Overused & underused baits

[Restyle]

Thought id make a list of baits i find are overused & underused baits and list how effective i find them from personal success to others. I will give abit of a reasoning on how myself and others find success with these baits and if they should be overused or not. 

 

Overused Baits

Hawksbury squid - To start off with hawksbury squid, Its gotten to the point where some believe hawksbury squid are a completely different species of squid, These are often asked for alot because they are usually bait sized & because they are local many think they are fresh, what they don't understand is trawlers do not run on the weekends so the "fresh" squid they have have ether being laying around in a esky for a few days or defrosted. A few bait shops (which i wont name) sell moreton bay squid as hawksbury squid because they can be difficult to get as they are usually by-catch from prawn trawlers and the trawlers don't necessarily run all the time. Its a great bait like basically all squid, but when the cheapest you can get is 45$/kg but its usually more, you're paying for it being "hawksbury squid".

Californian squid - A much cheaper great alliterative, Although it isn't recommended to use this as bait but food in some cases because of the risk of virus. Other then that its a great squid to use for your weekend fisho and you get plenty of it for a box weather that be half a kilo or a kilo. If i am to buy bait, i much prefer to support local over imported stuff. Alternative and just as good cheap squid are the Morton bay squid which generally sell for $20-$30 a kilo depending on supply and demand.

Southern calamari, Arrow squid - Great baits, a hint to find locally caught southern calamari is the torn up skin, if the skin is all torn up its a locally caught squid as they use nets, while the really nice looking calamari are generally from south Australia and a caught on jigs. They are pretty overused, especially on pelagic fish and jew but do catch fish. Squid you catch yourself is the freshest and best squid you can use for some fish. Stays on the hook forever and is a tough bait to use.

Live Tube worms - Although they are pretty tough and live for days in a bucket, they break apart really easily on the hook. A pretty decent bait but there are better alternatives like nippers and beach worms. I've gotten better results on them and achieve a better bait presentation on the hook, But live tube-worms are a great bait for whiting and a really popular. You can only buy tube worms from shops as they are farmed.

Hawksbury prawns - Not a huge fan of prawns, but they are a great all-round bait for just about every estuary species, pickers love them so don't expect to catch anything too big off them constantly, wouldn't recommend getting these from servos as they are usually freezer burnt.

IQF/Block Pilchards - Reliable bait for more flesh eating fish so don't expect whiting, blackfish, drummer etc on them. Fall off the hook abit easily but do well catching a wide range of fish. I tend to use these for burly 

Salted Pilchards - A better alternative to block and IQF pillies as they stay on the hook longer and still catch just as many fish, my goto bait for quite a few species including kingfish & trevally and also for catching bait like yakkas, slimies & bonitio 

Live Nippers - easy to gather can be abit to pricey to buy, my goto bait for whiting but can be used to catch just about anything from jewfish & kingfish to bream and blackfish. A very fragile bait which can fall of the hook easily.

Live yakkas & slimies- Live forever but i do not get good results on them, much prefer live poddys or squid.

Chicken & Chicken gut- My most disliked bait, the pickers love it and it become a clump of slime on the hook. 

 

Neutral baits

Salted fish strips - Great bait to help avoid pickers as they have trouble with the skin and the baits abit tougher. Smaller strips like yakka are great for Flathead and bream while larger strips like mullet are good for pelagic's and jew. You can easily salt these at home in a tray. you can fillet and salt just about anything and use it as bait 

Live Beachworms - just as good as nippers and last a lot longer on the hook then nippers. Can be difficult to find and gather

Mullet & mullet strips - really good bait for jew, flathead and even bream and kingfish. Very tough bait and stays on the hook forever & the pickers tend to avoid mullet strips. I prefer strips over the whole fish.

