INDIANANGLER

Came across an article in an overseas forum on what 5 lures one would take for saltwater fishing
internationally.

If we change this to 3 lures for similar fishing in India, what would you choose? Frankly, I do not expect too much in response as our anglers tend to play their cards close to their chest!

My selection:

. Halco Rooster popper
. Red head plug
. Squidgy soft plastic

My favourite Twisty metal lure (40 Gm) is omitted due to the limit of three!

Ball is in your court.

Kingfish

1. Halco Laser Pro (160) - Red Head
2. Halco Laser Pro (160) - Fire Tiger
3. Rapala Original Floater (F11) - Shiner

My selection based on terrain

Rocky terrain:
2 Halco Laser Pro 160 size in 2 different shades
For the 3rd Option I will take Z-man softplastic with a swim bait hook.

For the Surf
1) Rapala x-Rap
2) Diawa SP Minow
3) Halco/Zerek Popper

@humaid /Venkat

Looks like the Halco Laser Pro 160 is very popular amongst us ..... it did not make the list for the overseas forum ( I don't think they even know about this lure)!

Good to see that soft plastics are starting to appear upon the Indian saltwater scene.

Any others?

Kingfish

Nice thread Kingfish!

Here's three from the top of my head....

1. Squidgy soft plastic
2. Yozuri Hydro Magnum deep diver 120mm
3. Yozuri Hydro Tiger popper in transluscent white with read head

Cheers!
Maruthu

PS: Lately I am learning to fish a Mirrolure 77M (vintage lure) and I am kind of liking it more and more.
This might become my go to versatile lure. Will post an update depending on how my upcoming trips go....

Hello Maruthu,

Nice to see the Squidgy at the top of your list. More and more soft plastics are now showing up amongst Indian anglers, whereas not one would have made this list a few years ago.

Yozuri are great lures but seem to be underrated in India, don't come across too many anglers using them.

I have an original Mirrolure in my collection but I have not used it for its relative rarity value.

Looking forward to your trip reports.

Regards,
Kingfish

Difficult one, there was a time when I fished with just one or two lures because I did not have the means or access to lures, but now I take the entire trunk :)

I guess for me it would be:

1. Dull yellow and green minnow type lazer lure. (preferably yo-zuri)
2. Read head/White minnow (preferably Yo-zuri)
3. Medium - Large Size popper

The usual 4 suspects have answered on this topic.

We have close to 5000 members belonging to this forum .

Kingfish

Good start there Kingfish. As y'all know my experience with saltwater fishing is limited to fly gear, but from what little I've experienced with the conventional kit so far, the following top 3 should do it;

Surf:
1. Halco Roosta Popper 135 - Red-Head/Fusiler/Firetiger
2. 1/1.25 oz Silver Spoon
3. Bomber Longshot /Rapala XRAP SW/ Daiwa SP Minnow - Found them all to be similar performers

Inshore:
1. Rapala Twitching Mullet
2. DOA - 3" Shrimp
3. DOA - Swimming Shad

Cheers...

Hello Ulygun,

Good to hear from you.

Quite a comprehensive list there! Nice to see another proponent of a silver spoon and soft plastics.

If I were to succumb to having a separate list for surf fishing, I would probably go as follows:

. Halco Twisty 40gm silver spoon
. Rapala Xrap 12/14 in Ghost colour ( saltwater version)
. Squidgy soft plastic redhead ( named as Drop Bear )

I may consider putting up pictures of these lures to help newcomers , as well as to add some colour to this topic. Perhaps others may consider doing this also?

Kingfish

There is good reason not to take a soft lure if you can only pick three, softies get busted real quick

Hi there
I think this must be pretty interesting.
https://www.saltstrong.com/articles/7-e ... ing-lures/
Sorry if links are not allowed.

Hello Bobby,

You are right, most soft plastics have a high attrition rate.

However, there are several brands that are extra tough and last a lot, lot longer. A prime example is the Zman soft plastics brand, mentioned above by Venkat. These are advertised as being 10 times tougher than normal soft plastics and I can vouch for their toughness and effectiveness.

The Squidgy brand is easy to shred by toothy fish but it is such an effective fishcatcher that one cannot discount it from the selection ( Maruthu will attest to that !).

Squidgies retail for about A$ 7 for a packet of 6, so it is relatively cheap. Replacement tails are readily available for less money.

Regards,
Kingfish

Hello Abdullah,

Nice to hear from a relative newcomer to the forum!

I read through your attachment and found it to be very interesting, with a bias towards US lures. The
bucktail is very popular in North America but does not get a mention from anyone in India.

What about your favourites?

Kingfish

Kingfish,

I used to use bucktails a lot.
When I came back to India from the US about 6 years ago, I almost ran out of them.
The last bucktail I had was lost to a toothy critter in Kanyakumari about five years ago.
Binu was fishing with us in the west coast last weekend and he was throwing bucktail lures.

If I had to re do my list seperately for inshore fishing and surf fishing, I think that'll be easy as I usually don't fish too many lures in a session anyway. Let me try to list them again....

