Dave_ Posted January 27, 2014 Share Posted January 27, 2014 G'day Raiders, I've heard from a few different sources now that some experienced jew and king fishos belive sweep to be a gun live bait. We all know that sometimes yakkas and slimeys can be hard to come by but there's always an abundance of these annoying little buggers. What I'd like to know is has anyone actually tried them and had any success? A bloke put me onto using silver biddys and they are an awesome bait for jew and kings but I'm not sure about sweep. Cheers, Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rockfisherman Posted January 27, 2014 Share Posted January 27, 2014 The answer is No. For kings at least. Harry If it's to good to be true, it usually is... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bharris Posted January 27, 2014 Share Posted January 27, 2014 kings love sweep been on the rocks and thats the only livie to go off with live squid and tiny slimy not even getting touched trim the fins down to slow them up abit Sent from my GT-S7500T using Tapatalk 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rockfisherman Posted January 27, 2014 Share Posted January 27, 2014 kings love sweep been on the rocks and thats the only livie to go off with live squid and tiny slimy not even getting touched trim the fins down to slow them up abit Sent from my GT-S7500T using Tapatalk 2 They love sweep? Hmmm ok. I've used them out of desperation half a dozen times, even tried Mado... They didn't even get their eye balls eaten out by squid. Harry If it's to good to be true, it usually is... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bharris Posted January 27, 2014 Share Posted January 27, 2014 dont bother with mados Sent from my GT-S7500T using Tapatalk 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Linc Posted January 27, 2014 Share Posted January 27, 2014 I've tried them twice and not had any hits, they are OK as strip bait to catch yakkas tho when they are around Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scratchie Posted January 27, 2014 Share Posted January 27, 2014 Hey Dave, Caught a million of them and never used one. Never heard of them being good for anything. I think with live baiting, the usual bait will do the trick. It's more about time and effort and the rewards will come! Cheers scratchie!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimT Posted January 27, 2014 Share Posted January 27, 2014 I think it's more the case of if you are that desperate to use them as a livie then the target fish may be that desperate for a feed Jim... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jordy Posted January 27, 2014 Share Posted January 27, 2014 Used to target John Dory with Sweep and they worked better than Yakkas.Why not give them a go the Bi-catch could be mouth watering. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wish2fish Posted January 27, 2014 Share Posted January 27, 2014 Hey guys, I've always thrown sweep back in until recently. A mate of mine said they make good sashimi. He caught one last time we were fishing together and he happened to have the soy sauce with him. He prepped one up there and then, and it was good. I have since tried them cooked and they are good too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
macca02 Posted January 27, 2014 Share Posted January 27, 2014 I've heard things of sweep being good livies, but if you can get yakkas/slimies then definetley chose them over sweep. BUT if you can't get anything better, then a livebait in the water is better than none. I've had a rat king eat some sort of reef fish that got hooked on my bait jig. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Linc Posted January 28, 2014 Share Posted January 28, 2014 (edited) Hey guys, I've always thrown sweep back in until recently. A mate of mine said they make good sashimi. He caught one last time we were fishing together and he happened to have the soy sauce with him. He prepped one up there and then, and it was good. I have since tried them cooked and they are good too. They are definitely good cooked, it's just a matter of catching one that's big enough to make it worth your while. never tried sashimi sweep, might have to give it a shot next time the bigger ones are around For cooking them I've always filleted them and done them in crumbs/batter, not sure how they'd go whole as they can have a dark stomach lining like garfish but harder to clean out. Edited January 28, 2014 by Linc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davebrewer Posted January 28, 2014 Share Posted January 28, 2014 I think this idea gained some currency about 20 years ago when Steve Starling did an article for I believe Fishing World extolling the virtues of sweep for jewies.I read somewhere that they target them off the rocks in Victoria. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Krispy ! Posted January 28, 2014 Share Posted January 28, 2014 A few months back I was cleaning a kingy and it had 7-8 sweep in its gut. I would still use squid and slimies over sweep but kings will eat what is available at the time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave_ Posted January 28, 2014 Author Share Posted January 28, 2014 (edited) The main reason I asked was the other day I spent hours trying to get yakkas and I got everything but. First sweep after sweep after sweep, then baby snapper, more sweep, 2 bloody 30cm silver trevally, a thousand sweep again, a friggin salmon and then a banded morwong all on the bait jig, crazy ay? I hardly ever have much trouble getting livies but that was a crazy day! Hours passed and I did end up with 3 yakkas and a slimy but then it flogged down rain haha! Seems like people have mixed opinions on the old sweep. I might give one a sneaky go next time. Thanks for the replies. Edited January 28, 2014 by Dave_ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hookerbruce Posted January 28, 2014 Share Posted January 28, 2014 A few years ago I was fishing near Jibbon Bomie catching sweep and trevally on light tackle ( a 800gm sweep goes hard on a 1kg outfit) and had a marlin come up to the back of the boat and take a sweep off my line. Another time fishing with a smaller hook and a piece of prawn and landed a 10 kg king on a 4kig outfit I was very pleased. When I cleaned the king later in the day I discovered the king had actually swallowed a sweep which had eaten the prawn bait. The sweep was actually wedged in the kings stomach with the hook in the sweep's mouth. If I had the choice I would use a slimey, yakka or pike before a sweep. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Linc Posted January 28, 2014 Share Posted January 28, 2014 just read they are apparently great samsonfish bait... not sure how many if those frequent these parts tho Sent from my GT-I9300T using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AGP Posted January 29, 2014 Share Posted January 29, 2014 Yep and Snapper make great Dory bait LOL! I was fishing a reef off Broken Bay a few years ago. We were catching stacks of big silver trevally and some nice plate size snapper. So I hook something smallish then while im fighting it I feel a bang! Big heavy weight that I had to drag up 100feet. To our suprise there sits a 62cm John Dory with a pinkie snapper wedged in its mouth! Still the biggest Dory iv'e ever seen and boy did he cook up well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spaners Posted January 29, 2014 Share Posted January 29, 2014 My mates PB Bream came from a side of Sweep on a4/0 hook destined for a Jew at West Head bait ground. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wish2fish Posted January 29, 2014 Share Posted January 29, 2014 West head? Where's that?? Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cobba Posted January 29, 2014 Share Posted January 29, 2014 West head? Where's that?? http://www.nationalparks.nsw.gov.au/Ku-ring-gai-Chase-National-Park/West-Head/lookout Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paikea Posted February 1, 2014 Share Posted February 1, 2014 Pike are a top live bait, they seem to exude an odour that attracts predators. I would always use them in preference to anything else except squid. Cheers Paikea Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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