slimeys Live bait in Botany bay...

[M1100S]

Just wondering where i can get Slimy Mackerals in Botany bay. 

I have the no dramas getting the Yakkas in the morning from where the tug boats park (tried for the squid near kurnell but that is really hard, only caught 1 in 4 attempts lol)... but where can you find Slimeys in the Bay? 

Also can you still get yakkas when the sun comes up around the tug boat area.... or does it get harder after first light?

[kingie chaser]

25 minutes ago, M1100S said:

Just wondering where i can get Slimy Mackerals in Botany bay. 

I have the no dramas getting the Yakkas in the morning from where the tug boats park (tried for the squid near kurnell but that is really hard, only caught 1 in 4 attempts lol)... but where can you find Slimeys in the Bay? 

Also can you still get yakkas when the sun comes up around the tug boat area.... or does it get harder after first light?

Imo slimy's move around & school more than yakka's, haven't seen any for a while.

Last time I saw a big school was almost in the middle of the bay smashing white bait

I find once the sun comes up the yakka's go off the chew at that location.

[New Signing]

As a rule if we are fishing for livies we will fish over sand near reef before sun comes up and then the bait will move over onto the hard reef once the sun breaks

[M1100S]

46 minutes ago, kingie chaser said:

Imo slimy's move around & school more than yakka's, haven't seen any for a while.

Last time I saw a big school was almost in the middle of the bay smashing white bait

I find once the sun comes up the yakka's go off the chew at that location.

Yeah the last time i caught a slimey in the bay i was out near the drums and a massive school came by, this was around feb.

 

Since i been buying some bait from fish shop instead and i have the choice of Slimeys or a fresh mullet, what would u choose? i was thinking slimeys are they seem to have more blood/deeper red flesh than the mullet....but i may be wrong

[noelm]

30 minutes ago, M1100S said:

Yeah the last time i caught a slimey in the bay i was out near the drums and a massive school came by, this was around feb.

 

Since i been buying some bait from fish shop instead and i have the choice of Slimeys or a fresh mullet, what would u choose? i was thinking slimeys are they seem to have more blood/deeper red flesh than the mullet....but i may be wrong

Depends what you are fishing for, I am not a huge Mullet fan, but it is pretty tough, so good for Flathead, I couldn't bring myself to pay for Slimies, they are a pest when Snapper fishing, but are an OK bait when fresh.

[New Signing]

Mullet will hold together a hell of a lot better if you're using cut baits

[the skipper]

18 hours ago, M1100S said:

Just wondering where i can get Slimy Mackerals in Botany bay. 

I have the no dramas getting the Yakkas in the morning from where the tug boats park (tried for the squid near kurnell but that is really hard, only caught 1 in 4 attempts lol)... but where can you find Slimeys in the Bay? 

Also can you still get yakkas when the sun comes up around the tug boat area.... or does it get harder after first light?

Mate I get my live bait where a lot of others do in the little cove where the tug boats live at the opposite end to Moullie Point and the last couple of times we have got plenty of yakkas with the odd small slimey mixed in with them.

Best to get there as early as you can purely to get a spot as it can get packed with boats and do a bit of berleying it does tend to bring more slimeys up. If you do not have any luck there is a reef in Yarra Bay that attracts alot of bait fish and it normally holds slimeys most of the day it to gets popular so you should not have any problems finding it.

The Skipper

[kingfishbig]

On 4/22/2020 at 2:18 PM, M1100S said:

Just wondering where i can get Slimy Mackerals in Botany bay. 

I have the no dramas getting the Yakkas in the morning from where the tug boats park (tried for the squid near kurnell but that is really hard, only caught 1 in 4 attempts lol)... but where can you find Slimeys in the Bay? 

Also can you still get yakkas when the sun comes up around the tug boat area.... or does it get harder after first light?

Is that on the western side of the container wall.? I often see boats there getting live bait, presumably. You might be able to help me - I was wondering what the bottom is like there, ie should I use a reef pick or a sand pick?

[kingie chaser]

On 4/22/2020 at 3:40 PM, M1100S said:

Yeah the last time i caught a slimey in the bay i was out near the drums and a massive school came by, this was around feb.

 

Since i been buying some bait from fish shop instead and i have the choice of Slimeys or a fresh mullet, what would u choose? i was thinking slimeys are they seem to have more blood/deeper red flesh than the mullet....but i may be wrong

Yeh I recon the slimies are the better choice of you can get them & use them slab or live, Ive been trolling live scad around molly point  getting nothing while the people using live squid were getting all the hits, not even sure if live SM will tempt them if they want to just eat squid??

Still if SM are higher on the kings pecking order than scad then I might be in with a chance if I cant get any live SQ.

 

1 hour ago, kingfishbig said:

Is that on the western side of the container wall.? I often see boats there getting live bait, presumably. You might be able to help me - I was wondering what the bottom is like there, ie should I use a reef pick or a sand pick?

Yep that's the one.

The bottom there is fine as long as your not to close to the wall, I just use my sand pic there & not had any problems.

 

I tell what I did see that was interesting the last couple of times I was there was several people using a small burley bomb being used as a sinker under their rig obviously as an attractor. 

I was just throwing burley into the water & I got like 3 YK's in 45 minutes, these guys got heaps in half the time.

 

I was going to make a DIY version but then I found one online & bought it but haven't tried it yet.

Its small but should still work.

Might have to upgrade the nylon though.

I also bought another cheapy version of ebay for a few $$ but still waiting for it

[kingfishbig]

I will give that a try. Maybe a two hook rig with the burley cage on the bottom. 

