Thread: Live baiting whats the go?.

I have only ever tried live baits a few times and never had any bites so what is the go?
How do you catch live baits?
What fish work best?
How do you rig em?
When to live bait and when not to ?
What depths and current levels is it effective/practical to do?

He meant to say "For Flounder"

You can catch small mullet just inside the cut anchor in front of the jetty, easy peasy

Some of my mates livebait along the boulder bank using 6lb KY's and do OK on Kingis

Originally Posted by Maca49

He meant to say "For Flounder"

Snapper and Kings Maca and anything else likely to take a live bait..... those fish with a target on the side take live baits dont they?

Originally Posted by mikee

You can catch small mullet just inside the cut anchor in front of the jetty, easy peasy

Some of my mates livebait along the boulder bank using 6lb KY's and do OK on Kingis

Hook size and how are they hooked up? any sinker?

Originally Posted by veitnamcam

Hook size and how are they hooked up? any sinker?

10/0 hooked thru the back under a small balloon, no sinker. I have also tried mullet livies out front of Okiwi trying to catch my favourite species (JD) and still trying not caught one yet

Most fish will eat another fish 10%their own weight was the rule of thumb we would use. 5lb kahawhai would be targeted for 50lb+ kingi's and Marlin for example. Some fish are more resilient than others for live bait. Piper were atrocious but koheru and kahawhai awesome. Smaller mackerels and the like were best hooked through the nose. I had best results with larger bait hooked in the scruff of the neck inline and just forward of the dorsal. I never liked the hook laying horizontally, especially hooks with an offset. 9/0 Gamakatsu's were my go to.
Let the fish take the bait before setting. They will often slam the lively and run, then turn and swallow. This would take a good 10-20 seconds at times. Most of my live baiting was surface fishing under a float (balloon). John Dories were suckers for anything on the bottom.


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So how deep are the JDs? do you use a sinker to get the bait down?

No idea what livies you have down here bro. Trick with rigging for kings is to go forward from the point of entry with the hook on the back, the kings swallow head first so you don't want the hook hindering them getting it in there mouth. Snapper just fucking wrangle them from wherever they grab em so not too much of an issue. It does change how you strike/load up though.

We use a decent size ball sinker when dropping onto pins 50+M deep. Basically count a second for each metre you want the drop to meet the school.

Drew this epic illustration for you bro

Or bridle rig em but its a lot of mucking around for bugger all gain imo

Thats a good pic cheers Gibo

Little cod are like lolly pops for JDs, almost as good as baby snapper (had to be said). JDs are hard case to catch, the rod just bends in half and if your not on to it you will think its dundees lost gumboot

Originally Posted by Gibo

Little cod are like lolly pops for JDs, almost as good as baby snapper (had to be said). JDs are hard case to catch, the rod just bends in half and if your not on to it you will think its dundees lost gumboot

I was going to put baby snaps too!


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Originally Posted by Gibo

Or bridle rig em but its a lot of mucking around for bugger all gain imo

Got a picture of that?

JD often hang around structure such as warfe piles, specially in the dark. Ambush them with a Livy suspended under a float with a decent light source shining straight at it from above.