Gotcha! Fishing With Soft Plastic Baits in New Zealand

by John Eichelsheim

Published by David Bateman Ltd.  First published 2007.  ISBN: 978-1-86953-687-9. Size: 210mm x 150mm. 152pp total. Many colour and black and white photographs. Soft cover.

Soft Plastics are the “hot” thing at present. Everyone is using them to catch fish including many anglers who would never have considered baiting up with them in the past. John Eichelsheim’s new book covers every aspect of plastic bait fishing from looking at the reasons for using soft plastics, selection, rigging, playing the fish, as well as using soft plastics from a boat and from shore.

Soft Plastics are the “hot” thing at present. Everyone is using them to catch fish including many anglers who would never have considered baiting up with them in the past. John Eichelsheim’s new book covers every aspect of plastic bait fishing from looking at the reasons for using soft plastics, selection, rigging, playing the fish, as well as using soft plastics from a boat and from shore.

There are plenty of good colour and black and white pictures to both illustrate the ideas and bring the text to life. I enjoyed the part about using soft plastics on droppers for surfcasting. I know for sure that the Gulp two inch crabs work at least as well as fresh cut baits which are a bit of a surprise to me.

A mentioned earlier soft plastics have really taken off in New Zealand . Whereas a decade ago only a small percentage of anglers used them; now almost everyone is giving them a shot. There are certain techniques that Eichelsheim covers in this book which will greatly improve your chances when fishing the wide variety of soft plastics available in the shops. You can get them in a bewildering array of colours, shapes and scents. This book will be a big help when it comes to making some basic selections for targeting your local fish species.

I have no hesitation in recommending that you get a copy of Gotcha! Fishing With Soft Plastic Baits in New Zealand.