Words & Images: Colby Lesko
Soft vibes have long since dominated deep-water scenarios when it comes to estuary and freshwater lure fishing. With soft vibes so effective in these situations it was only a matter of time until we saw tackle companies making bigger and heavier soft vibes than ever for the offshore market. Over recent years offshore soft vibing has really taken off and is extremely effective for a range of fish. I’ve been lucky enough to fish a lot of soft vibes offshore on the Great Barrier Reef over recent years with lots of success. These are my tips to get you into some quality fish even if you have never fished a soft vibe before.
It’s the Vibe of It
Soft vibes come in a range of shapes, sizes and weights, but they all have one thing in common – they vibrate on the lift. This vibrating action is what attracts and tricks those fussy big reef fish into biting when they won’t hit a jig. Match this vibrating action with a fish-shaped profile and some dangling appendages, and you have a great lure for smart fish. I’ve found shape of the soft vibe doesn’t matter too much and while some resemble fish and some resemble squid, they all get eaten. The vibrating action of the soft vibe is a far more important factor. You want a vibe with a strong action so you can feel the lure working 50m metres down and have it working at slower speeds. This will result in attracting and convincing more fish to bite – more so than shape. Soft vibes can be fished extremely slowly and still be effective. They are slow to sink and many bites come on the drop after a lift and vibration has tempted the fish into biting.
Deep Vibes
I like to focus my soft vibing really close to the bottom. While soft vibes will get eaten midwater and on the way up, I find them most effective on big reef fish when they are hopped along the bottom. Once you hit the bottom with your soft vibe, I give the lure a big lift with the rod to feel the vibration of the lure working. This makes sure the lure hasn’t tangled on the way down from a hit or current, and it hasn’t fouled on weed or something on the bottom. If I feel the vibe’s action and it is swimming away like normal, I’ll let it sink back down and do another big lift. I repeat this a few times and if no bites, I’ll give the lure a couple of big lifts in a row to get it further up off the bottom before dropping it back down. Most of the time, this ‘on the bottom’ retrieve gets the best reef fish for me but vibes do work well on a whole range of retrieves. Basically, once the soft vibe is low in the zone with the fish on your sounder, just let the vibration and profile do the work with a slow retrieve. If you miss a bite the fish love to come back for a second crack with the soft vibes and will often hit the soft vibe a number of times before they hook up.
Heavy Vibe
Weight and size of the soft vibe will depend on speed of drift and depth of water you are fishing but if you want to target fish offshore you need something at least 30 grams in weight. My personal favourite is the 50g 150mm Samaki Vibelicious. This vibe works well in 20 to 50m of water with a slow drift. If you’re fishing deeper or on a faster drift you will want to go heavier again. When fishing soft vibes, you really do need a slow drift in deeper water to keep vertical on the lures and fish them effectively. My best results have come from very slow drift days where you really hang on the spot or use the electric motor to anchor so you can really get the vibe down in the zone. If you have a few good marks where you usually do well on the reef fish by fishing bait, anchor on these marks and fish a soft vibe. I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised at how effective they are.
Best areas to drop soft vibes are proven marks you know to hold good fish or areas where you have great soundings of good fish. Due to them being slow to sink and slow to retrieve, they are not a great prospecting lure – they do their best work when dropped directly into fishy areas. Wonky holes, wrecks and large drop-offs or bommies are a few of my favourite spots to soft vibe.
Good Vibrations
Soft vibes, like any lures have their advantages and disadvantages. Some massive advantages of soft vibes are they are extremely lifelike, have a great action and an ability to fool smart fish. If you’re targeting a specific fish that you know are down below the boat and are not biting other lures such as jigs, they may produce a bite and change your day. Some disadvantages are that they take a lot longer to get down to the fish than jigs and are a lot less durable than a jig. When toothy critters such as mackerel and trigger fish are around, they can be destroyed quickly or after a single fish. This can become expensive when compared with jigs. But when the fishing is tough, they can make your day by getting you a trophy fish when nothing else is working. So, it’s always worth having them in the tackle box ready.
Soft vibes fish great both vertically and on the cast. When fishing deeper waters, you will have to fish the vibes vertically to keep a good connection. Casting them around shallow edges and reef drop-offs is also extremely effective. I fish my soft vibes on a PE 2 to 4 jig stick around 6ft long in water 20m or deeper. In shallower water of 20m to the shallows, I like to use a more casting-style rod around 7ft long but again in that PE 2 to 4 range. Braid is essential to help you get the vibe down quickly while maintaining a great feel for the lure’s action and bites on the drop. I use an 8000 or 10000-sized spin reel spooled with PE 2 to 4 braid. Leader size is up to personal preference and I often use 100lb leader but do go as low as 60lb, while I have still caught many good reef fish in heavy reef terrain with 200lb leader. It depends on the situation and fish you are targeting. Hooks depend on personal preference as well, and I’ve used trebles and singles with great results. I find trebles are better when targeting smaller fish or fishing out over lighter bottom and the single hooks are better for targeting bigger fish or when fishing on heavy reef.
Storage
Storage of soft vibes is important – you must store them correctly so they don’t melt or become bent in your tackle box. I try not to remove them from the packet until I’m going to fish them. Once you have fished with them, make sure you store the used vibes straight and away from other lures.
Species
Red emperor, nannygai, fingermark and coral trout are all suckers for a soft vibe and are some of my main targets. I’ve also caught a massive range of pelagics such as cobia, trevally, dogtooth tuna and amberjack on them. I don’t know too many species of fish that won’t eat a soft vibe offshore. They have quickly become my go-to technique for catching a feed of coral trout and are the most effective coral trout lure I have used. While I have mainly used them to target reef fish on the GBR, they will also be super-effective on snapper and other reef species down south. It’s worth having one in the tackle box for those days when the sounder is lighting up with fish but you can’t convince them to bite.
