By Dan Kaggelis Bowen P rawn imitations would have to be one of my favourite styles of soft plastic lures. The reason behind this favouritism is because the humble prawn is the staple diet of many of our target creek fish spe- cies and matching your lure to what the fish feed on is a fundamental rule of successful soft plastic fish- ing. Whilst there are many soft plas- tic prawn imitations on the market, including proven stalwarts such as the Atomic Prong and DOA, a local new comer from Tight Lines Lures called the Jelly Prawn has been rais- ing a few eyebrows about the soft plastic fishing scene, especially in the north. The Jelly Prawn is one soft plastic which is a born and bred North Queenslander and was de- signed and developed by Townsville based barramundi farmer and aquac- ulture researcher Ben Jones. Being an avid barra fisherman, Ben developed the Jelly Prawn as an alternative to live baiting with prawns and if you check out the Jelly Prawn video on their website (http://jellyprawnlures. com/) you can see for yourself just how brilliant a job he has done in matching the realness of the lure in both imitation and action. In fact you will have to look at the video pretty closely to separate the lure from the real prawns! After viewing this video for myself I had to give them a go and after a quick stop at the Jelly Prawn Website I had a couple of packs in both natu- ral and clear colours in my hands in a couple of days. There was no doubt- ing they looked the part, and the jel- ly-like plastic was like nothing I had ever seen in plastic bait before. Un- like most plastics which are machine plastic injected on a production line, each Jelly Prawn softy is handmade and hand finished and has been cast from a mould developed from a real prawn. The end result is a custom look with a realness that in my opin- ion is hard to match. Whilst it looked the part out of the water the Jelly Prawn also excelled where it mattered most – in the water. Like all new softies I always initially spend a bit of time in some clear water to refine the rod work action and retrieval speeds to learn how to get the most out of the plas- tic’s action. Finding some clear water to watch and analyse how the plas- tic reacts to different retrieves, rod movements and the level of volatility in terms of working the plastic can make all the difference in soft plastic fishing success. Too much speed in retrieve or too much volatility in the rod ac- tion can eliminate all the fish attract- ing features of the plastic in a second, so spending some time learning the optimum retrieve and rod action will greatly improve your catch rates. After only a couple of casts ex- perimenting with fast and slow lifts, I was able to easily refine the extraordinarily realistic prawn flick and glide action as shown on the video and explained on the web site . The action of the plastic was simply amazing and as I worked the prawn back through the clear water practic- ing and refining the action, I was not at all surprised to see a healthy broad shouldered barra move in from a nearby snag for a closer look. As ex- pected, the barra moved in closer as the softy flicked off the bottom and as it reached its peak and began to glide back down the bucket mouth opened and hoovered the bait down deep in single gulp. Funnily enough, all I felt was a blunt tap on the rod and if I hadn’t seen the fish take the lure I wouldn’t have known that I was actually on. I set the single jungle hook and in true barra style it broke the surface and put on a short aerial display before being subdued. It was obvious after this initial fish that the softy had acquired some big points in clear water, however, this attribute can often be the Achilles heal of a softy, as whilst they may perform exceptionally well in clear water where they can be seen, in dirty water they can often be ren- dered useless as the fish just can’t see them. In dirty water, action and movement will always dominate over imitation and realness and with the majority of creek systems throughout the north resembling your morning coffee, having a lure which looks great and only performs in clear wa- ter is of little use. So it was off to the mud-ridden discoloured waters of Duck Creek south of Bowen to see if the Jelly Prawn could snare a barra or two in the dirty green. To say the day was less than ideal was an understate- ment – 20 knots from the south east, over cast skies, and a well below average temp September day meant the Jelly Prawn was up against the equivalent of facing a spin bowler on a very dodgy fifth day Colombo wicket. Whilst conditions were not ideal, I had the tide on my side and as the water began to run off the banks I concentrated my casts hard against the mangrove roots where I suspected prawns would naturally congregate. I immediately found the initial drop of the plastic was the real strike time and it took me a couple of missed strikes to realise that the moment the plas- tic hit the water and sunk into the snag, if there was a fish in waiting it would attack. Bream in particular just went nuts on this softy on the initial sink; however, with the plastic running at 8cm long and fixed with a 3/0 jungle-style, weedless gape hook, staying connected to smaller species was difficult and the first two baits really took a hammering. Mangrove jacks behaved in a simi- lar fashion and on several occasions I sent the Jelly Prawns into a likely looking snag, and as it melted into the water below it was absolutely smashed before I could get the bail arm over the Stella – resulting in enough brick work to build an out- door bbq. I did manage to squeeze out a couple of quality jacks, includ- ing a snodger which somehow stayed pinned with only the tip of the hook protruding out the top lip. I find this kind of hook up is quite com- mon when using weedless rigs, as it can be more difficult to get