Bait Fish in Windy Conditions

[Jay88]

Hi All,

Hope everyones having a good week. Weather is really bad in Sydney, but that won't stop me from going out.

However, while baitfishing yesterday for yakka, they kept taking my bait as I could not hook up due to the 25km winds not allowing me to see the slack in my line straighten up.

I was wondering if there was another method I could use to catch them? e.g. Octupus Circle hooks? Floaty won't be a good idea due to the high amount of wind?

Cheers!

[Guest 4myson]

Are you using a bait jig ? If so to stop the slack in your line the sinker must be at the bottom of your bait jig ....

[Guest no one]

I'm a bit confused about why you have slack in your line?

Just use a Sabiki rig with a weight on the bottom?

[amkr]

If it was like the hacking last weekend, in the afternoon the wind picked up enough that It was blowing the line around in the air.

I had to put the rod tip down towards the water to stop the wind from carrying the line - when theres a massive arc in the line between the rod and the water you can't feel anything happening down the hook end of the line.

That might be what he's talking about?

[Jay88]

I'm a bit confused about why you have slack in your line?

Just use a Sabiki rig with a weight on the bottom?

When you keep a bit of slack near the reel, you set the hook when the line starts to tighten up. My hook up rates have increased by a lot rather than waiting for the fish to pull first. Most yellow tail, spit the hook when it feels resistance. It works for me Im pretty sure a few people here use that technique also . I dont mind the Sabiki rig. Unfortunately, don't have one with me right now.

And with high winds, like we have been having here in Sydney, hard to keep line straight when going for bait fish

Edited November 5, 2015 by Jay88

[Krispy !]

When you keep a bit of slack near the reel, you set the hook when the line starts to tighten up. My hook up rates have increased by a lot rather than waiting for the fish to pull first. Most yellow tail, spit the hook when it feels resistance. It works for me Im pretty sure a few people here use that technique also . I dont mind the Sabiki rig. Unfortunately, don't have one with me right now.

And with high winds, like we have been having here in Sydney, hard to keep line straight when going for bait fish

Jay try having your rod tip as close as you can to the surface, this would help get rid of wind resistance

[eriku]

Hand Line and use a paternoster rig with a heavier snapper lead you'll feel the bites with your hands ...

[Guest no one]

Sounds like you're making it hard on yourself! Go grab some sabikis with weights on then for $3 each. Save you a lot of time and energy by the sounds of things.

[Jay88]

Sounds like you're making it hard on yourself! Go grab some sabikis with weights on then for $3 each. Save you a lot of time and energy by the sounds of things.

Do sakibi jigs require bait? The ones I have at home, unused have this "feather" look on the hooks? Cheers

[Guest no one]

Yes, just put slithers of bait on the hooks

[Crossfire63]

Do sakibi jigs require bait? The ones I have at home, unused have this "feather" look on the hooks? Cheers

No they don't require bait but a bit of squid tentacle never hurt,

Use a couple of split shots to take the bow out of your line but don't make it so heavy that it just hangs below the boat and doesn't drift a bit

[mii11x]

Just put a bit of bait on the jigs mate.....alternatively like crossfire mentioned, use a split shot or two. Keep in mind, all types of fishing in wind is difficult. Just watch when the yellowtail takes the bait, then lift them up and out of the water

[Nolongeramember]

Hi All,

Hope everyones having a good week. Weather is really bad in Sydney, but that won't stop me from going out.

However, while baitfishing yesterday for yakka, they kept taking my bait as I could not hook up due to the 25km winds not allowing me to see the slack in my line straighten up.

I was wondering if there was another method I could use to catch them? e.g. Octupus Circle hooks? Floaty won't be a good idea due to the high amount of wind?

Cheers!

I take it you are using a normal hook and bait fishing for Yakka. I do it this way as well sometimes as the bait jigs are not always practical for some situations.

You need to anticipate and "guess" when you think a Yakka has the bait in it's mouth and give a line a soft strike lift every now and then. I do this no matter if it's windy or not as the Yakka's will sit there and suck on the bait but they will not move so you won't feel the bites. Try it!

[eriku]

Maybe it's your rod and line? are you using a graphite rod and braid?

[Mike89]

Fishing yesterday was like trying to fish a hurricane. Wind and rain blowing in my face, clothing drenched, probably caught pneumonia.

I had the same problem, managed pretty consistent bites floating for yakkas but had trouble with getting hook-ups. The slack line would increase as the wind blew the line drawing the float in closer to me meaning my strike was always too late.

Sometimes for yakkas I use very small circle hook. They might be a better bet trying to get them to hook themselves if you (like myself) don't like using the bait jigs.

As suggested in one of the posts above, it also helps in windy conditions to point your rod tip down to the water to minimise the amount of line between the tip and the water so that it can't get blown all over the place.

Edited November 5, 2015 by Mike89

[Krispy !]

Fishing yesterday was like trying to fish a hurricane. Wind and rain blowing in my face, clothing drenched, probably caught pneumonia.

I had the same problem, managed a pretty consistent bites floating for yakkas but had trouble with getting hook-ups. The slack line would increase as the wind blew the line drawing the float in closer to me meaning my strike was always too late.

Sometimes for yakkas I use very small circle hook. They might be a better bet trying to get them to hook themselves if you (like myself) don't like using the bait jigs.

As suggested in one of the posts above, it also helps in windy conditions to point your rod tip down to the water to minimise the amount of line between the tip and the water so that it can't get blown all over the place.

there you go, it was probably the float that was the problem, in windy conditions fishing with a float is pointless since it doesn't give you the bite sensitivity, if you fish unweighted or with a tiny splitshot and keep the rod tip down you will get them

[RexSenior]

Hi Jay88

Another trick you can try with rigs is reducing both the line and hook sizes. Sounds silly however the thinner the line the less drag it has in the wind / water and will look more natural to the yakkas (2lb is fine).

Regarding the smaller hooks, (size 12 - 14, super small) the idea is to create a bit of a frenzy with berley (only berleying right before you cast) and have the hook and bait look as much like the berley as possible. This way the yakkas swallow it and get hooked in the gills/ stomach instead of just biting the bait - if they are hungry they will already be hooked by the time you think about striking. what I do is use a mix of bread, finely chopped pillies and water as berley (water helps to sink the berley and makes it easier to throw where you need to). Use the same finely chopped pillies as bait, you only need a piece about 3mm square. Salted pillies will be better and the tail end is tougher and easier to work with so I use the head half in the berley mix and tail end for bait, you should get about 20 baits from the tail end after filleting.

Hope this helps!

Forgot to add, you will most likely lose a hook per fish using this method, if you can't see or remove the hook easily just cut the line as short as you can - the yakka will be fine (until a kingy jumps on it that is!)

Edited November 6, 2015 by RexSenior