Am I doing something wrong?

[savit]

1 hour ago, Fufu said:

Can such short sessions be productive?

Fufu

Yes,  I am land-based as well. Last weekend I caught  bream, drummer, rock cod within one hour or so. All fish well over 30 cm. It's nothing comparing to what you may catch in a boat, however at a fraction of a cost. The window  of opportunity in the conditions that I fish usually lasts about 1 hour, so there is no point to me to stay another hour unless I just want to relax.

If I am lazy and bring just one bait which worked well 'last time' -  I may finish with donut.

[JonD]

You can use any size trace you want without making any difference to the main line. I now live down on the south coast and use either 15 or 20lb  braid from the shore as you will struggle to more more than 5-8lb of drag pressure thorough any beach outfit. Lighter lines allows for more line capacity which is way more important for me chasing bigger species.

In the rough conditions I fish Ive found I can still catch bream as a by-catch on 10/0 hooks and 50lb traces while targeting jews.

One thing to really be careful of is how you join braid to mono, look up the fg knot on youtube as this is a very strong join.

These fish were all from Narabeen from when I lived in Sydney, Ive also taken many friends there to get them hooked into their first jew, some of which were caught in gutters less than 30m out. By the way wobbegong are now no take to rec anglers.

 

[JonD]

Theres no right or wrong to rigs and bait but this is a rather poor attempt at making a video to show the rig I use. The trace line can have any strength trace or size of hook, this is just what I use for jews and as mentioned earlier I regularly change my baits. The yellowtail are available at most Asian fish shops.

 

[blaxland]

The tackle shop at Narrabeen on Pittwater road just past the where Wakehurst parkway joins has some of the best fresh and Live bait going ans depending on whos working some excellent local knowledge

 

[savit]

Just make sure you call them in advance as they do not always work advertised hours.  

[Fufu]

On 1/14/2017 at 10:28 AM, JonD said:

You probably wouldn't find any at a seafood shop as it's not really considered a table fish due to its deep red strong tasting flesh. Most bait shops will have salted fillets in the freezer, buy minimum and use fresh fillets from the fish you catch on it.

As for fresh baits from seafood stores mullet is always a good tough bait that isn't going to fly off the hook while you cast in the dark, leaving you fishing with bare hooks without knowing. Personaly I scale mullet fillets and leave plenty of hook sticking out of the bait, if it's a thick piece of bait just put the hook through once.

I leave a bait a max of about fifteen mins and always put a fresh bait on every time I reel in even if the bait looks good, burley the bait you take off.

Yellow tail was also a good bait for Narrabeen when I used to target jewfish. As for blank nights on that beach, I can honestly say I've never had one but saying that I never fish flat calm conditions and prefer a bit of chop.

Be prepared to get spooled every now and then and hurry up back down there, I loved fishing the northern end of that beach.

 

Jon

Would yellow tail be just as effective on other beach species?

 

Fufu

[Fufu]

On 1/14/2017 at 11:00 AM, big Neil said:

That's right Fufu. Probably a good idea is to have a swivel at the end of your main line and attach the two hook paternoster rig to the swivel (bottom side). If the fish are particularly finnicky or the water is fairly clear, it will help. Don't overlook the timing though...low light times are often a big advantage. Good luck mate, looking forward to seeing your results. BN

Oh ok cheers

ill definitely make up a few paternoster rigs and I'll switch over to a lighter leader

 

Fufu

[Fufu]

On 1/14/2017 at 1:09 PM, JonD said:

You can use any size trace you want without making any difference to the main line. I now live down on the south coast and use either 15 or 20lb  braid from the shore as you will struggle to more more than 5-8lb of drag pressure thorough any beach outfit. Lighter lines allows for more line capacity which is way more important for me chasing bigger species.

In the rough conditions I fish Ive found I can still catch bream as a by-catch on 10/0 hooks and 50lb traces while targeting jews.

One thing to really be careful of is how you join braid to mono, look up the fg knot on youtube as this is a very strong join.

These fish were all from Narabeen from when I lived in Sydney, Ive also taken many friends there to get them hooked into their first jew, some of which were caught in gutters less than 30m out. By the way wobbegong are now no take to rec anglers.

 

Wow some beauties there mate

you actually caught bream on 10/0 hooks?

 

Fufu

[Fufu]

16 hours ago, blaxland said:

The tackle shop at Narrabeen on Pittwater road just past the where Wakehurst parkway joins has some of the best fresh and Live bait going ans depending on whos working some excellent local knowledge

 

Oh ok. 

I'll definitely have to check it out then 

 

Fufu

[JonD]

Yes Fufu I've caught a few bream on those big hooks and yes yellowtail was extremely effective for me on all species. I used to catch my own striped tuna from my boat which can be a little trickier to bait up as some fillets can be very thick and soft.

If I had 5-6 yellowtail left at the end of a night session I would freeze them for the next trip. Often the older smelly mushy yellowtail caught the most Jews which contradicts the myth jewfish will only take fresh bait.

