Snapper and numerous other species are great advocates of hitting a sinking lure. Understanding why that attraction to a sinking lure exists will definitely help improve the way you target fish with a sinking lure presentation. Nige Webster hooks up with a European lure designer and explores the benefits of the ‘Escape Pattern’.

Surprising result for a soft plastic shrimp? Mads Grossell thinks not!

A Global Pattern
A recent opportunity to film a short documentary on the work of a European lure designer provided some interesting days on the water. Mads Grosell is the brain behind the ‘Savage Gear’ brand: this includes a whole bunch of products, including an extensive lure range. Mads and I targeted everything from snapper to trout and bass on a recent visit, and along the way we had plenty of interesting discussions regards all things fishing. We explored various aspects of jerkbaiting with hardbodies, jigging with blades and spent plenty of time working soft plastics. Among the various approaches we fished and discussed at length was that of ‘escape patterns’ and soft plastic lures.
Aussie anglers are familiar with the idea of escape patterns, but maybe not the name given to the approach by European anglers. The concept of an escape pattern is based on imitating the manner in which baitfish and other fish food items try to flee for shelter when under threat. This behaviour often instigates reaction bites from fish: fish feel compelled to grab an object that is suddenly put in front of it which is sending out wounded or flight signals. This behaviour can easily be replicated when using a soft plastic lure, and is deadly when used effectively on the likes of snapper. It is worth spending some time exploring the concept of escape patterns and how this understanding will help you improve not only your snapper catch rates.
Escape Pattern Dynamics
I spent many hours watching baitfish and prawns living in a tank occupied by other predators; yes, there often wasn’t much else to do when I was a kid! This study taught me the behaviours of bait, and in particular, how predators reacted to particular bait behaviours. I often watched prawns or baitfish that when threatened, threw themselves into the bottom at high speed. Predatory fish would often attack the bait while it was on the way down, or continue to hunt it out while it lay motionless on the bottom, or next to any available structure. This high speed dive for the bottom is classic escape pattern stuff. In many cases it results in a predator intercepting its food on the way to the bottom substrate.
I have spent plenty of time playing with the Waterwolf cameras lately (they will be coming to Australia shortly) and have learnt a great deal about how species such as snapper hunt and feed. A recent session showed perfectly how fish react to a food item sinking towards a school of snapper. In many cases individual fish were able to spot the bait approaching from 10 m above their position. The reaction was often immediate: fish having spotted the bait, left the school and charged up to be the first to grab the offering. Watching the behaviour left me in no doubt as to why snapper find a quickly sinking plastic so appealing. It also highlighted why the bites are so aggressive, resulting in braid being ripped from a reel when a lure is in free-fall. I have prepared a short clip of this behaviour so you too can be enlightened!

Lure Choice
Selecting the right soft plastic to create an appealing escape pattern will help your catch rate. It is not as critical as selecting the best jighead weight, but I have had more success with certain styles of plastic lure. I listened with interest while Mads Grosell described some of his design considerations when creating soft lures that can be used to fish an escape imitation. The curl tail grubs are a good example and are designed with a slim line body that will dart side-to-side and away from the centre line of the lure. A soft fluttering tail combined with the darting action makes for a perfect fleeing imitation. His soft prawns will also ‘swim’ seductively towards bottom and all of his baitfish imitations are designed to leave the centre line to facilitate a fleeing action that will attract attention from predators. Regardless of the brand of lures you choose to take on a fishing session, you will be well served by carrying three different types of lure pattern: a fluttering grub plastic, stickbait style minnow and prawn imitation soft lures will cover a lot of bases when undertaking a day on the water fishing escape patterns.
Jighead Selection
I believe jighead weight to be the most important aspect of creating the best escape pattern. The conundrum I face on any day when fishing plastics is based on whether to fish slowly sinking lures or fast sinking options. I know that fish like snapper love a slowly sinking bait or lure, but, they will also set upon an object sinking quickly through their midst. Fishing a combination of approaches is often the best way to ascertain which method is producing the most bites on any given day. The advantage of fishing an escape pattern imitation is that it allows you to work plenty of water a lot more quickly than a slow-sink retrieve. The key is to select a jighead that will get your lure to bottom quite quickly without it plummeting like a rock. Try to imagine how quickly a stray baitfish or prawn would try to get to the bottom and you have your answer regards sink rate. Try to select a jighead that replicates this speed and you’re well on your way to fishing a productive retrieve. Experimenting with different weight jigheads is the best way to find an optimal selection; this means having the box of jigheads close at hand, and not being afraid to change weights if you aren’t getting bites.
The shape of a jighead is important when choosing to fish escape pattern retrieves. Aerodynamic-shaped jigheads seem to produce the best when imitating fleeing bait. Arrow-shaped, bullet-shaped, keel and flat-sided jighead shapes will produce a sinking motion that promotes a lure swimming head down towards bottom in a life-like manner. Ensure you have several weights to choose from and also different hook sizes to match the size of plastic you wish to use. Ultimately a lure should be rigged to ensure there is adequate protrusion of the hook from the lure so as to effectively hook any fish that eats your offering.
Tackling Up
Escape pattern fishing is about letting a lure sink quickly towards bottom. It sounds rough and ready but you still have to make the lure look like the real thing, which means an angler has to try and use as much finesse as possible. A lure will always look more natural when fished with finer line diameters. This means fish as light as possible when choosing line class. Braided lines will make life easier and need to be complimented with 3 to 4 m of fluorocarbon leader.
Threadline reels that contain enough line capacity for the depth of water you’re fishing will make life easier. Compliment these with an approximately 2 m spin rod with good lower end strength, but a fast action and soft tip to provide sensitivity to your retrieves.
Approach
Ultimately there are two ways you can go about fishing escape pattern retrieves: drifting from a boat or at anchor. Many anglers choose to drift wherever possible because it allows the freedom to move around an area and stay in touch with moving bait and predators. This approach becomes a disadvantage however when dealing with very small patches of reef such as wrecks, and also when strong winds and currents make presenting a lure too difficult.


Summary
This approach has produced a huge number of snapper for my mates and I who love this style of fishing. It works on snapper anywhere I have targetted them: in Victoria’s bays, off the coast of NSW, Qld’s Moreton Bay and offshore reaches as well as further north. The way in which snapper take a lure dropping to the bottom makes for some memorable bites and is likely a technique that will have you addicted in no time. Next time you’re on the water chasing snapper with lures or bait, don’t ignore the potential of an escape pattern.
Nige Webster is northern field editor of Sport Fishing and field editor for Freshwater Fishing magazines. Based at Noosa he fishes the entire east coast in fresh and salt water – offshore – bream – barra – trout.