good hook purchase. This is where inferior weedless hooks will often bend and fish will be lost, however the pre- rigged hooks inside the Jelly Prawns showed no problems at all with this, which was a very big plus. The icing on the cake, however, came soon after the jack attacks when I electriced up to a horizontal- ly facing snag and through my polar- ized lenses I spotted the yellow tail of a good sized barra pointing towards the sky. The good news was that I had a potential target; however, the bad news was this fish was displaying all the signs of a sleeping, shut down fish with its head facing downwards. Undeterred, I sent in a natural col- oured offering with a more exposed hook as the structure looked clean enough for a semi-weedless rig. The prawn landed upstream from the fish and I began the flick and glide process back towards the fish. As it got closer to the fish, I knew I had gained its attention as the yellow tail disappeared into the dirty water – to- wards my lure. On the next flick I felt a bump on the end of the rod but no pressure and, resisting the urge to strike, I let the prawn begin to glide back downwards. In less than a sec- ond the rod buckled over and the barra was on. After some hairy mo- ments – including the fish swimming into the electric motor prop whilst it was running on level 8 after I acci- dently switched it on whilst fighting the fish – I finally had the fish in the grippers and safely on board. Any doubts about the lure’s attraction and action in dirty water were now defi- nitely abolished. The Jelly Prawn by Tight Lines Lures is definitely in my top three prawn softies and since this day has proven to be a ‘go to’ lure when the fish are sulking or weather condi- tions have shut the fish down. If you are a fan of the prawn softy then this is one you will have to check out. The Wrap RRP: $21.90 per pack Colours: Three main colours – natural, clear and glow in the dark. Favourite colour is by far the clear especially in reasonably clean water. Where to buy: http://jellyprawn- lures.com/ Important Points: Be prepared, as fish often strike on the initial drop. Prawns are not extremely robust but a bit of super glue repairs can keep them in good shape. A look at prawn perfection Dan takes a look at a new North Queensland soft plastic prawn that has both fish and anglers foaming at the mouth, and it’s designed and handcrafted right here in Townsville. Two target species which just love to feed on prawns and the Jelly Prawn is one softy which has proven to be quite effective on both. This diagram shows the perfect way to fish the Jelly Prawn. In deep water it is best to use an aggressive rod jerk whilst in shallow water less aggressiveness is needed. This chunky barra just couldn’t resist the jelly prawn in the crystal clear sandy waters of the Don River. A sample of the Jelly Prawn selection. Notice the different pre rigged hook op- tions. This softy has ample weight to be cast at length as well. Tight lines also have a glow in the dark version which would be great on fingermark!
Welcome message from author
This document is posted to help you gain knowledge. Please leave a comment to let me know what you think about it! Share it to your friends and learn new things together.
Transcript
By Dan KaggelisBowen
Prawn imitations would have to be one of my favourite styles of soft plastic lures. The reason
behind this favouritism is because the humble prawn is the staple diet of many of our target creek fish spe-cies and matching your lure to what the fish feed on is a fundamental rule of successful soft plastic fish-ing. Whilst there are many soft plas-tic prawn imitations on the market, including proven stalwarts such as the Atomic Prong and DOA, a local new comer from Tight Lines Lures called the Jelly Prawn has been rais-ing a few eyebrows about the soft plastic fishing scene, especially in the north. The Jelly Prawn is one soft plastic which is a born and bred North Queenslander and was de-signed and developed by Townsville based barramundi farmer and aquac-ulture researcher Ben Jones. Being an avid barra fisherman, Ben developed the Jelly Prawn as an alternative to live baiting with prawns and if you check out the Jelly Prawn video on their website (http://jellyprawnlures.com/) you can see for yourself just how brilliant a job he has done in matching the realness of the lure in both imitation and action. In fact you will have to look at the video pretty closely to separate the lure from the real prawns!
After viewing this video for myself I had to give them a go and after a quick stop at the Jelly Prawn Website I had a couple of packs in both natu-ral and clear colours in my hands in a couple of days. There was no doubt-ing they looked the part, and the jel-ly-like plastic was like nothing I had ever seen in plastic bait before. Un-like most plastics which are machine plastic injected on a production line, each Jelly Prawn softy is handmade and hand finished and has been cast from a mould developed from a real prawn. The end result is a custom look with a realness that in my opin-ion is hard to match.
Whilst it looked the part out of the water the Jelly Prawn also excelled where it mattered most – in the water. Like all new softies I always initially spend a bit of time in some clear water to refine the rod work action and retrieval speeds to learn how to get the most out of the plas-tic’s action. Finding some clear water to watch and analyse how the plas-tic reacts to different retrieves, rod movements and the level of volatility in terms of working the plastic can make all the difference in soft plastic fishing
success. Too much speed in retrieve or too much volatility in the rod ac-tion can eliminate all the fish attract-ing features of the plastic in a second, so spending some time learning the optimum retrieve and rod action will greatly improve your catch rates.