Fish strips - Best used if not defrosted, they become mushy if defrosted. If you're going to freeze them just salt them instead. If fresh its just as good of a bait as you can get. You can strip up just about anything but the better species i find are Yakkas, slimies, mullet, bonito, mac tuna & garfish 

Live poddy mullet - By far the best bait to use for Flathead and Jew, not too difficult to get and are tough fish both on the hook and in a bucket. Their only downside with most bait is time to obtain them.

Bread - A cheap and ok bait for baitfish like yakkas, pilchards or yakkas are much better

Whole IQF/Butterflied fish - Not a huge fan of these, usually used as yakkas or slimies, much prefer strips.

 

Underused bait

Garfish & salted garfish - Not a huge fan of normal garfish as they are really soft, but salted garfish are just as good as any other salted fish strip

Oysters - My goto bait for bream, fall off the hook really easily but absolutely deadly on bream and really easy to gather, just double check you are allowed to where you're fishing.

Whitebait - Don't see many use these anymore, but they are just as good as pilchards bait wise but are soft salted or not.

Preserved beach worms - Great bait for travelling, can be used over and over and not go off, really tough bait and a overall decent bait to use

Live pilchards - Hard to keep alive on the hook and impossible to keep alive in a bait tank, but a deadly bait for most pelagics, can be difficult to catch & is usually bycatch when going out for yakkas

Mullet gut - Can be good for trevs and bream but usally gets picked off quickly

Cunjevoi - Really good of the rocks and is everywhere, bream love it. like with oysters its abit soft 

 

[noelm]

For me, Squid of any kind is a last resort bait, salted fish fillets the same, I tend to select bait that is most likely to attract/catch the species I am after (naturally)  for Snapper my go to is just frozen Striped Tuna, frozen whole and the left overs used a burley, Pilchards are next, cut in half, use the tail for bait, the head for Burley. For Bream, it's Royal Red Prawns or bread if off the rocks. Blackfish, only weed or Squirt Worms, and on it goes for various species.

[JamoDamo]

Another underused bait are the little crabs you find under rocks in the mangroves and intertidal zones in estuaries! Super easy to gather and really good for bream fishing them unweighted or with a little split shot in current, been smoked by massive bream I couldn't stop plenty of times on em!

[Little_Flatty]

Bread is also one of the best baits you can use for bream, garfish and mullet.

I have a real problem using garfish for bait, because when I come across them, I want to eat them! Same for calamari. As a result, I never catch kings 🤣

Great post @Restyle, this will help a lot of newer anglers as well as give more experienced raiders some other ideas.

For everyone else, please post your other suggestions. The most avant-garde bait I have ever heard of is dim-sims for Murray Cod! That said, Cod are known to enjoy cheese, so I guess this isn't a huge step further!

[Restyle]

56 minutes ago, noelm said:

For me, Squid of any kind is a last resort bait, salted fish fillets the same, I tend to select bait that is most likely to attract/catch the species I am after (naturally)  for Snapper my go to is just frozen Striped Tuna, frozen whole and the left overs used a burley, Pilchards are next, cut in half, use the tail for bait, the head for Burley. For Bream, it's Royal Red Prawns or bread if off the rocks. Blackfish, only weed or Squirt Worms, and on it goes for various species.

Squid and salted fillets are great for when you dont want to deal with pickers, a older feller i know uses live nippers for blackfish and has pretty good success on them. I thought about including the stripped tuna fillets but they just fall under fish strips.

I like to use bait thats found in the area aswell, i tend to avoid using squid in areas where squid arnt around but sometimes i cannot be bothered gathering bait and just want to go for a fish so out comes and squid, bonito strips and pillies

53 minutes ago, JamoDamo said:

Another underused bait are the little crabs you find under rocks in the mangroves and intertidal zones in estuaries! Super easy to gather and really good for bream fishing them unweighted or with a little split shot in current, been smoked by massive bream I couldn't stop plenty of times on em!

