That’s right, just about everything will eat a prawn… Including me! All jokes aside, prawns are a crucial food source for many of the fish that inhabit our estuaries. From the humble bream and flathead right up to the mighty mulloway and the yellowtail kingfish, prawns are on the menu at one time or another! With this in mind, one may logically conclude that tying on a prawn imitation isn’t such a bad idea…
Whilst prawns reside in our estuaries year round, their activity increases dramatically during the warmer months. On summer nights around the ‘new moon’, prawns congregate in large numbers and attempt to ‘run’ towards the ocean during the run-out tide. Naturally, this catches the attention of nearly predators looking to cash in on an easy meal. This often results in the fish ‘fixating’ on prawns for the duration of the new moon period. On one hand, this can make some species a little trickier to catch if you don’t have the right lures. On the other hand, if you can successfully emulate a prawn, you might just hold the golden ticket!
There’s a multitude of prawn imitations on the market nowadays, and quite frankly, most of them work! The most common prawn imitation is a simple soft plastic with a prawn like profile. The trick is to pick the right size… This generally comes down to the target species, however ‘matching the hatch’ size wise is still the goal… Don’t be fooled into thinking that a large fish won’t scoff down a 2-3” lure… Elephants eat peanuts! It happens more often than you’d think…
As far as retrieves go, a simple double flick is perfect for these lures. When trying to escape from predators, prawns repeatedly flick their tails which shoots them backwards at great speed. The action achieved by a double flick mimics this very well!
Overall, prawn imitations are overlooked by many anglers. They’re simple, easy to use and they catch just about everything! If you don’t have a few in your kit heading into summer, it’s time to stock up!
Check out the Fishing Station Prawn Plastics Pack – the ultimate prawn pack.
A selection of tackle is as follows: