Sensational Samaki Redic 50 review

Hi everyone, it was great to receive at least a little rain in November, to settle dust and subdue bushfires.

In the rivers, rain is essential for good fishing, and both Brad and I have seen some excellent catches.

At AFTA 2023, I had a preview look at the new Samaki Redic 50 hard-body lure and couldn’t wait for its release.

It’s no secret that we’re big fans of Blue Fish Imports’ wide range of high quality brands, including Samaki rods and lures, XBraid, FishCraft lures and Meiho tackle storage.

Samaki is Australian owned, designed and developed, offering an extensive range of fishing tackle from rods, lures, line, tools and apparel.

 

In particular, Samaki Vibelicious 70mm soft vibes have been one of our top lures on charters.

For us, small lures have a great strike rate, keeping the scoreboard ticking and our customers entertained on a variety of estuary fish from small to big.

Previously, the Samaki Redic hard-body range of lures was released in larger sizes, down to 60mm, great for chasing big fish such as barramundi and larger flathead.

With the release of the 50mm version, this is a lure that is now a mainstay in our daily tacklebox.

Alongside the 48mm Pontoon 21 Crack Jack 48SP DR minnow, we rate the Redic 50 as our all-time best hard-body trolling lure.

 

The main reason – these lures catch fish and a lot of them!

During the first two weeks of Brad using them at the Tweed River, and myself at the Nerang River and Gold Coast Broadwater, we caught well over 200 fish, including flathead, bream,

trevally, grunter, big whiting, flounder, tarwhine, mullet and even blue swimmer crabs on more than one occasion!

On the Tweed River, Brad caught four mullet in a row on these lures.

While at the Gold Coast, I’ve had days catching up to 10 whiting on them, measuring 30-36cm.

Trolling is so much fun and incredibly effective, particularly with good lures such as the Samaki Redic.

The Samaki Redic 50mm lure is a minnow-shaped jerkbait hard-body that comes in two models, MF and DF.

 

The MF is a shallower diver, reaching slightly over 2m deep when trolled, and the DF is a deeper diver, diving to over 3m deep.

They can of course be cast and jerked to great effect – however trolling gets the job done effectively on charters.

They are currently available in a range of eight colours and retail for a very reasonable $16.95 each.

They swim true, with a great vibrant action straight out of the packet, and I haven’t had to tune one yet, even after many fish.

All the colours are good and will work in various conditions depending on water clarity, wind strength, time of day and sky state.

Also, the natural bait present in the system determines what the fish are feeding on and whether it’s prawns or baitfish.

 

Our favourite Redic colours have so far been Coral Trout and Crystal Prawn, and Whitebait, Ghost Shad, Gold Assassin and Pinkbait all have days when they get absolutely slammed.

Lately, I’ve been using my Minn Kota Ulterra to troll – it’s so easy to maintain an even speed of 1.5 knots and stay in a straight line with the electric motor.

I have a BLA lithium 36V battery and, after a whole day of trolling, I use only 20 percent of the battery charge.

My favourite light trolling setup is a Samaki Archer 692SXL spinning rod with an Okuma ITX 2500 reel, spooled with XBraid Upgrade Pentagram PE 0.6 and 8lb fluorocarbon leader.

With this combo and a Redic 50 tied on, you have a devastating fishing weapon, whether by kayak or boat.

 

Trolled in depths of 1-3m in the same direction as the tide, it’s never long before the rod is suddenly loaded up with a good fish.

Set the lures back about 20-30m to ensure they are often tapping the mud or sand – this will greatly increase the success rate.

When trolling, I always keep an eye on my Humminbird Helix 10 fish finder to find what areas baitfish are holding in.

Inevitably, the bites will come in those areas, and change every day and during tides.

 

Samaki Redic 50 lures are worth a try casting in the shallow flats for flathead and whiting too, that’s what I’ll be trying next.

My favourite local fishing shop – Sporty’s Warehouse at Bundall – stocks these dynamite lures and all my favourite tackle.

A merry Christmas and happy new year to you.

I hope you get some quality fishing time in over the break.

There’s nothing like fishing to escape all the worries of the world.

To book a charter with myself or Brad, or if you have any fishing related questions, visit goldcoastrivercharters.com, SMS 0432 990 302, email fishingwithclint@gmail.com or find us on Facebook – Brad Smith Fishing Charters.