Newbie surface lure advice

[Ben Furness]

Had a chance to pick up a couple of cheap surface lures and just wanted everyones opinion of the lures, split rings and hooks I was recomended and ended up buying as the price was right.

First up LURES:

Maria "Loaded" 180mm / 75g floating stickbait
Halco Rooster 180mm popper
Lively Lures "BIG GT" 180mm popper

Secondly hardware:

Shogun Extreme "VIPER" 9/0 single lure hook (eye is in the same plane as the hook bend) for rear hooks
Decoy "G.T. Special" 8/0 trebles for front hooks
Decoy size 10 (250lb) split rings to connect them all together

Any and all comments regarding ring / hook suitability, techniques, popularity etc. would be fantastic.

[Jon Li]

Ben ,

In my opinion , your treble hook is a bit too big for those lures , Owner STBL66 in 4/0 would be my choise , likewise the 9/0 single hook and you can use a lower rated splitring as well .

Jon .

[Chuen Fan]

Trebles are definately too big for those lures.  As Jon suggested, try the Owner ST66 or ST76 4/0 hooks. The stickbait might even need 3/0 owners otherwise you might turn it into a sinking/suspending stickbait, although that can be a good thing at times.

[Mark Harris]

I don't know any of those lures except the Roosta. Looking at the lengths though,  I think Jon is spot on.

I don't know what the sizing of Shogun Viper single is like but if it is sort of like an Owner 9/0?, then definitely too big I think.

Decoy 8/0 treble is a bit big - as Jon suggests an Owner St66 4/0 or equivalent should be enough.

Split rings you can go down to 200 lbs or below I think - something like an Owner Hyperwire 170 lb or Decoy 200lb should be big enough.

[Ben Furness]

I though as much! I told the guy in the shop that Owner 5/0's looked much more sensable and he said "I fish GT all the time mate and these are what you need on these lures"

I have a few bags of Owner 5/0 on the way from Japan so I will use these when they arrive I think.

[Mark Harris]

Be wary of advice at the point of the sale  .

If you mean Owner ST66 5/0 trebles on their way ?, then you might just get away with those.  ST66 4/0 would be better. ST76 5/0 will just sink them!

[Ben Furness]

Yup ST66's, I am planning on getting a good range as i also have 6 ADHEK poppers and 6 stickbaits on thier way as a present from my old man, he has no idea what size they are but they were recomended by one of the guys who works upstairs in the Shimano shop in Denpesar.

[Mark Harris]

Yup ST66's, I am planning on getting a good range as i also have 6 ADHEK poppers and 6 stickbaits on thier way as a present from my old man, he has no idea what size they are but they were recomended by one of the guys who works upstairs in the Shimano shop in Denpesar.

That would have been my good buddy Nengah!  As long as the brief was correct, I am pretty sure I know what Nengah would have suggested and you will not be disappointed.

[Aaron Concord]

The Roosta will take a pair of 5/0 ST66's though a 5/0 belly and a 4/0 rear is a better bet.
The Lively Lures Big GT will take an 8/0 Decoy treble on the belly.  They are pretty round and chunky up at the front of the lure.
I have run a single 10/0 Decoy on these with a Colorado spinner bait blade off the tail, or an 8/0 belly 5/0 rear........it can take it better than you think.
Not familiar with the Maria stick bait, though it sounds like a twin 4/0 size lure!

Aaron.

[Nigel Hagley]

Hi Ben

The best treble set up for "Big GT" is 7/0 in the Shoguns, Decoy 8/0 is borderline and looks a bit large on the lure but is still acceptable as the lure is pretty buoyant.

cheers

[Greg Burt]

The Maria 'Loaded' has a nice dive and 'S' action, suits ST66 3/0 but can handle ST66 4/0
From JDM link with a couple of Video's at the bottom.

http://translate.google.com/translate?js=n&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&layout=2&eotf=1&sl=ja&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.yamaria.co.jp%2Fmaria%2Fmariaproduct%2Fproductdetailed%2Ftabid%2F125%2Fpdid%2FVLDF180%2FDefault.aspx

[Ben Furness]

Can anyone recommend single hooks for the rear as i am pretty keen to have treble from and single back hooks.

[Mark Harris]

For singles off the back of a stickbait I use Owner SJ51 (or Owner Jobu when I am feeling extravagant).

[Gareth Branicki]

to be honest with the stickbait of the rear single jobu 8/0 think 9/0 is pushing it as for the middle i would go a 3/0 treble . theres been an interesting debate on trebles recently which i havent commented on  i have rarely used owner trebles tended to stick with gamkatsu treble 16's however this is from land also the decoys which are horrifically expensive  worst of all they are  very hard to get as peter morris  stated  when enquiring on this forum with fishhead in regard to the new shogun trebles they look nearly the same and I picked up a couple of 7/0 for a 170 g craftbait ,
both like gamkatsu 16 tend have a longer shank than owners also finer guage  if any body has look at the difference at a gamkatsu 3/0 and 4/0 you would't belive it its massive its like jumping 2  hook sizes .

with my poppers and stickbaits i have tended to put single on the tail and decoy in the middle but for the cheaper ones i uses the treble 16's however i am not going out on a experdtion i would defaintly go the owners as it would be a  a very differnt story  but as the gt tend to max out at 20kg and tend to be under that i dont have have to worry about needing really heavy owners  thats one problem i had  heavy duty split rings + the swivel off the front of the popper + the hook weight esp with owner I learnt that lures sink lol

[Stephen Polzin]

Regarding the lures, the only one I've used is the Halco Haymaker and they are great lures, in my opinion just as good as any other GT popper. 

Another great cheap lure is the River 2 Sea Rover stickbait.  Had a good session using one of those the other day. 

I've used a lot of expensive wooden lures and in my opinion the cheaper plastic lures are just as good (and more durable).  Trevors can't tell how much a lure cost.