Creating Competition Around Your Bait

We’ve been testing this new technique for a while now off the rocks and it’s worked really well for us. What it does is generate more aggressive feeding because the “competition” looks as if it’s going to eat the bait before the fish can get to it.

We’ve tried it with different soft plastics and currently there are two standouts shown below. How it works is by attaching the soft plastic on a second hook right alongside the soft bait (like a peeled prawn). Then burley around your bait to attract some attention, mashed up wet bread is nice easy option for this. A little bit of movement in the bait can do wonders too, so lift your rod tip slowly by about 60cm every minute or so, it can often encourage a bite.

These two plastics are our favourite so far because they both have moving parts that don’t need a lot of action at all. The Jackson Tiny Squid have fine little tentacles that squirm around in the water very realistically, and the Chinu Koro Craw have hollow claws which allows them to trap and air bubble and float upwards and wave around.

You don’t need any gaps between the plastics and bait or anything, the rig is simply one baited hook tied off on the end of the line, one extra hook for the “competition” plastic, and a small pea-sized sinker running freely above that if there’s a bit of current or wash.