Rapala Lures ?

[tommy a]

Chaps,

After some advice although a I guess a lot of this question will come down to personal choice.

Im hoping to catch a few bass this year using lures for the first time targeting them off the boat around Exmouth and areas near by. I see there are floating, diving and sinking rapalas and Ive been told to use the J11 & 13 but has anyone got any advise on what they think works the best ?

Ive also heard about the X Rap lures from rapala but again I havent got a clue so any advice from any of you who know a bit about bassing from the boat and shore would be much appreciated.

[Charter Skipper]

You hit the nail on the head tommy,its mostly down to personal choice,so people swear by Rapalas,others Dexter wedges,other abu Toby the list is endless.

Choice of which lure and its colour on the other hand needs a bit of thought,water colour ,conditions and what live small fish or sandeels are around in the area all come in to play.

We have great sucess with Red Gills,shads and other "latex" type lures,but without doubt the best baits are live sandeels and joey mackerel for getting the bass on the go.....

Good luck,hope you get a cracker or 2.....

[Drew]

Hi Tommy,

Since the advent of Storm Shads I have found that the most productive ones for Bass are the Pearl/Blue combination. I have seen them caught on other colours, but having used them, on charters, from Eastbourne around to West Bay the aforementioned combination have been the best.

Live baiting using Joey Mackerel will outfish any lure on the market, they are definately the "Cats Whiskers".

I would only use the J11/13 whilst plugging from the beach with either a dedicated bass rod or spinning rod.

Cheers

Drew

[John Marshall]

Tommy,
go with Drew on live bait, joeys do the job but live sandeel is tops for bass, and should be easy to get in Exmouth.

[kiwimarty]

I agree with JM but might I add, that live prawn is a killer bait in our waters down here tommy a.

Kiwi.

[tommy a]

Cheers chaps - when people are talking about live joey makeral what size are we talking ?

I went to Donegal with Smoothie last year and the skipper there used joeys and they were literally the size of my hand - the smallest makeral I ever get in Exmouth are about half a pound and loads bigger than my hand !

What size should a joey be and I assume catching them this small is a case of just using smaller hooks on the feathers and trying something like hookais ?

Also Kiwi - cheers mate Im going to try and get some prawns this year !