Bring the bling : pimping your lures for fun and success

It’s 6am. Perched on the side of my camp stretcher as the wind howls around the protecting sand dunes, my eyes are resting on my slumbering partner. He seems a world away—even though his stretcher is only separated from mine by the natty canvas cupboard that furnishes the safari tent. His mind is off in dreamland… mine’s pre-occupied to the point of insomnia.

We’re on Bremer Island, off the Gove Peninsula in north-eastern Northern Territory. Banubanu Wilderness Retreat is our base and today, I head out once more to best my beastie… those sexy Lucanus jigs that have me hooked, but that I haven’t yet been able to hook into a brag-worthy fish.

I’ve been quite open about my crush on these weighty blighters for some time, but so far, it’s proven purely physical. At the risk of seeming shallow, I’m trying again… no pressure, three’s a charm, right?

Besides, Steve and I have a wily plan.

Last time I had an unrequited crush, I was advised to “be a little more out there”, you know, spruce up a bit… well, that’s just what I intend to do.

My reverie is smudged by a rustling of sheets. Steve stretches, yawns and smiles. “Morning”.

Breakfast is an angler’s dream with all the sustenance you could wish for before heading out for a day on some pretty sloppy brine—cereal, fruit, eggs, bacon and sausages. Oh, and seriously the best cup of coffee in Nhulunbuy! PERFECT! I’m fuelled up and raring to go.

We’re chasing reefies, preferably for lunch and dinner, with some sport species thrown in for fun. I’m hoping for coral trout, red emperor and blue bone (tusk fish).

As we slow towards our mark, I pull out the tackle box. Steve winks at me with his wry smile… I’m going for the “bling”.

My plan today is quite simple. I’m going to fish with Mustad flasher rigs (and I’m juicing them up with small squid fish, just to make them totally irresistible), but I’m going to put a big sting in their tail. My sexy Lucanus is replacing the sinker. The entire outfit is dressed for success!

Quite bemused at my very fancy tackle arrangements, the crew watch is it sploshes some five metres out from the hull and quickly makes its way to the bottom.

I intend to fish as if I only have the Lucanus on, that is, free spool to the bottom, wind up about a metre when I touch down, very slow jig and retrieve through to about five metres off the bottom and then a free spool back to start again.

Well, that was my plan. I didn’t get to act on it too much—not through to the end anyway. First jig, first drop, first fish in! My pimped out rig pulled in its first victim—a 35cm stripey (Spanish flag). Not a fish you’d take home to meet Mum’s chopping board, but a good specimen nonetheless. AND, guess what it had attacked? The Lucanus! He was pinned neatly through two lips by the heavy little octa-jig, with the two flashers above, still boasting fresh squid!

This blew me away! So it’s not just me that thinks they’re sexy…

Grateful to not have to re-rig at all, I threw my rig over again.

Spooling… spooling… donk!

Little wind, slow jig… slow jig… feeling… smack, SMACK!

I lift the rod tip slightly—not jerking out of fear that the little hooks might not be set properly, just a smooth lift to assert pressure. Yep! It’s pinned. My rod tip starts dancing sporadically. It’s not big, but it’s not coming off.

I wind her in to find another surprise package. This time, a tidy blue-line emperor has taken not only a blinged up piece of squid, but the Lucanus as well.

“Now that’s just greedy”, I said with a laugh to Steve. I have to tell you, Steve found the whole thing quite amusing.

The fun continued for some time. I confess to loosing a fight with a leviathan that peeled around 300 metres of line as it ran towards Cape York. I was delighted when it busted me off and it did provide a great opportunity to pack my line nicely on my precious Talica 10. I was even more delighted when it came back with the Lucanus still attached! The shark, it seems, preferred the squid.

I re-tied my rig, new flasher, new squid and plopped it back over the side for another bout. Hopefully, that shark and his mates were still heading for deeper waters.

As with the other drops, I felt a bite almost upon setting the Lucanus that metre up from the bottom. This time, however, I thought I’d try for an “upgrade”. I could tell that the fish I’d attracted was a littlie, so I thought I’d see what the other two remaining hooks could come up with. Cheeky, I know, but perhaps my little fish could be the ultimate “bling”?

“Maybe,” I’m thinking to myself, “other fish will see him struggling, and his struggling will jiggle my flashers, and the fish will interpret that as him feeding on something fab!?” Fanciful thoughts…

SMACK!

There’s the upgrade! It worked!

I raised the rod tip and reeled her in… I was expecting a much better fish than the past ones, judging the fight. It was certainly much feistier.

As we saw colour, the crew cracked up… “Now who’s greedy?” Steve asked, flashing me one of those trademark grins.

I looked at what it was that they were talking about and couldn’t help laughing myself… not one big fish at all… but three reefies! It was a full-house!

It’s time for a change though. New spot, new sport. All of the adrenalin has got the juices flowing. Steve and I settled in for a chat as we motored towards another reef. What if we bling’d a softie?

As the vessel carved its path through the waves, I rifled through the tackle box. I’m a bit of a “mad scientist” when it comes to my soft plastic prep and some of my Frankenstein-esque abominations have had Steve shaking his head in shame… but hey, if they continue to catch fish, who am I to complain?

So here I am, fingers tickling plastics as I consider and visualise. I chose a black and gold fish, bit its head off and replaced it with one of the super-real jig heads that Squidgy make. Before I tied it on, I slipped a spare Lucanus skirt into the top side of the loop in my goose noose knot. It looked quite a sight and both Steve and I had a chuckle as I threw it over.

First drop and WHACK! A firey fighter took the line. I only had one hook in, so it was time to bring it up… there was our blue bone lunch! Steve and I exchanged glances again. “Throw it back over”, he said. “Let’s prove it’s not luck”.

None of the other lines had lit up yet. Over she goes.

The rig truly did seem to out perform others. Every drop pinned a nice fish until struck by the upgrade you never seek… my rig and its quarry disappeared with a mighty shark… bugger! Felt like a decent fish too.

During its successful reign, I dubbed the rig “mardi gras”. I intend to use it on reefs into the future. There’s something exciting and fun about trying new and unusual combinations along side of the traditional to see which is working on the day.

And what a day! It just goes to show that you never can have enough bling!

As for Lucanus, I can’t say that I feel that I’ve legitimately bested my little nemesis, but the morning’s fishing titillated our love affair, no mistake. The alien-like octa jigs were certainly more appealing to the fish than the flashed-up squid.

Perhaps it was just the added confidence that I fished them with—believing that I would catch a fish, by hook or by crook. It’s so often said that the mindset of the angler is as big a factor in fishing as the other prevailing conditions. I am a firm believer in this theory and am looking forward, once more, to getting out and fishing my Lucanus… this time, though, Lukie will be going in nude!

“The Force is strong with this one…”