Adventure Bound - Live Baiting Techniques

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Adventure Bound

Live Baiting Techniques

Written by Neil Tedesco

Sunday, 10 December 2006

Andrew on the rocks

Sport and game fishing can be a tricky business and the old 80-20 rule certainly applies. This means that 20% of the anglers are catching 80% of the fish. The amazing thing about the 80-20 rule is that it applies to every style of sport and game fishing and when the degree of difficulty is I increased, the disparity between the anglers catching fish and those going home empty handed goes up accordingly.

Live baiting is a sport and game fishing technique whose finer points can be difficult to master, but when this is achieved catch rates go up accordingly. One on the best places to learn the art of live baiting is from the rocks of the north and south coast of NSW. It's along these ledges that tactics for live baiting for some of this country's most sort after game fish are developed and honed by anglers. And guess what? It's the same fisherman season in season out that are landing the trophy fish.

The first thing you notice is that the successful anglers always have a constant stream of healthy live baits. Perhaps more importantly though, they have learn t techniques to keep these baits in the best condition while in their live bait pool and also while on the hook. To be successful at game fishing with live baits whether it be in a boat or from the stones, you need to start at the beginning; and that means becoming an expert at collecting the likes of slimy mackerel, yakkas and squid which are all gun baits on the north and south coasts.

Lisa hooked up

The first priority must be in finding locations to catch livies. Unfortunately when the big fish school up inshore the little ones don't want to be anywhere near them. This means that the boat angler may need to travel great distances to the bait grounds before hitting the fishing grounds proper. For the LGB angler, a lack of live bait on site presents a whole new set of problems. If you can't get livies on the rocks it means one thing; you'll have to carry them in! This entails catching your bait in one location, transporting them in the car and then carrying them out to the rock ledge. A tall order of survival for even the hardiest of live baits. Over a number of seasons of fishing the NSW south coast we found that a combination of plenty of fresh salt water, multiple aerators and taking it ‘real easy' is the order of the day for transporting live baits from point A to B. Among live baits, calamari squid are one of the hardy travelers with a decent aerator, but many of them will fight and kill one another when stored in the same tank. Over time and after many deaths of squid from ‘live bait tank domestic violence' we worked out that you could keep two squid in each tank, but they had to be swapped around until the most compatible couples were put in with each other. It doesn't take long to find out if you have two calamari that get along, if there is any unrest between them, the tank erupts into a whirlpool of black ink and tentacles.

Stomach contents

Once the problem of getting live bait out to the rocks was sorted, success was almost immediate with a great season on solid kingfish at Jarvis Bay. Hook-ups where coming thick and fast, then the next problem appeared, how to improve the ratio of one fish landed for eleven lost, but that's another story.

Keeping live bait in its best condition is a must whether in a boat or land based and it starts from the time they are caught until when they're on the end of your hook and tempting a big game fish. This means keeping these little blokes fit and healthy for the duration. There is no point going to the trouble of catching, transporting and keeping live bait ‘alive' only to bring it undone once they re-enter the brine. Most fishos know about ballooning with live baits, but many are not aware that the humble balloon is one of the major causes of baits dying in less than 30 minutes. When a live bait is hooked in the shoulder or back it will swim out quite rapidly, but the shock of the balloon pulling up hard in the wind and waves causes the bait to fatigue. The key is to eliminate all sudden shocks to the bait and if possible, keep it facing into the current so that water flow through the gills is not restricted.

It's a must to maximize the lifespan of precious slimies and squid when conditions maybe less than perfect because the more time you spend with quality bait in the water the better your chances will be of getting a big hook-up. Almost with out fail it is the moment you pull your bait from the water for five minutes to put a fresh one on, a marlin will swim past the ledge in plain view right where your balloon had been sitting comfortably only moments before.

Neil checking out the situation

An alternative to the balloon technique is using a torpedo float. These floats are particularly useful in LBG situations on the NSW north coast where large baits are rare. The big slimies, bonito and salmon that are commonly used as marlin and kingfish bait from the rocks on the south coast however, will pull torpedo floats under for long periods making it difficult to keep track of bait position. This can be overcome by using a rubber band to connect the balloon to the leader there by increasing the lifespan of baits to 3 or more hours. You can connect it to a swivel or use a cat's paw knot to loop it directly around your leader which allows you to adjust depth by sliding the rubber band under tension. Using the same sized rubber band to bridle rig the live bait through the nose or eye socket will also substantially increase the health of the live bait. They can often last all day and even be released in healthy condition at the end of the session if things have been quiet.

One added benefit of using the rubber bands that may be even more important is that it actually increases hook-up rates dramatically. For anyone who has ever looked closely at the mouth of a kingfish or marlin, you will appreciate the strength they have in their jaws. Often when these fish take a bait they can hold it so tightly that no amount of striking the rod will dislodge the hook from the bait and pin the mouth of the fish. When bridle rigging with rubber bands, the band stretches when the rod is lifted allowing the hook to move away from the bait and hook-up instantly. This holds huge advantages for land based anglers as often more than 100 meters of stretchy line could be out which makes it hard enough to hook a fish without the added issue of the hook getting lodged in the bait. It is important to remember however that you will need two or even three sizes of rubber band to match the size of the bait on offer, big baits like bonito and salmon of 1-2 kg will need a fairly thick and strong rubber band when compared to a humble yakka. As the hook is not impaled in the bait a smaller hook can be used and because the bait fish is being aimed face first into the current and water flow though the mouth is not restricted.

Neil with a nice Bluefin

Fish like kings and tuna seem to be easily spooked by large heavy gauge hooks. Not only is the hook a visual deterrent, but live bait hooks generally have substantially more weight and this can severely affect a bait fishes ability to swim naturally. Any technique that allows the use of a smaller hook is an advantage. My favorite bridle rigging hook is the GZ from Black Magic. These hooks are virtually unbreakable and are available in sizes from a size 2 right up to 11/0 making them perfect for every type of bait you are likely to encounter. Another advantage of these hooks is the extremely short shank; this reduces visible size and physical weight while still maintaining excellent hook-up ability.

It takes a bit of practice and some quality needles to efficiently rig baits in this manner, but there are simple ways to get your bait to stay still during the operation. One way is to take a jumbo car washing sponge with you , soak it with water and use it to hold the live bait securely by pushing the fish's body firmly against the sponge. Also, file the tips of the needles so they are not sharp, the membrane between the eyes of a fish is soft so a slightly blunt needle is adequate and will help prevent fatal injuries occurring if the bait starts flapping around at the wrong time.

All of this might seem a bit complicated and unnecessary but in reality the equipment required is minimal and inexpensive. Perhaps think of it this way. Why put in all the effort to get out in a boat or on a rock ledge where there's the chance of catching a game fish of a life time only to cut corners on something as fundamentally important as live bait durability or presentation? All it really takes is a bit of extra effort. The rewards will be in the form of screaming reels and smoking drags.