do soft plastics still work @ night?

I think they do but i've only taken flatties on plastics at night nothing else. A lot of the water we catch fish in the dams is so deep it would be dark down there. I'm no expert but i'd say yes.

Dicko

The trick to using Softies at night, is to put lots of action in your retrieves, to really make them stand out. Best places to fish with them include well lit boat ramps and jetties. I've caught Bream, Flathead (by the bucket full), Trevor's, Chopper and the occasional Squire.

Lift and drop with a sharp flick is the best retrieve to use i've found, and use the tidal flow/current to your advantage, if it's a heavy run, use slow short sharp flicks, as the current will do most of the work for you in terms of making your plastic swim. Make sure you fish the softy right to your feet, it's often that's when the fish will take them at night. Make a 6 second pause before removing the lure from the water.

Sometimes you may find your not getting hits, try downsizing your lures, and if that fails upsize them. Try to use a bracketing system, because with the exception of Flathead and tailor, Bream won't hit a bait that's too big for them at night. You'll still have the tailor and the flatties as a bycatch, especialy at night, but keep mixing up your retrieves/sizes and you'll have luck.

The biggest thing to remember, which is as true at night as it is at day. Don't spend 10 minutes working the same area, fan your casts around to maximize your fishing area. If it's flatties your chasing for instance, they are quite lazy, they take targets as they pass by them, it's only the little ones that will put on a chase at night.

Bream are very docile at night, and often take a while to hit the softies. If you get a nick, and/or you've seen fish below you feeding, send your plastic to the bottom, and do the slowest retrieve in history, and pause as your lure swims, that's often the best way to get a bream hit.

Don't Do's Don't put your shadow over the water. If you are fishing from a platform where this is unavoidable, fish the side where you cast the least ammount of shadow on the water.

Don't make alot of noise that may vibrate into the water, (sound travels much further at night). Remember... your hunting wabbits!

Don't cast too close/let your lure drift too close to pylons/structure that you may snag on, it's pretty rough keeping track of your line at night.

Don't forget to pocket your rubbish, and Don't forget, once you've finished with something e.g. knife, put it straight back in your fishing bag, its easy to lose track of things in the dark.

Have fun.. and good luck

(Edited By Shadhappens at 17:11:27 24/07/08)

Hi Guys, Just wondering if anyone has used the Uncle Josh glow in the dark Shads for night time fishing, if so, how were they. Cheers Dazmcc

Heya Daz, I haven't tried them, but I used to use a lumo grub from TT lures, not sure if they still make em. They worked a treat, but I've found the squidgies work fine in the dark, so I haven't gone looking for another glow in the dark lure.

:) give em a go and tell us how well they work :P

Hey Shad, thanks for the info, I'll let you know if they are any good, I will be giving my Squidgies a work out.