CLEVER innovation is something to be treasured and here’s a ground-breaking step forward in the world of fishing soft plastics. Andy Duncombe and David Hyndman have designed a jighead that enables us to use deadly W hooks and at the same time improve hook up rates and make soft plastic fishing more snag proof. “Spines” have arrived with a bang!
I might not share the same inventive skills as Andy and Dave, but there is one thing I have in common, and that is a passion for using sticky sharp, snag resistant W hooks. The Spine set up is a very simple yet ingenious fine-tuning of rigging up soft plastics and because of its easy application, I can see its success guaranteed.
First of all you pre-spike your plastic with a stainless steel probe and then, from four options, select the best length of Spine and insert to the desired angle and point at which you want your W hooks to hang. Then choose from four sizes of W hooks and feed them on either facing up or down. You can add to or reduce the weight of the Spine to alter sink rates. Unweighted spines are coming too, for top water or sub surface action.
W hooks
Well, I’ve been a fan of these hooks for about four years now and every single hard body I own gets fitted with a brand new set of Ws. I certainly don’t suffer with trebles any more. Imagine my delight when I found a way to rig all my plastics with these hooks as well. Not only one of the sharpest hooks on the market, they are very reasonably priced as well being cheaper than trebs. And no need for fiddly split rings either. W’s can be fitted facing up or down and easily replaced. If the W’s become damaged or blunt, you don’t replace the jig head, you just renew the hooks!
My first trip with Spines was out looking for bream. I rigged up one of my favourite 80mm wrigglers and started working the snags. Normally I only use hard bodies in this sort of woody country, but now I can use plastics in the timber with the same sort of confidence. Soon after I lifted into a heavy head shaking fish and horsed it up through the timber. A 50cm flathead became my first Spine victim and I went on to hook 10 more over the next hour.
Bream & perch
About a week later I finally found the bream and my hook up rate was stunning! In four hours I ended up with 11 bream and seven EPs as a pleasant by-catch. It’s always a joy to use something new and find it a real success. I can see Spines getting me hooked up to a lot more fish. I know other anglers will readily embrace this new concept so visit the website for more info and pics, to to www.spinesfishing.com.au
By Brett Geddes
