MaccaPoint Matty Posted October 13, 2008 Share Posted October 13, 2008 Hey raiders... Went for a late afternoon fish on saturday in the new boat - had the onboard so it was only a short trip to try find a few flatties for dinner.. Thought we would do a few drifts from Grotto pt down towards clontaf - After a couple of drifts and only a few small snapper my brother pulls in a nice sized pilchard - first thought - put him down as a live bait... After a while nothing had touched it but noticed a few more pilchards were coming into the burley trail so thought I would pick a few up for bait for my next fishing trip... Well before I know it we were right in the middle of a school that were going crazy and jumping out of the water all around the boat.. I knew something must of been chasing them and tried everything to hook whatever they were up - I put down a live bait again, tried a strip bait, squid, jigs, flicked a few lures even threw the kitchen sink at them but nothing... Firstly, am I correct thinking that something big would of been chasing them if they were jumping out of the water or is this normal for a school of pilchards..???? – Nothing big was showing on the sounder and I couldn’t really see anything chasing them.. Even though we didnt get to christen the new boat with a keeper it was awsome fun sitting in the middle of a school of fish going nuts... oh and a few on a nice afternoon.. No pics of the pilchards but lets just say I have enough to last me a few trips... Hope everyone else had a good weekend.. Cheers, MPM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Josh88 Posted October 13, 2008 Share Posted October 13, 2008 Thats a bit odd. Haven't seen pilchards caught other than by net before....interesting. It does seem like a kingy or something may of been trying to herd them up but why you didn't see anything bigger or feeding makes it even more weird. Thought it was a bit early for the pillies, should hopefully mean plenty of pelgaic action Josh Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
southerly Posted October 13, 2008 Share Posted October 13, 2008 Yes pilchards can be caught on jigs and bait as per yakkas. Yes they can jump on the surface just for the heck of it. If they are doing it with out being chased a few fish go up in pretty random paterns or widely over an area, if somethign it chasing they have much more direction as they move away from the predator. Great to hear some decent bait scholls starting to show up in the harbour. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Day's Fishin Posted October 13, 2008 Share Posted October 13, 2008 Pilies on line,never seen that befor.Are they any better fresh at staying in one piece on the hook? Regards Jeff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zen801 Posted October 14, 2008 Share Posted October 14, 2008 I have been catching the odd one inside MH in the last few weeks. They go ballistic once on board and throw scales. Great to keep and butterfly at a later time when predators are around. The bait schools have been awesome lately. No real bigger fish following them though. When you come across a bait ball of them - stock up mate. Cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cbietola Posted October 14, 2008 Share Posted October 14, 2008 we got some on sat morning in MH on believe it or not 3 inch plastics Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
werris Posted October 14, 2008 Share Posted October 14, 2008 Years back I was fishing North Harbour from the shores around Davis Marina, when out of the blue small frog mouth pilchard started going crazy in the water, beaching themselves etc. So I re-rigged and started picking up the pilchards from around my feet and started using them for bait. About 2 hours later I had a good bucketful of keeper Tailor, Bream and Flathead. It was crazy, so much fun. I didn't catch any Bream or Flathead till the sun went down...the Tailor went off around sunset, and that's when I started nailing the Bream and Flathead. Very lucky day. I've never repeated it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MaccaPoint Matty Posted October 14, 2008 Author Share Posted October 14, 2008 Your right there CFD - I put a few in the live tank and they kicked the bucket not long after - And yeah it took me ages to clean all the scales off the boat floor... Oh well, i have saved myself a few $$$ for bait next time so worth it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mangonui Posted October 14, 2008 Share Posted October 14, 2008 The best way to use them as live bait is to just hook them through the nasal passage with a 7/0 suicide , the hook up rate is probaly half but in my opinion there is no better livebait for kingfish ,i have caught kingis back in NZ over 60 pound with them and the odd big snapper as well,they generally dont last more than about 10-15 mins in the water before they are dead but in my experience they usually get smashed before then anyway. Well done getting onto some I havent caught any since I have been fishing here in the last 10 years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MaccaPoint Matty Posted October 14, 2008 Author Share Posted October 14, 2008 Hey Shadow I was just floating a tiny piece of squid down and evey drop was a hook up - they were good fun on the hand line - jumping everywhere... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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