Big live baits

[krause]

Hi all, sorry, I ask to many questions....

Whilst live baiting yesterday, I hooked a 40cm salmon that got harrased at the breakwall by another fish and ended up with a few scratches. I'm pretty sure that it was just another salmon, though much bigger. It wasn't silver or green which is were everyone's mind will go I'm sure! Haha

Anyway, this isn't the first time this has happened, and I'm keen to balloon float such a bait out. However, I just wished to know how to pin the bait. I use a 6/0 for live yakka, what size hook for a foot long livie? And where and how to pin them/bridle rig them?

Cheers guys

[Saboo]

8/0 straight through the shoulder!

[Krispy !]

Probably a big kingy or even a shark or jew. You would need atleast a 10/0 circle and pin it through the nose, ive done this in New Zealand for massive kings, youd be surprised the size of salmon they could swallow.

[Crossfire63]

7/0 or 8/0 pinned just under the skin near the dorsal fin with the gape facing towards the rear.

We Rig 30cm + tailor this way on livebait sloders

[seacow]

First trip over to NZ we caught a few good salmon. I was happy with those fish (50-70cms) until they told me that this was the bait catching phase of the trip. The hooks they used looked liked they could anchor the boat in place instead. Then came the carnage - broken lines, broken rods and broken individuals.

Their words maunu nui ika nui. Translation - big bait big fish.

[krause]

Cheers guys. I don't plan on breaking anything, but I except that I may never see the hook again!

Krispy, it wasn't any of those. Wrong colors for a king or jew and it didn't take a chunk from the fish when it bit. So I don't think it was a shark either. But it was solid! I agree its weird to think it was a salmon...

[krause]

So, ive been keeping at it. Put a salmon out, didn't get a touch. Caught a missive squid (28cm hood) though f#@$ it and threw it out under balloon with two hooks in the hood. After struggling to throw it out by hand, it immediate got smashed by a nice King (~1m+). Problem was the king tore off the head and kept going. So now I know 3 hooks next time with one losely pinned in a tentacle. The hood then got harrased by smaller kings which weren't swallowing it. I retrieved it and put it into strips, got a nice just legal king

Next trip we kept the salmon for the table so I threw of a 35cm pike, it can back with a massive chunk out of the back of its neck. It sounds like squid, but I can't confirm, the tailor were around as well. We also caught a long tom. Do they go as bait or not really?

Cheers for the info guys, im learning