Rigs/bait Presentation Using Pink Nippers

[monch]

Hey guys, went for a fish with some pink nippers i bought today and whilst they got alot of attention by the fish, didn't get many hookups. The pickers moved in quick and ripped my nippers up quick smart. Read bold print if your lazy.

I want to now ask for your opinions/suggestions on how you rig your nippers.

Ie sinker or no sinker? Trace between sinker and hook, or no trace?

I was using a single smallish hook with a very small running sinker down to the hook. Would you guys prefer a trace of some distance to allow the fish to take the nipper without feeling weight? Weight for me didn't seem like a problem, the problem was that the nipper was so delicate, the fish would peck at it and pull the nipper apart.

Any tips on threading the hook through the nipper, all the ways i tried somehow ended up with the fish stealing my bait. Should i bother with trying a 2 hook rig with 2 very small hooks?

I was drifting the bait down to the bottom with a small sinker, and slack line in about 3m of water with a light current and the nipper would be gone b4 it reached the bottom. I would be watching the line following the bait down and hoping for a run in which i would tighten up and strike. Most fish just pecked at the bait on the way down which was hardly distinguishable in my braid. So i was thinking i was giving too much time for the fish to eat the bait.

I then tried drifting the nipper down on a tighter line and holding the line in between my fingers to feel the bites, most seemed like aggressive strikes yet i guessed they were missing the hook.

So, slack line and wait for the run, or tight line to feel all the bites and hookup straight away?

Finally, is there any way to hook the nipper to keep it alive yet on the hook firmly so that it does not get pulled apart?

Thanks for you help

[Davemmm]

I generally use a 2/0 hook on about a metre trace and a light sinker.

I bring the hook in through the tail follow the body aroung and then out just behind the head section. This isnt ideal as they cant actively move around but they stay on the hook and still have a bit of movement.

I have fished with blokes who insist on just pinning the til of nippers so they can still "swim" around. I havent noticed any marked difference in the catch rate but they do use a hell of a lot more bait.

If your bait isnt getting to the bottom wothout the peckers ripping it to shreds I can only suggest move to another spot.

Dave

[rooster]

half hitch line to the tail

[johnny doi]

i agree with both davemmm & rooster.putting the hook through the way davemmm mentioned,& with a half hitch like rooster suggested around the tail has done the job for me wen i do use them for bait.the only thing i do different is the hook size.i generally use a size4 to 2/0 in either longshanked ,baitholder or suicide pattern,depending on the size of nippers.

light sinkers or unweighted if theres minimal current,& long leaders is the way i present them.when i use them im usually targeting whiting,bream or flatties.iv had some good catches of bream & whiting using nippers in the harbour at peir 1.id suggest if there are too many pickers around,move along & find a new spot.im not sure cos iv never bought them b4,[always pump them],but im pretty sure that thyre not the cheapest of baits you can get.so if your loosing too many baits to pickers,just move along somewhere else.

hope this helps.

johnny.

[Dangas]

id use size 2 to 1/0 hook thru hard tail section so it stays alive and moves around otherwise pinning thru body can kill it then youd might as well use peeled prawn baits.

use 1-1.5m trace and ball sinker to get it to bottom. a good fish will hook itself. if ur constantly getting bites and no hookups then its time to move ... prob just a school of pinkies around.

[eagle ray]

2 nippers at a time

[The Iceman]

A very effective way of fishing live nippers and live prawns is to suspend them under a small bobbycork fished over weedbeds I used to use No 4 baitholder hooks for nippers and No 2s for prawns

Thread the hook through a couple of notches in the tail then halfhitch the leader around the tail

4lb or 6lb leaders and a splitshot 6in above the hook Set the depth of the float so that the splitshot is just brushing the top of the weedbed Big tides especially around the new moon are best

[Davemmm]

I did a bit of experimentation last week over a couple of sessions with a couple of buckets of nippers.

I used a few different hooks and tried to work out which would keep the nipper looking better and still alive the best.

I used 2/0, 1/0 suicide, a couple of different size longshanks, a 1/0 widegape and a couple of different sized circle hooks. Some were barbed (baitholders) and others not.

The one I found to be the best is a number one aberdeen pattern. It has a long non-barbed shank with a straight hook (no offset) and seems the perfect size to bring through the nippers body and out before the head. A half hitch kept the nipper tail up. After a decent length drift this pattern hook was the one that still had the nipper intact and alive the most times.

It wasnt a real scientific experiment I know and I still caught fish with the other hooks but I think this hook may become my weapon of choice with nippers.

Dave