KINGvirgin Posted March 12, 2007 Share Posted March 12, 2007 Just a thought.. i've been reading recently alot of pelagics have been found stuffed full of whitebait and frogmouth pillies... Is whitebait a worthwhile bait to try, or would it need to be alive to hold any hope? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
james1990 Posted March 12, 2007 Share Posted March 12, 2007 I use whitebait thats frozen from your local tackle shop Caught my biggest 65cm flatty a few tailor over 40cm Some big flounder, snapper, shovel nose sharks,, bream, whiting an array of species all on whitebait. cheers james Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the bream Posted March 12, 2007 Share Posted March 12, 2007 how do u keep whitebait frozen and how do u rig it?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slothe Posted March 12, 2007 Share Posted March 12, 2007 I have used ganged mustad 77662 in appropriate sizes [three or four to a gang] for several years and have caught many personal bests using them.The rig can get you quite a mixed bag at times which is all good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trentski Posted March 12, 2007 Share Posted March 12, 2007 I have had good luck with whitebait and frogmouth pillies (I prefer frogmouth if available) but never on the pelagics, more with Bream and Flathead. If you want to catch the pelagics your probably better to match the hatch with lures. You know that if the pelagics are working a school of whitebait there will be other fish picking up the scraps beneath them. As for rigging whitebait and frogmouth I make up a set of gangs with the Mustad Saltwater hooks in size 4. You might want slightly larger hooks for bigger whitebait. Gang three or four of them together. Make up a mix of three and four hooks so you can use them on varying sized whitebait. When ganging them do it the same as a pilchard with the hook closest to the line going through the eye of whitebait. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
livo Posted March 12, 2007 Share Posted March 12, 2007 Just a thought.. i've been reading recently alot of pelagics have been found stuffed full of whitebait and frogmouth pillies... Is whitebait a worthwhile bait to try, or would it need to be alive to hold any hope? Me and the old man once bagged out on Tailor when they started chasing Whitebait up onto the sand. We just started picking up one or two and putting them on sets of by 4/0 gangs one per hook and basically dropping them back into the water. It was too easy. For flatties I thread a long shank hook right through the eye socket and pull it right through so that the actual leader line is through the bait. Then hook the gap of the hook back through the bait at the point where the hook will lay flat along the bait fish body so the hook eye is next to the eye socket. Usually pretty secure and castable. I've used little bluebait in frozen packets lately and the flatties and tailor and reds all ate them pretty well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcownage Posted March 12, 2007 Share Posted March 12, 2007 i find frozen white bait too soft i always loose it as soon as it thaws i cant cast it gang and all Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
varos1911 Posted March 18, 2007 Share Posted March 18, 2007 How big are these whitebait's if use are using them on gang hooks? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest IFishSick. Posted March 18, 2007 Share Posted March 18, 2007 The whitebait fish are not very big at all, they must have very small ganged hooks. The usual size is about 5 to 7cm, I will be using some in the near future in the hope of Frigates as these metals and soft plastics aren't working for me. I would suggest a 2/0 circle hook. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
livo Posted March 18, 2007 Share Posted March 18, 2007 How big are these whitebait's if use are using them on gang hooks? The ones we were using on gangs were about 5 cm long and still alive but we didn't actually use the gang hooks as you normally would. We were simply putting one whitebait on each of a couple of the hooks (2 or 3) as we picked them up off the sand at the waters edge. The Tailor were chasing them onto the sand. It was just so we didn't have to re rig and the fish ate them like that so it worked that way on the day. Very unorthodox method of baiting I know. I think the other post was suggesting small hooks ganged. You can gang up any hooks you want by opening the eyes and then closing them back up on each other. Special tools / pliers exist to do this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveD Posted March 18, 2007 Share Posted March 18, 2007 Ive had a little trouble keeping it on the hook too, my best was was to get the hook in and under the head. Seemed like the hardest bit of the whitebait. Even then, frozen or not frozen whitebait has always seemed a little soft for me. Didn't stop me from gettin my first kingy off it yesterday tho Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcownage Posted March 19, 2007 Share Posted March 19, 2007 How big are these whitebait's if use are using them on gang hooks? they where small i made it to try and hold the bait on thought it might work but gave up and havnt bought any witebait in years Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davy Posted March 19, 2007 Share Posted March 19, 2007 use the whitebait imitation in the gillies range, they work just as well! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest IFishSick. Posted March 19, 2007 Share Posted March 19, 2007 I like that lure but my local tackles shop hasn't had any in the last 3 weeks after I got bitten off and lost it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
james1990 Posted March 19, 2007 Share Posted March 19, 2007 I like that lure but my local tackles shop hasn't had any in the last 3 weeks after I got bitten off and lost it. im sure wattos and fishfinder sells them to, take a look. I use these lures with great success. cheers james Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
douglas Posted March 19, 2007 Share Posted March 19, 2007 Just a thought.. i've been reading recently alot of pelagics have been found stuffed full of whitebait and frogmouth pillies... Is whitebait a worthwhile bait to try, or would it need to be alive to hold any hope? In the estuaries they're great. If you can get get any 'action discs (a great idea) simply put a whitbait on a long shank hook with an action disc over top and this is deadly on flatties. Pull or drift this bait ever so slowly and this is a deadly teqnique. If your not sure exactly what action discs are visit http://www.wigglefin.com. Hope this is of help. Dougy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
choad Posted March 19, 2007 Share Posted March 19, 2007 In the estuaries they're great. If you can get get any 'action discs (a great idea) simply put a whitbait on a long shank hook with an action disc over top and this is deadly on flatties. Pull or drift this bait ever so slowly and this is a deadly teqnique. If your not sure exactly what action discs are visit http://www.wigglefin.com. Hope this is of help. Dougy thanks for the link. i've never seen or heard of action discs before. where do you get them? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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