Salted garfish as a bait

[savit]

HI All

Just wondering what's your opinion on salted garfish as a bait.

I tried them several times - very-very mixed results.

Thanks.

[savit]

No-one used them?

[onearmedfisho]

they are a great bait mate

[savit]

On 5/19/2017 at 1:31 PM, onearmedfisho said:

they are a great bait mate

Thank you onearmedfisho.

[REELCRAZY]

Garfish is my number 1 bait for kings landbased mate, I even downrig them dead in my yak. I have been spinning gars off the rocks for around 3 years and have hooked many many kings on them, multiple ones over a metre. Google "ballyhoo rig for trolling for marlin" and have a look at a few ways to rig for spinning. Have had a lot of luck downrigging them in areas like Long reef. Tailor, Mack tuna and salmon live them too 

[savit]

17 hours ago, REELCRAZY said:

Garfish is my number 1 bait for kings landbased mate, I even downrig them dead in my yak. I have been spinning gars off the rocks for around 3 years and have hooked many many kings on them, multiple ones over a metre. Google "ballyhoo rig for trolling for marlin" and have a look at a few ways to rig for spinning. Have had a lot of luck downrigging them in areas like Long reef. Tailor, Mack tuna and salmon live them too

Thanks REELCRAZY. I noticed that they are good for landbased fishing off rocks and I preffer them to salted pilchards (unless I have live bait). Though, for some reason, for night beach/rock/estuary landbased fishing - pilchards are more productive than garfish for me.  

Do you use 1 or 2 hooks in gar ballyhoo rig? Do you use weight for the casting distance? How do you retrieve them when spinning?  What rig skirt color do you prefer (if you use them)?

 

[REELCRAZY]

2 hours ago, savit said:

Thanks REELCRAZY. I noticed that they are good for landbased fishing off rocks and I preffer them to salted pilchards (unless I have live bait). Though, for some reason, for night beach/rock/estuary landbased fishing - pilchards are more productive than garfish for me.  

Do you use 1 or 2 hooks in gar ballyhoo rig? Do you use weight for the casting distance? How do you retrieve them when spinning?  What rig skirt color do you prefer (if you use them)?

 

I use a small barrel sinker running on main line with a white skirt. Use two hooks on big gars and one on smaller fish. The big gars can be over 100g ea so a rod with a heavy cast weight is best for spinning. I use a PE 4-6  8 foot 2" Popping rod with a 220g cast weight with 80lb line. I work them just like a stick bait 

[Yowie]

Reelcrazy,

If you have a bag of gars like that, I would be eating them in preference using them for bait for kings, etc. Good eating.

Savit,

When I was a teenager (quite a few years ago) we used gars from the beach for tailor, and other fish would have a go at them - flatties, salmon, and some big bream up to the 1.5 kg mark.

Used a 3 gang rig of 4/0 hooks, 4 ganged hooks if the gars were rather large. Pillies were not used in those days, only gars that were bought fresh. A bit of salt will keep them longer these days, so try that idea.

[savit]

Thank you, guys.

REELCRAZY, I hope to try gars spinning soon.

Yowie, did you use those gars under float, unweighted or with paternoster/running sinker?

[Yowie]

16 hours ago, savit said:

Thank you, guys.

REELCRAZY, I hope to try gars spinning soon.

Yowie, did you use those gars under float, unweighted or with paternoster/running sinker?

Unweighted using a 12 foot beach rod and Alvey side cast reel. Gars used from the beaches and sometimes the rocks.

With a bit of experience, you could cast an unweighted gar nearly as far as using a sinker, the gar would slowly sink and you would use a slow and jerky retrieve. When the tailor were on, they would grab the gar as soon as it hit the water.

With no sinker, the gars would eventually be washed back into shore by the waves, or sideways in a strong current. Occasionally used a small sinker directly above the hook if a bit of current about, Casting a gar into strong winds meant using a sinker, but if a strong wind was blowing onto the shore, I would not bother fishing.

A float is handy from the rocks as it means less casting out, and the float bouncing about from the waves gives the gar a bit of movement in the water.

[savit]

1 hour ago, Yowie said:

Unweighted using a 12 foot beach rod and Alvey side cast reel. Gars used from the beaches and sometimes the rocks.

With a bit of experience, you could cast an unweighted gar nearly as far as using a sinker, the gar would slowly sink and you would use a slow and jerky retrieve. When the tailor were on, they would grab the gar as soon as it hit the water.

With no sinker, the gars would eventually be washed back into shore by the waves, or sideways in a strong current. Occasionally used a small sinker directly above the hook if a bit of current about, Casting a gar into strong winds meant using a sinker, but if a strong wind was blowing onto the shore, I would not bother fishing.

A float is handy from the rocks as it means less casting out, and the float bouncing about from the waves gives the gar a bit of movement in the water.

Thanks again Yowie.

What is suggested max line weight rating for casting unweighted gars with alvey for beaches

[Yowie]

I use mono, not braid, as a lot of my fishing up river is with handlines.

I use 12 pound off the beach, 15 pound if you can find a mono with a thin diameter. For the rocks, 20 pound as you have to lift fish up a bit of height.

The beaches are not too bad for grabbing a fish and lifting it out, such as salmon or smaller jews. A heavier trace of 30 pound mono will be easier to lift the fish out by the trace rather than grabbing it.

I have lifted salmon on 12 pound mono off the rocks, but had a few heavier ones bust off so now use 15 pound. In difficult rock terrain with a bit of lifting, 30 pound might be needed.

The heavier line you go, the less casting distance you may have.

Some fishos use 40 or 50 pound off the rocks, good for kingies, but if you snag the rocks with 50 pound line, breaking the line is not easy.

[REELCRAZY]

On 25/05/2017 at 7:56 PM, Yowie said:

Reelcrazy,

If you have a bag of gars like that, I would be eating them in preference using them for bait for kings, etc. Good eating.

Savit,

When I was a teenager (quite a few years ago) we used gars from the beach for tailor, and other fish would have a go at them - flatties, salmon, and some big bream up to the 1.5 kg mark.

Used a 3 gang rig of 4/0 hooks, 4 ganged hooks if the gars were rather large. Pillies were not used in those days, only gars that were bought fresh. A bit of salt will keep them longer these days, so try that idea.

Ha ha, they do taste great yowie. I am a chef so I order garfish through my suppliers and salt them down and freeze them in vac pack bags. I have about 10kg at the moment in my freezer at work. The garfish season can be a bit unpredictable so I always make sure I have a good supply so come December I have some to spin off the rocks as they don't usually turn up to February. This year was a bit quiet for garfish so I stocked up when they were available.

Edited May 27, 2017 by REELCRAZY