Lessons learned over the holidays

[Little_Flatty]

Hi Raiders,

Over the holidays I have found myself at home a lot looking after my current and future (newly arrived) fishing buddies which has seen me tinkering at home a lot. It hasn't been half bad though, as I have discovered a few fishing hacks which I thought I might share. None of this is particularly original, just tweaks on ideas that have long existed.

1. Salted bait

Like I said, not particularly original, eh? It was a revelation for me though. I salted up a number of different baits based on instructions in other posts on this forum. As those who have used salted bait will attest, it really doesn't smell much (my family didn't notice it in the fridge) and you can prep it well in advance, meaning you are always ready for an impromptu trip (happens a lot with my family). Kept in small boxes, the stuff lasts forever - the three boxes of bait below have been around since before Christmas and have been on a few hot summer trips with me and are still catching fish - including tonight! They rested in my fridge in between sessions:

Pillies and slimy mackerel slabs were two of my favourites this holidays and attracted a few good bream and a few good bustoffs (see my previous post) when fished almost unweighted around wharves on the harbour. For some reason the mackerel strips seemed to attract bites when no one else was getting any and had people enquiring as to the 'magic' bait I was using.

I also tried salting peeled Hawkesbury prawns out of curiosity and as you will see from the above pictures, they still look ok after a few weeks. I got a couple of keeper whiting on these at Bayview on a recent family trip.

Having baits cut up, preserved and ready to go has helped me make the most of my fishing time and made it a much more tidy operation.

2. Tackle Wallets

I've always been on the lookout to minimise the amount of gear I carry, especially as I have started doing more bait fishing. In addition to this, I have always had two pet peeves about the way I fish; firstly, I hate carrying spools of flurocarbon in my fishing bag because it almost always ends up in a tangled mess in my bag and secondly, I hate it when I end up throwing away perfectly good traces and leaders when I decide to change tactics. Enter the humble plastics tackle wallet and a few pieces of cardboard. Instead of several leader spools, I cut 3m lengths of 3lb, 10lb, 12lb and 20lb leaders and put them into 'pages' of my leader wallet. I also included a few pieces that had a few of my existing traces/rigs, including bait jigs:

Then I added my tiny tacklebox (which is all I need for bait fishing in my usual haunts) and my trusty braid scissors, tethered to the wallet so I never lose them:

I found this to be more than enough terminal tackle for my fishing needs, although I will admit that it was a bit unnerving to go out the first time without spools of leader...like, surely it must be possible that I'd use up a whole 50m spool in one session...right? I think in reality, I would be leaving such a session a really happy angler, but so far I have only dreamed of such sessions.

3. G-Clamp Rod Holders

Not really a fishing hack, just a product I discovered recently.

These ones are from Jarvis Walker (I think there are other brands as well) and are brilliant for shore fishing in urban areas, particularly for fishing with circle hooks as they hold the rod solidly for a good hook set upon a bite. I found them a bit hard to get a rod off in event of a hookup with the 'fish on' jitters, but it sure beats striking at the fish prematurely and losing it, or losing the whole rod if left carelessly on the wharf or shore.

Anyhow, that's all I have time for now. Hope these were interesting to some people. I enjoyed discovering them  

Mike

[kingie chaser]

Nice, it pays to be organised as if something comes along unexpectedly you have to be johnny on the spot with a change of rig.

 

Any chance sharing where you got those wallets from.

Id like to get some myself if they are cheap enough

[fragmeister]

Thanks for posting Mike.

The salted baits really are a good idea and it works a treat on all those baits that suffer badly from freezing.

Cheers

 

Jim

[Little_Flatty]

6 hours ago, kingie chaser said:

Any chance sharing where you got those wallets from.

Id like to get some myself if they are cheap enough

Hi kingie,

Site sponsors Dinga have a shimano tackle wallet here: https://www.dinga.com.au/shimano-soft-plastic-tackle-wallet.html That one is a bit fancier than what I had.

Mine is a Berkley one but there are plenty of others as well.

Mike