Surf fishing (with a 9' rod in the east coast of India)

1. Deadly dick metal
2. Cotton cordell redfin
3. Yozuri hydro tiger popper

Above lures are good to catch the ususal suspects GTs, Barracuda, Barramundi, Ladyfish and even the unusual Mackeral from the beaches/river mouths/Jetty's in the east coast of India

Inshore fishing (with a 7' rod from the rocks in the west coast of India)

1. Squidgy
2. 5" rebel lure or a 6" Bomber lure
3. Yozuri hydro magnum deep diver (120 mm) if I am fishing a medum heavy setup or I'd go with a Rapala husky jerk if I am fishing a medium light setup

Above lures are good to catch the ususal suspects MJs, Grouper, Barramundi and Threadfin from the rocks in the east coast of India

Cheers!
Maruthu

Maruthu,

Thanks for clarifying usage of bucktails in India .... I remember you mentioning this before but apart from you and Binu, I do not think any of the local anglers use them ?

We are slightly adrift, on the stipulated choice of 3 lures, by splitting the fishing into surf and inshore but it is interesting to see the variety of lures mentioned.

Do tell us about your fishing last weekend on the West Coast !!

Kingfish

Kingfish,

I haven't seen anyone else here in India use bucktail lures either.

Regarding the west coast trip last weekend, we got there only at 8:30 pm on Friday morning and only had a small productive window to fish. Binu, Durvesh and I were fishing. We missed a few strikes during our first session. That evening it rained heavily and we were not able to fish.

The second day, the water was a bit murky due of the heavy rain the previous night and we fished a deeper spot in search of the Threadfins, but the fish weren't there. That evening, it rained heavily again. The next (Sunday) morning, the high tide was close to 10 am and Binu started fishing a little early at around 7 am and landed a MJ at around 7:30 am on a 6" golden bomber lure. It was a nice fish that weighed 3 kilos. I started fishing at 8 am and I had one strike on a 6" bomber A Salt lure in chicken scratch colour pattern, but I couldn't hook up. And the action died after that, though the water looked really promising. We tried a little bit of fishing that evening before catching our return bus to Bangalore, but nothing to show for it.

I'll probably fish this place again in November and/or in December. Hopefully land more fish then....

Cheers!
Maruthu

Maruthu,

Thanks for the mini report on your recent fishing trip with Binu, it adds interest to the forum . Good luck
for the coming winter trips.

Kingfish

Hi there.
I mostly fish very rocky locations and soft plastics are my lure of choice ..i use clear white/ firetiger in 30grms (1 oz) and 45 grms ( 1.5 oz) depending on the conditions . Storm prerigged paddle tails .
ps : liberal application of feviquick for repairs can make a soft plastic go a long way .

2: 30 grms( 1 oz) shallow divers ( storm /rapala ) in diff shades

3: 30 grms( 1oz ) poppers in diff shades .

@websinner

Nice to hear from another advocate for soft plastics!

I also glue torn up soft plastics in order to extend their life but have tried to switch to Zman soft plastics
wherever possible, as they are much sturdier and last longer.

However, they do not always make colours that match my favourite Squidgy soft plastics ..... so the latter always reside in my tacklebox.

Can you tell us what species of fish you have caught on soft plastics?

Regards,

Kingfish

Kingfish,
This thread is great, and will help a lot of anglers to choose productive lures from the ones that others have confidence in.

My top 3 would be a
2 3/8 oz Super strike sinking popper.
A yo Zuri mag darter
A metal lure like 2 oz Hopkins shorty.

I have not caught a lot of fish on the super strike popper, but its always a joy to watch this thing fly when you cast. There was one evening when huge barracuda were feeding 100+ yards beyond the surf. I had a 9 feet G Loomis surf rod, and couldn't reach them with most of my lures. I threw the SS popper and within a couple of cranks saw a huge splash on the surface, and thought that was a shark hitting my popper. After a 15-20 minute fight I landed this beautiful GT of 18 kilo.

Hello Binu,

Thanks for your post ........ your 100 yards cast is phenomenal and perhaps we can have a separate topic on our longest casts together with the rod and reel combination utilised.

However, I digress.

That is a superb GT you have caught under circumstances where the rest of us would have given up as
the action was beyond our reach.

If I am not wrong, the Super Strike poppers are a US product, very popular there but relatively unknown
elsewhere. I do have a couple of their smaller poppers and find them nicely weighted, have to try them
out especially after your experience.

I see that no soft plastics make your list but you do include a metal lure in your choice of three.

Regards,
Kingfish

list of my usual suspects

@ websinner

Lovely pictures and a good mix of species caught.

I like the last picture the most ..... if it is a threadfin then the acrobatics these fish put up when hooked is so exciting!

Thanks again.

Kingfish

@kingfish
the last pic is one of the only two times i have managed to catch sea bass (chonak\barramundi) on a soft lure ((they seem to prefer hard body lures from where i fish )) .....this pirticular fish shredded and completly destroyed a brand new softie ......havent had the chance to land a threadfin salmon ( rawas) on a soft bait so far ..the search continues!

@websinner

Yes, I was in two minds about that fish. It is quite a slim profiled barra in the picture and very
silver in colour throughout, looked just like a threadfin but without the feelers at the mouth.

Although the Storm soft plastics work well for you, try and obtain some Zman soft plastics. Those of us
who have used the latter can vouch for their toughness and fish catching ability.

I have caught a threadfin on a Zman ... I think the particular one is called a " Diesel Minnow " in the
Pinfish colour.

You are quite an accomplished Angler and it would be a pleasure to read about your future exploits, together with any pictures you may have taken.

All the best,

Kingfish

Dude Binu, that's a massive GT right there! that too from the surf. Good going man. West or East coast?

Cheers.....

It was from Kovalam beach near Chennai :)