[kingie chaser]

1 hour ago, kingfishbig said:

I will give that a try. Maybe a two hook rig with the burley cage on the bottom. 

Ages ago I bought 10 packets of sabiki's cheap @ $1.20ea which Ive been splitting the 6 hook rig into 1/2 & making 2 out of it, mainly because the 6 hook rig is just to long & tangles easy.

I think I'm going to go back to making my own after they run out, probably still stick to 3 hooks but its a personal choice really. I do like the feathered hooks on the Sabiki though, I might have to try & find some.

I have snapper flashers but they are to big of course, those sabiki hooks are like #8 down to #16 so pretty tiny.

Edited April 25, 2020 by kingie chaser

[PaddyT]

Dont fish Botany but will give you guys a few tips for faster , more effective bait catching. I used to waste a couple of hours catching bait by anchoring up and berleying etc etc - not these days, essentially get sabikis- some are better than others but the Big Chain of Fish has home brand ones that go well , if you can  find Yamashita sabikis sell them to me at a huge profit - i tend to find the little paper ones are less effective. So my method relies on my sounder and once ive found bait on the screen i bomb it. The jigs always get hit on the drop- sitting there jiggling your jig (sounds bad huh) doesnt work anywhere near as well as simply dropping, waiting till the jig loads up or hits bottom then winding back to above the bait youve marked. if the bait doesnt bite- dont waste more than a few minutes on the school-find another one. The key to filling the tank quickly is having an aggresive approach- dont turn your motor off- use it to stay on top of the bait. The sabikis are essentially a disposable item they only last a couple of trips- they can look ok but the hook tips break and get very blunt , very quickly- the other key if you want a vertical drop , so use enough lead to get down fast. It would be very rare for me to spend more than 20 minutes catching bait these days.

[Berleyguts]

1 hour ago, PaddyT said:

Dont fish Botany but will give you guys a few tips for faster , more effective bait catching. I used to waste a couple of hours catching bait by anchoring up and berleying etc etc - not these days, essentially get sabikis- some are better than others but the Big Chain of Fish has home brand ones that go well , if you can  find Yamashita sabikis sell them to me at a huge profit - i tend to find the little paper ones are less effective. So my method relies on my sounder and once ive found bait on the screen i bomb it. The jigs always get hit on the drop- sitting there jiggling your jig (sounds bad huh) doesnt work anywhere near as well as simply dropping, waiting till the jig loads up or hits bottom then winding back to above the bait youve marked. if the bait doesnt bite- dont waste more than a few minutes on the school-find another one. The key to filling the tank quickly is having an aggresive approach- dont turn your motor off- use it to stay on top of the bait. The sabikis are essentially a disposable item they only last a couple of trips- they can look ok but the hook tips break and get very blunt , very quickly- the other key if you want a vertical drop , so use enough lead to get down fast. It would be very rare for me to spend more than 20 minutes catching bait these days.

Is that in deeper water, Paddy? I find the bait with my sounder and then hit spot lock with my Minn Kota but I find that I get more slimies if I don’t use any lead. Put lead on and I seem to get more yakkas and less slimies. If there’s a bit of current a small amount of lead is sometimes OK. My usual spot is in 7-10 metres.

[kingie chaser]

15 hours ago, PaddyT said:

Dont fish Botany but will give you guys a few tips for faster 

Thanks for the tips but yeh not totally applicable to the bay, the bait tends to hide in corners & nooks & crannies, except for slimies but they are rare, the main schooling fish in the bay busting up baitfish are Taylor.

If you don't anchor up your into the tugs or walls in no time.

I can see what you are talking about working in open/deeper water.

Your right about the sabiki's though, some of them are very light, I think I will try & find some heavier ones.

[PaddyT]

look, i do get most of my bait from deeper water, but 20-30 ft is not uncommon depending on the particular spot- as for drifting into rocks- i dont turn the motor off when im catching bait- because i really want to stay on top of the school- having said all of that- when im catching bait in shallower water sometimes a bit of berley helps fire the fish up- final point you dont need heavier sabikis-just add a heavier sinker- the vertical presentation works best

[M1100S]

On 4/25/2020 at 12:43 PM, kingfishbig said:

I will give that a try. Maybe a two hook rig with the burley cage on the bottom. 

Im no expert but first time i went for yakkas i got one... everyone around me was getting a few... next time i tried sabiki jig and same... hooks got pulled and wrecked the jig. This was using my bream rod

 

Ever since watching a hook and the cook YouTube clip i chamged to a small handline with a small size 8 hook and i put a small ball sinker and swivel ( he used running sinker).  amd i smash it...i got 10 my last outing in 45 min...dropped a few as well. I found that with the handline it is more sensitive and i can feel em nibbling and then gibe it a yank and u usually hook em. Bait is either pilli strips but i tried peeled prawnd last time out and still i found was good.

 

For burley i just use chook pellers mixed with seafood coctail cat food. And i dont throw out heaps. I usually get there about 5am and anchor up...sand anchor only.  It varies from 8-15 m depth.

That whay seems to work for me... no promises but we have to try diff things

Know just have to lern how to catch squid...

Edited April 26, 2020 by M1100S

[Welster]

I find near the tug boats is generally pretty easy before sun up.   I have been on a charter @PaddyT uses and we loaded up quickly. 
 

@M1100Sgetting squid isn't usually too hard but generally takes a bit more time. 

Edited April 26, 2020 by Welster
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[PaddyT]

Dont use charters-just know the bloke- but watching how a good charter operates is a very good and fast way to learn- nothing worse than seeing how some guys go out on charters and expect to be spoon feed and then wonder why they cant repeat the results on their own boats. Watch, lsten and learn.