Catching & using live bait (poddy mullet)

[Berrero]

Hi Raiders,

 

Have a crack of dawn fishing trip planned tomorrow down in the Woronora system. 

After seeing some live bait capture videos on youtube using juice bottles etc, and how good they can be to catch flathead, I'm eager to give it a go.

 

I started searching on google and also on the nsw fisheries site and the information wasn't exactly crystal-clear. I've got a few questions and I'd rather make sure I'm doing the right thing than get the book thrown at me.

 

I was planning on just making one of the juice bottle traps where you cut an X in the top and fold the flaps down. On the fisheries website it states that all bait traps need to have a float and ID card attached, however none of the videos did any of this. Could anyone enlighten me on this one?

I also looked up what kind of bait I can use that I catch. I'm assuming I'd get some by-catch in the trap other than poddy mullet, am I allowed to use anything else? Is it worth my time using anything else? (I'm assuming this isn't the case for both questions.)

and lastly, if I don't use all of the live bait I catch is it worthwhile taking it home and freezing as bait for next trip? Is it worth my time bringing the trap whenever I go fishing just to top up my bait in the freezer? Or are they nowhere near as effective as when live and I shouldn't waste my time?

Thanks and happy fishing

Edited April 18, 2019 by Berrero

[Welster]

I haven’t used a trap for ages but here goes with my take on it from memory. Live poddies are really good bait though. 

Crab traps have the licence info on the float.   On bait traps I write the info on the trap itself as it is just under water and I am usually close by. 

By-catch can be used as bait if it is a fish with no legal size or over the size requirement. 

If you look at the fisheries size rules you will notice you can keep poddy mullet up to 15cm for live bait.  It doesn’t mention dead or strip bait so freezing the left over is out.   From 15-30cm you are not allowed to keep them either. 

Edited April 18, 2019 by Welster

[Koalaboi]

Hi,

I gave up SPs and now use live poddies pretty much exclusively for flathead...they also catch a lot of other fish too. Fishing for flatties using live poddies, I have picked up some absolute stonker bream and yesterday a 40+cm tailor.

I have tried a number of different traps but find the cylindrical perspex ones you can buy from tackle stores easily the best. You need to be careful when opening the trap as the little plastic knobs that the plastic tabs clip over, can break easily. To remedy this, place a finger or thumb over the top of the knob as you ease the plastic tab over and off the knob.

For bait, I use a half a slice of white bread torn into two or three pieces, and a handful of breadcrumbs. I was told a little of the dried parmesan cheese that you get from the supermarket in sprinkle containers helps, but having tried it, don't particularly rate it as an improvement. The breadcrumbs are definitely a worthwhile addition as they help burley the fish. When I buy a loaf of white bread for trap bait, I dry out leftover slices in the sun so they store well.

Where I chase poddies, I find it best if there is not too much water movement and wind. A bit of sun on the water also seems to help. I place a couple of pieces of styrofoam in the trap too, to keep it near the surface. I place mine in water too deep to wade so attach them to some builders string which I wind onto a small handcast reel. Be careful throwing them in, they can slip apart if they hit the water too hard. Try to be careful winding the line back on the reel as it twists quickly, and you get tangles.

I also will leave a live poddy in the trap when I reset it as it seems to draw other fish into trap more quickly.

A live bait bucket is worth the expense, as is a good battery powered aerator. The cheap models are not worth getting as they corrode and stop working very quickly. Look for an aerator that is sealed well all around, including the on/off switch. If keeping them overnight, a 240 volt aquarium aerator will help save money on batteries.

Have also found that they live much longer if you keep them in the water from where you caught them. I have changed murky, estuarine, brackish water for fresher clean looking water from near the sea and they don't seem to like it at all.

Great bait. I fish the shallowish channels in Tuggerah Lakes and use them under a blackfish float as well as on the bottom. I prefer the float as it allows me to cover more water and find it more interesting (or less boring) than bottom fishing.

