sinker gives the lure a better action.

Key Components:

• Weight: Tungsten bullet weight for sensitivity and snag resistance. Often referred to by US anglers as a “flipping” weight. A plastic, glass or metal bead can be placed between the bullet weight and hook to protect the knot and create extra noise and colour.
• Hook: Wide gap worm hook.
• Lures: Variety of soft plastic lures, but typically creature baits or pintail minnows. Curly tail grubs and paddletail plastics are less suited and may spin rather than swim.

Technique

• Casting: Suitable for shallow water, weedy, or structured environments. Peg the sinker close to the hook in heavy structure to minimise snagging.
• Retrieval: Allow the lure to separate from the weight, giving it a natural fall. Can be worked aggressively or more slowly.
• Fishing Style: Use in heavily structured or open water for species like redfin, bass, and golden perch. In the north, barra, grunter and sooties may fall victim, plus jacks in among structure.

Tips for Texas Rigging with Soft Plastic Lures

• Line: Straight fluorocarbon for minimal resistance.
• Hook Setting: Firm hook sets to ensure penetration through the plastic.

Carolina Rigging

Introduction to Carolina Rigging

The Carolina rig uses a similar setup to the Texas rig but adds a leader between the weight and the hook, usually with a swivel and bead to create noise. If done correctly the lure will stay horizontal and rise just above the bottom.

Key Components:

• Weight: Tungsten bullet weight, bead, swivel, and a leader.
• Hook: Wide gap worm hook.
• Lure: Floating soft plastic lures or those with appendages for natural movement, such as prawns and creatures, although grubs can work well too.

Technique

• Casting: Drag the weight along the bottom, allowing the lure to float naturally behind.
• Retrieval: Slow and steady, keeping the weight on the bottom.
• Fishing Style: Ideal for open water with a flat bottom, targeting less aggressive fish.

Tips for Carolina Rigging with Soft Plastic Lures

• Leader Length: Adjust based on the water depth and fish’s behaviour.
• Soft Plastic Lure Choice: Floating plastics like TPE or Berkley Gulp to keep the lure off the bottom and floating naturally behind the bullet weight.

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Wacky Worm Rigging

Introduction to Wacky Worm Rigging

Wacky rigging involves hooking a soft plastic lure through the middle, allowing it to flutter down naturally. This side to side rigging makes the worm look like a “U” shape when held up by the line.

Key Components:

• Hook: Drop shot hook or similar small hook.
• Lure: Heavily salted soft plastics like Senkos.

Technique

• Casting: Skip casting under structure or into pockets or precision casting near pontoons, pylons or other structure.
• Retrieval: Let the lure fall naturally on a slack line, once it reaches bottom simply retrieve and cast again.
• Fishing Style: Effective for targeting structure-bound species like redfin, bass, and potentially bream. Has potential for barramundi, jewfish and a range of other species.

Tips for Wacky Rigging with Soft Plastic Lures

• O-Rings: Use to prolong the life of the bait.
• Presentation: Focus on the bait’s fall, as most strikes occur during this time.

Ned Head Rigging

Introduction to Ned Head Rigging Soft Plastics

Ned Heads are jigging hooks with a flat face. They sit flat on the bottom and hold the soft plastic up vertically, like a work or other critter half immersed in the sediment. They’re great when fish are focussed on worms and crustaceans on the bottom.

Key Components:

• Hook: Ned Head jig.
• Lure: Especially effective with floating plastics such as those made from TPE, but can be used with PVC plastics also. Worms, grubs, craws and creatures are especially suited to this style of fishing.

Technique

• Fishing: Best fished over fairly flat, clean bottoms of sand or clay. Allow the lure to sit, essentially “dead sticking” it and letting the water movement impart subtle action.
• Retrieval: Super slow crawl along the bottom followed by extended pauses. Can be fished a little faster and more aggressively, with a couple of hops, followed by dead sticking for 15-20 seconds or more.
• Fishing Style: Effective for targeting bottom feeding fish like redfin, bass, estuary perch, yellowbelly, barra, grunter, flathead, whiting. Particularly effective during the transitional months of spring as the waters warm and crustaceans begin to move about.

Tips for Ned Rigging with Soft Plastic Lures

• Lures: lures made of very soft plastic that have a natural action and can waft about in minute water currents work best. Great for fishing craws, rigged backwards to look like a yabby in the defensive, claws up, posture.

Practical Applications of Soft Plastic Lures

Drop Shotting

• Shallow Water: Shorter dropper lengths, lighter weights.
• Deep Water: Longer droppers, heavier weights.
• Suspended Fish: Adjust the dropper to keep the bait at the fish’s level.

Texas Rigging

• Structured Areas: Use weedless rigging to avoid snags.
• Open Water: Allows for a natural presentation and fewer missed bites.

Carolina Rigging

• Open, Flat Bottoms: Ideal for less aggressive fish, providing a natural-looking bait.
• Floating Baits: Use to keep the bait off the bottom, mimicking natural prey.

Wacky Worm Rigging

• Structure Fishing: Skip cast under docks or into weed pockets.
• Target Species: Effective for species like redfin, bass, and potentially bream when targeting specific spots.

Ned Head Rigging

• Open, Clean Bottoms: Cast over sandy bottoms between patches of weed, flats near channels or dropoffs and places where fish hunt yabbies (fresh and saltwater), works and shellfish.
• Target Species: Effective for species like redfin, bass, yellowbelly, whiting, flathead, barramundi, grunter..

Conclusion

These advanced finesse techniques for soft plastic lures can significantly improve your fishing success by presenting lures in ways fish haven’t seen before. Experiment with these methods, adjust based on your local conditions, and you’ll find yourself catching more fish in no time. Soft plastic lures offer versatility and effectiveness, making them essential tools for any angler’s tackle box. Happy fishing!