Will yellowtail go for a soft plastic?

[David Maclennan]

Hey all. Fairly new to saltwater fishing (coming from mostly finesse bass with plastics), and this may be a dumb question, but curious if anyone has experimented with paddletails etc with yellowtail. Not seeing anything online. Mostly doing rock and shore fishing around Cape town, plus boat when I can get access.

I have and use the classic plugs and spinners, and I know the rapalas are great for trolling, just wondering about an alternative to try for when they're being extra picky. I very much prefer the constant activity of lure fishing over bait even if it means I'm working harder and in some cases catching fewer fish, so am interested in what other lures I can add to my bag.

Also any other suggestions on species in the area that will take a lure would be hugely appreciated. I know kob + paddletail is a winner in the right conditions. Thanks!

 

[DJP]

Treat yourself and watch The Lateral Line on youtube... some wonderfully weird New Zealanders. They catch insane big yellowtail on slu-go's (soft plastic jerk bait). I wouldn't necessary use paddle tails for yellow tail just because they cast poorly and tail feed more on sight than vibration (not an expert at all) but soft jerk baits like a zoom fluke will for sure work for them.
You can catch most fish on lure in Cape Town but it's mostly hard work, some just more than others. Hence people try to stick to the normal lure fish i.e. yellow tail, katonkel, elf, kob and leeries. I caught a bunch of white stumps (nothing big) over the weekend on a CID shiverstick 65... never in my life would have though these fish would hit a lure so aggressively, but if the fish are feeding and it looks like food they will eat it.

 

[David Maclennan]

Treat yourself and watch The Lateral Line on youtube... some wonderfully weird New Zealanders. They catch insane big yellowtail on slu-go's (soft plastic jerk bait). I wouldn't necessary use paddle tails for yellow tail just because they cast poorly and tail feed more on sight than vibration (not an expert at all) but soft jerk baits like a zoom fluke will for sure work for them.
You can catch most fish on lure in Cape Town but it's mostly hard work, some just more than others. Hence people try to stick to the normal lure fish i.e. yellow tail, katonkel, elf, kob and leeries. I caught a bunch of white stumps (nothing big) over the weekend on a CID shiverstick 65... never in my life would have though these fish would hit a lure so aggressively, but if the fish are feeding and it looks like food they will eat it.

Thanks, good point about sight vs vibration! will keep one of my lighter colour flukes rigged up to try out next time.
Another thing i'm wondering about is does anyone know if yellowtail tend to attack the head or from behind? i know that mature bass will generally go for the head of a bait, which makes nose hooking a fluke with a screw lock and wide finesse hook a pretty good way to get more lure action and hookups, wondering if this might be a good way to target yellowtail as their mouths are smaller than what you'd typically rig for kabeljou with a bigger jighead hook or weedless/rockless setup when using plastics.

 

[DJP]

I use cull-em baitfish for the lagoon leeries, works well. Nose hook them with a 1/0 Chinu hook and a small piece of thick mono to secure the hook. The elf are just a pest because they destroy the soft plastics. Can ad a split shot for some added weight, suspect you would need to ad some weight just to get the lure down a bit for the tail. Can also ad a tungsten nail weight to the body of the lure to help it sink more naturally. The split shot or any weight above the hook for that matter wil make it nose dive. Just make sure you use a proper hook.

 

[David Maclennan]

Thanks for another reply with good info. When you say you secure with mono, do you mean you just stick it thru the plastic in front of the hook bend to keep it from tearing out? Screw locks are flippen pricey and usually pretty hard to find, so any budget hacks are definitely appreciated.

 

[David Maclennan]

Following up on my last comment, this DIY screw lock method made from safety pin wire actually works really well.