Butterflied Yakka

[GK510]

G'day Raiders,

I have been trying to nail my first jewie lately using various baits and rigs. Yakkas have been my main bait and I have had a couple of good hits and a bust off just this morning.

I often have to pre catch my yakkas which obviously means that they aren't always live. After doing much research on the forums, I noticed many people referring to using butterflied yakkas as jewie bait but I couldn't find a picture or diagram af a butterfly filleted yakka.

Would anyone be kind enough to explain how this is done, or even better, post up a diagram/picture? I would also like to know how people rig butterflied yakkas. Single hook? Two hook rig? or otherwise?

I am usually landbased and I have a bit of trouble with rigging larger baits. That is, when I cast them out, they often bunch up on the hook/hooks or sometimes even come off completely. Is there a way that you can stop a two hook sliding snell rig from bunching up when casting? Or should I be using a different rig all together?

Gee.....so many questions

Any thoughts or opinions would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers

Graham

[the1murph]

hey mate ive only ever done this a few times so im not sure if its right.... what I do is cut basically a fillet starting from the tail and moving towards the head but dont cut it of then repeat it on the other then i remove the middle section with all the bones so it makes a yakka head with two fillet wings and i just put a single hook straight threw that hard cartlige bit in the head

not sure if its right but it worked got a few hits but didnt hook up (couldve been sharks?)

Hope it helped

Jack

[Kirks]

hey Graham

Butterflying the Yakka

To butterfly a yakka or a yellowtail, start near the tail cut up towards the head, as if you where taking a fillet off but don't cut the fillet off, repeat this process on the other side. now you should have two fillets dangling of the head. Next thing you do is in between the two flaps there will be the spine of the fish,cut that out and throw it away. Now you will have a head and two flaps dangling off the head. Done.

Rigging the Yakka

For this rig i like two hooks snelled together so that the top one slides up and down the leader. To rig the yakka put the top hook (one closest to you) side ways through the nose of the fish. I like the bottom hook to just flap in the current but it shouldn't snag. Lastly because you're top hook slides pull the leader so that the bottom hook is in the middle of the flapping fillet.

All done

Steve

Edited June 15, 2008 by Kirkby

[Rhino2099]

To butterfly a yakka you simply cut from the tail up the back bone(like a reverse of filleting) on both sides of the fish then cut through the back bone up behind the head and you are left with a head and two fillets still intact.

To rig a butterflied yakka I use a sliding snell with a Gamakatsu 9/0 at the bottom and a 4/0 that is sliding, important to make the snell around the hook shank and leader tight to stop the hook from wanting to slide too easily.

I put the smaller snelled hook through the nose of the yakka(pinning the mouth shut) and the main hook through one fillet about half way down the yakka.

By the way where were you fishing this morning ?

Cheers Ryan

[Chris 55]

it should look like this with the frame removed

[GK510]

Thanks for the replies people. I will have to give this a crack next time.

I have been using a paternoster style rig and varying the size of the sinker depending on current/wind etc. Main line to a three way swivel, sinker off the bottom of the swivel and about 1 metre of leader to a two hook sliding snell rig. Is this suitable for a butterflied yakka? Or should I look at using something else to let the bait float around a bit more? I guess this would all depend on the location and conditions?

By the way where were you fishing this morning ?

Cheers Ryan

I was fishing down under Roseville Bridge, but right up the end as far as you can drive from about 8am till Midday. I had a whole yakka out for most of the time I was there and it was only just before I was going to leave that something took it and went for a good run. I started to pull him before he went for another run. I resisted the urge to tighten the drag as I have had a number of bust offs from doing this in the past. Slowly but surely I reeled him in and surprisingly it didn't feel that weighty. Perhaps he was swimming towards me??? It was only when he got to the edge of where it drops off and saw the shallow water that he went nuts and busted me off. I got a slight glimpse of him and it looked quite large, 70 - 80cms at a guess. Otherwise, I only got a couple of undersize bream.

Another bloody "One that got away" story. I'm getting sick of these I have been busted off by something large on my last three outings. Looks like I may have up the stakes a little so I can whip some jewie arse

Cheers

Graham

[Davemmm]

I dont see the need to cut the frame out. If you simply "fillet" one side, that will be left flapping in the breeze. Leave the tail and frame and the little bit of gut intact and push your bottom hook through it.

Same bait but with a bit of firmer body to hold your hook.

Not sure wether this is right but it works for me.

dave