live Baiting

[brecko90]

Hey everyone, been fishing pitwater and broken bay a bit in the past but havent been having the best of results, im thinking it could be my baits, on my two bigger rods with 30lb braid and 40 lb leader im running live yakkas which i have found to be easy to catch, i have tried for squid but not sure if im in the right area or am using the correct technique, so was hoping i could get a little bit of guidance of location and technique, ive been collecting my yakkas from west head just with bread as burly and a bait jig, the yakkas have been quite big tho of late and im wondering if that could lead to fewer strikes? any help would be appreciated .

[ginko]

you might be using too big yakkas- I find the ones at west head easy to come by, but pretty big, and I have had very limited success with such big bait fish. Try hitting some likely looking spots further up, or just being more selective on the yakkas you keep. In my experience, the smaller the better, unless you plan to eat them yourself. (they are excellent sashimi and taste very nice baked too).

Try using squid strips. You can buy decent squid at bait shops on condamine road and pittwater road. Much easier and more reliable than catching! That said, there are squid at west head occasionally, and sometimes pretty deep at Barrenjoey or off Sand Point.

It will take about 3-4 days for the system to clear up after the huge storm. You might get some jewfish in the interim on some smelly bait (mackerel?)

Hope that helps.

[The Poacher]

Hi there,

Pittwater gets hammered by pro fishers, so is not reliable for kings anymore. The yellowtail could also catch Jews in the broken bay, but I wouldn't have thought size was the big issue. They move around a bit, ESP with this rain. Keep trying, big fish aren't that easy in heavily fished areas.

The poacher

[lostproperty]

If you Wana chase Jews try butterfly filleting the yakka but for kings you can't go past fresh squid don't bother buying it If ur after kings, even fresh caught harbour squid is no good when frozen and used 2 weeks later they're too fussy !

[brecko90]

you might be using too big yakkas- I find the ones at west head easy to come by, but pretty big, and I have had very limited success with such big bait fish. Try hitting some likely looking spots further up, or just being more selective on the yakkas you keep. In my experience, the smaller the better, unless you plan to eat them yourself. (they are excellent sashimi and taste very nice baked too).

Try using squid strips. You can buy decent squid at bait shops on condamine road and pittwater road. Much easier and more reliable than catching! That said, there are squid at west head occasionally, and sometimes pretty deep at Barrenjoey or off Sand Point.

It will take about 3-4 days for the system to clear up after the huge storm. You might get some jewfish in the interim on some smelly bait (mackerel?)

Hope that helps.

how would i go about getting mackerel?? and with the squid is it just a matter of hunting round for them?? i might have to head out and buy some decent squid jigs i think!