I think you are allowed a limit of 20 which is plenty for a good session.

Bycatch includes mostly undersize bream, some other tiny thing to small to put on a hook and toadfish. No bait there.

Good luck!

KB

Edited April 19, 2019 by Koalaboi

[Welster]

5 hours ago, Koalaboi said:

Hi,

I gave up SPs and now use live poddies pretty much exclusively for flathead...they also catch a lot of other fish too. Fishing for flatties using live poddies, I have picked up some absolute stonker bream and yesterday a 40+cm tailor.

I have tried a number of different traps but find the cylindrical perspex ones you can buy from tackle stores easily the best. You need to be careful when opening the trap as the little plastic knobs that the plastic tabs clip over, can break easily. To remedy this, place a finger or thumb over the top of the knob as you ease the plastic tab over and off the knob.

For bait, I use a half a slice of white bread torn into two or three pieces, and a handful of breadcrumbs. I was told a little of the dried parmesan cheese that you get from the supermarket in sprinkle containers helps, but having tried it, don't particularly rate it as an improvement. The breadcrumbs are definitely a worthwhile addition as they help burley the fish. When I buy a loaf of white bread for trap bait, I dry out leftover slices in the sun so they store well.

Where I chase poddies, I find it best if there is not too much water movement and wind. A bit of sun on the water also seems to help. I place a couple of pieces of styrofoam in the trap too, to keep it near the surface. I place mine in water too deep to wade so attach them to some builders string which I wind onto a small handcast reel. Be careful throwing them in, they can slip apart if they hit the water too hard. Try to be careful winding the line back on the reel as it twists quickly, and you get tangles.

I also will leave a live poddy in the trap when I reset it as it seems to draw other fish into trap more quickly.

A live bait bucket is worth the expense, as is a good battery powered aerator. The cheap models are not worth getting as they corrode and stop working very quickly. Look for an aerator that is sealed well all around, including the on/off switch. If keeping them overnight, a 240 volt aquarium aerator will help save money on batteries.

Have also found that they live much longer if you keep them in the water from where you caught them. I have changed murky, estuarine, brackish water for fresher clean looking water from near the sea and they don't seem to like it at all.

Great bait. I fish the shallowish channels in Tuggerah Lakes and use them under a blackfish float as well as on the bottom. I prefer the float as it allows me to cover more water and find it more interesting (or less boring) than bottom fishing.

I think you are allowed a limit of 20 which is plenty for a good session.

Bycatch includes mostly undersize bream, some other tiny thing to small to put on a hook and toadfish. No bait there.

Good luck!

KB

Interesting I have never used a trap in any more than a foot of water weighted to the bottom. 

[Koalaboi]

I set my traps in the creeks and floodways that flow into Tuggerah Lakes, sometimes from the jetties that reach out into them.

In some spots, wading out into shallow water, as you suggest, is an option but the bottom here at Long Jetty is muddy and slimy and wading into shallow water can see you knee deep in black mud quite close to shore.

In other places it is as you suggest.

I guess we all have to work out what works where we are.

kb

[Hill373737]

On 4/19/2019 at 8:46 AM, Koalaboi said:

I gave up SPs and now use live poddies pretty much exclusively for flathead...they also catch a lot of other fish too. Fishing for flatties using live poddies, I have picked up some absolute stonker bream and yesterday a 40+cm tailor.

 

Was the 40cm tailor in the Lake - I wondered what would happen when the choppers that were in plague proportions late last year didn't leave the Lake  I've ben bitten off 3 times by decent fish in the past week - at first on 6lb leader but then again on 10lb leader. I've been getting some decent sized flatties so wondered if it was one of them or perhap a big LongTom but now I'm thinking might have been tailor.

[Koalaboi]

It was 46cm and in the Lake. There's often big tailor in the lake and I reckon them and the smaller ones are you villains for bite offs and half chomped poddies.

KB