After only a couple of casts ex-perimenting with fast and slow lifts, I was able to easily refine the extraordinarily realistic prawn flick and glide action as shown on the video and explained on the web site . The action of the plastic was simply amazing and as I worked the prawn back through the clear water practic-ing and refining the action, I was not at all surprised to see a healthy broad shouldered barra move in from a nearby snag for a closer look. As ex-pected, the barra moved in closer as the softy flicked off the bottom and as it reached its peak and began to glide back down the bucket mouth opened and hoovered the bait down deep in single gulp. Funnily enough, all I felt was a blunt tap on the rod and if I hadn’t seen the fish take the lure I wouldn’t have known that I was actually on. I set the single jungle hook and in true barra style it broke the surface and put on a short aerial display before being subdued.
It was obvious after this initial fish that the softy had acquired some big points in clear water, however, this attribute can often be the Achilles heal of a softy, as whilst they may perform exceptionally well in clear water where they can be seen, in dirty water they can often be ren-dered useless as the fish just can’t see them. In dirty water, action and movement will always dominate over imitation and realness and with the majority of creek systems throughout the north resembling your morning coffee, having a lure which looks great and only performs in clear wa-ter is of little use.
So it was off to the mud-ridden discoloured waters of Duck Creek south of Bowen to see if the Jelly Prawn could snare a barra or two in the dirty green. To say the day was less than ideal was an understate-ment – 20 knots from the south east, over cast skies, and a well below average temp September day meant the Jelly Prawn was up against the equivalent of facing a spin bowler on a very dodgy fifth day Colombo wicket. Whilst conditions were not ideal, I had the tide on my side and as the water began to run off the banks I concentrated my casts hard against the mangrove roots where I suspected prawns would naturally congregate. I immediately found
the initial drop of the plastic was the real strike time and
it took me a couple of missed strikes to realise that the moment the plas-tic hit the water and sunk into the snag, if there was a fish in waiting it would attack. Bream in particular just went nuts on this softy on the initial sink; however, with the plastic running at 8cm long and fixed with a 3/0 jungle-style, weedless gape hook, staying connected to smaller species was difficult and the first two baits really took a hammering.
Mangrove jacks behaved in a simi-lar fashion and on several occasions I sent the Jelly Prawns into a likely looking snag, and as it melted into the water below it was absolutely smashed before I could get the bail arm over the Stella – resulting in enough brick work to build an out-door bbq. I did manage to squeeze out a couple of quality jacks, includ-ing a snodger which somehow stayed pinned with only the tip of the hook protruding out the top lip. I find this kind of hook up is quite com-mon when using weedless rigs, as it can be more difficult to get good hook purchase. This is where inferior weedless hooks will often bend and fish will be lost, however the pre-rigged hooks inside the Jelly Prawns showed no problems at all with this, which was a very big plus.
The icing on the cake, however, came soon after the jack attacks when I electriced up to a horizontal-ly facing snag and through my polar-ized lenses I spotted the yellow tail of a good sized barra pointing towards the sky. The good news was that I had a potential target; however, the bad news was this fish was displaying all the signs of a sleeping, shut down fish with its head facing downwards. Undeterred, I sent in a natural col-oured offering with a more exposed hook as the structure looked clean enough for a semi-weedless rig. The
prawn landed upstream from the fish and I began the flick and glide process back towards the fish. As it got closer to the fish, I knew I had gained its attention as the yellow tail disappeared into the dirty water – to-wards my lure. On the next flick I felt a bump on the end of the rod but no pressure and, resisting the urge to strike, I let the prawn begin to glide back downwards. In less than a sec-ond the rod buckled over and the barra was on. After some hairy mo-ments – including the fish swimming into the electric motor prop whilst it was running on level 8 after I acci-dently switched it on whilst fighting the fish – I finally had the fish in the grippers and safely on board. Any doubts about the lure’s attraction and action in dirty water were now defi-nitely abolished.
The Jelly Prawn by Tight Lines Lures is definitely in my top three prawn softies and since this day has proven to be a ‘go to’ lure when the fish are sulking or weather condi-tions have shut the fish down. If you are a fan of the prawn softy then this is one you will have to check out.
The WrapRRP: $21.90 per pack Colours: Three main colours –
natural, clear and glow in the dark. Favourite colour is by far the clear especially in reasonably clean water.
Where to buy: http://jellyprawn-lures.com/
Important Points: Be prepared, as fish often strike on the initial drop. Prawns are not extremely robust but a bit of super glue repairs can keep them in good shape.
A look at prawn perfectionDan takes a look at a new North Queensland soft plastic prawn that has both
fish and anglers foaming at the mouth, and it’s designed and handcrafted right here in Townsville.
Two target species which just love to feed on prawns and the Jelly Prawn is one softy which has proven to be quite effective on both.
This diagram shows the perfect way to fish the Jelly Prawn. In deep water it is best to use an aggressive rod jerk whilst in shallow water less aggressiveness is needed.
This chunky barra just couldn’t resist the jelly prawn in the crystal clear sandy waters of the Don River.
A sample of the Jelly Prawn selection. Notice the different pre rigged hook op-tions. This softy has ample weight to be cast at length as well. Tight lines also
have a glow in the dark version which would be great on fingermark!
Related Documents