[fragmeister]

For what it's worth my view is that the vey best bait is what the fish would expect to be there at the time and still alive with the next best bait being something close that's alive and the next best bait something that looks close and looks alive followed bay anything else. These are the best baits because they will generally be taken aggressively and will lead to better hookup rates.

So for whiting for example...

Fishing the beach - worms are the gun bait.

Fishing the sand flats - nippers are the gun bait 

Fishing the mud flats - blood wormsa are the gun bait.

If these baits are not working it's probably because the fish are few and far between and thats when a bait that produces its own burley like heavily scented chicken, chicken gut or pudding mix can pull the fish in from some distance.

Personally, I don,t think soaking a bait is the best approach anyway so  when using live worms I still cover a lot of ground moving up and down the beach and I slowly retrieve the bait to create  some interest and cover more ground... but still... sometimes you just hit a bad spot.

 

Hope this helps

 

Cheers 

 

Jim

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited January 15, 2017 by fragmeister

[Fufu]

2 hours ago, JonD said:

Yes Fufu I've caught a few bream on those big hooks and yes yellowtail was extremely effective for me on all species. I used to catch my own striped tuna from my boat which can be a little trickier to bait up as some fillets can be very thick and soft.

If I had 5-6 yellowtail left at the end of a night session I would freeze them for the next trip. Often the older smelly mushy yellowtail caught the most Jews which contradicts the myth jewfish will only take fresh bait.

Oh wow ok. My hooks for my beach rig at the moment is 4/0 gamagatsu bait keepers. 

I don't own a boat so unfortunately I'll have to search around for striped tuna at bait stores. Hopefully they keep some yellowtail too. The mullet I'll get from seafood stores easy. 

I find it odd that old yellow tail catch jewfish wheneverything I've ever read tells me fresh only will catch jewys. 

Fufu

[Fufu]

1 hour ago, fragmeister said:

For what it's worth my view is that the vey best bait is what the fish would expect to be there at the time and still alive with the next best bait being something close that's alive and the next best bait something that looks close and looks alive followed bay anything else. These are the best baits because they will generally be taken aggressively and will lead to better hookup rates.

So for whiting for example...

Fishing the beach - worms are the gun bait.

Fishing the sand flats - nippers are the gun bait 

Fishing the mud flats - blood wormsa are the gun bait.

If these baits are not working it's probably because the fish are few and far between and thats when a bait that produces its own burley like heavily scented chicken, chicken gut or pudding mix can pull the fish in from some distance.

Personally, I don,t think soaking a bait is the best approach anyway so  when using live worms I still cover a lot of ground moving up and down the beach and I slowly retrieve the bait to create  some interest and cover more ground... but still... sometimes you just hit a bad spot.

 

Hope this helps

 

Cheers 

 

Jim

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Are you talking about beach worms or all worms? 

If so will frozen worms from bait shops do?

l've always had good success with nippers. Really anywhere I fish. Always caught big or small. 

Why don't you like soaking bait?

Fufu

[fragmeister]

Hi Fufu,

in my view live is always best.

You certainly will experience great success with other baits depending on how hungry or numerous the fish are but live and local bait will still out fish every other bait in my experience.

Cheers 

 

Jim

 

[savit]

19 hours ago, Fufu said:

Are you talking about beach worms or all worms? 

If so will frozen worms from bait shops do?

l've always had good success with nippers. Really anywhere I fish. Always caught big or small. 

Why don't you like soaking bait?

Fufu

Frozen worms can be ok If fresh ones are not available , they are already soaked in some stuff.  Though they will not be good again if you  freeze them again.

[Fufu]

13 hours ago, fragmeister said:

Hi Fufu,

in my view live is always best.

You certainly will experience great success with other baits depending on how hungry or numerous the fish are but live and local bait will still out fish every other bait in my experience.

Cheers 

 

Jim

 

I totally agree though sometimes I find it hard to find live bait

Fufu

[Fufu]

3 hours ago, savit said:

Frozen worms can be ok If fresh ones are not available , they are already soaked in some stuff.  Though they will not be good again if you  freeze them again.

Sounds like it's not the best option though

Fufu

[Fufu]

3 hours ago, noelm said:

Use as good a worm as you can get, I don't like those red tinted ones much, but live is best, I personally would give fish flesh a miss for a while, use worms and fish for simple fish like Whiting first up, easy to in the daytime, no night time stuff needed just yet.

Any suggestions to where I can get live bait?

I live in Kensington and as far as I know only kyeemagh and Drummoyne bait shops are closest to me which stock live bait. I know kyeemagh doesn't have live beach or blood worms. Not too sure about Drummoyne

Fufu

[Scratchie]

Fufu,

I think a lot of raiders have given some time and a lot of knowledge to your post. I recommend you go out and try the advice that has been given and report back on your experiences! 

Cheers scratchie!!! 

[Fufu]

5 minutes ago, Scratchie said:

Fufu,

I think a lot of raiders have given some time and a lot of knowledge to your post. I recommend you go out and try the advice that has been given and report back on your experiences! 

Cheers scratchie!!! 

Cheers 

Thank you for everyone who has contributed 

Some great advice

Thanks again

Fufu