I had these included in the underused section but i ended up removing it as i was too lazy to find the particularly species of crabs they are. Ive used them a few times floating them down along jettys, bridges and rockwalls and the bream love them

9 minutes ago, Little_Flatty said:

Bread is also one of the best baits you can use for bream, garfish and mullet.

I have a real problem using garfish for bait, because when I come across them, I want to eat them! Same for calamari. As a result, I never catch kings 🤣

Great post @Restyle, this will help a lot of newer anglers as well as give more experienced raiders some other ideas.

For everyone else, please post your other suggestions. The most avant-garde bait I have ever heard of is dim-sims for Murray Cod! That said, Cod are known to enjoy cheese, so I guess this isn't a huge step further!

bread is great for mullet, never used it for bream but i have caught big trevs on it. I tend to only use the crust as it floats. A big inker is a hard one to decide but the smaller ones and arrows arnt, i never catch big enough garfish to eat.

as for strangest bait, when the yakkas are hungry a piece of white cloth with a drop of tuna oil. I think we have all used a chip from maccas, kfc or where ever else and when it turns up a small tailor or pinkie its pretty funny

[noelm]

I never use the crust of bread, because it floats and attracts Seagulls, I just use the inside piece and squash it tight so it sinks.

[Isaac Ct]

Definitely agree with @JamoDamo with the crabs, also the ones of the rocks I have seen big Blue Groper caught on them. I think personally beef mince is a very good bait for Yakkas but takes a bit of practise to put on the hook.

[XD351]

I have seen bream caught on all sorts of weird things like bacon rind, earth worms and maggots .

Don’t seem to see anyone using soldier crabs , cockles or green nippers ( clickers ) much anymore .When I last used oysters I had to buy a jar of them for bait and two for me ! Thread a couple on a 9555b # 4 hook and wind a bit of white cotton around it all to hold them on the hook  - no sinker and let this drift down amongst the racks .

When I was a kid baits like Occy leg and pudding were common and you used cheap mince for yakka bait - a chunk the size of a rissole would catch all the yakka you could want.

Garfish is my preferred bait for Hawkesbury flathead or genuine Hawkesbury prawns - the ones that come from the trawlers there not the frozen crap , just because the the frozen packet in the bait freezer says Hawkesbury prawns doesn’t mean they are - same goes for squid . 
Poddies can be frustrating things to catch and this is why these days I’m leaning more towards lures .

I always get a laugh when I hear someone say they used cooked prawns for bait - there is no way known that you could get a cooked prawn past my gob to put it on a hook 🤤🤤🤤🤣

[XD351]

9 minutes ago, Isaac Ct said:

Definitely agree with @JamoDamo with the crabs, also the ones of the rocks I have seen big Blue Groper caught on them. I think personally beef mince is a very good bait for Yakkas but takes a bit of practise to put on the hook.

Take a look at how they do it in SA - easiest way I have ever seen to get mince on a hook!
https://youtu.be/r1w0bZhp-_Q

[Little_Flatty]

1 hour ago, Restyle said:

bread is great for mullet, never used it for bream but i have caught big trevs on it. I tend to only use the crust as it floats.

I’m normally the other way round with bread like @noelm. I use the white part because it sinks. I squeeze it onto a size 4 or 6 long shank hook, leaving a tiny part fluffy on the end and present it unweighted, sometimes in a berley trail. If I need casting weight I dip it into water to wet it a little, then lob it out.

This method has accounted for a few bream like this:

I did have a phase of freezing bread crusts from the kids’ sandwiches, which was also a good source of bait and berley. It was astonishing how I could build up a decent amount in a short period of time, more than I use in a session, in just one month. Should get back to it, as it feels good to convert wasted food into a meal of fresh fish 😎…(and hopefully in the near future the kids stop wasting food!).

I’ve never tried oysters. I think I have a similar problem with oysters as @XD351 has with cooked prawns!🤣

[XD351]

Put a tray of oysters , mussels or prawns in front of me and I turn into a snarling beast of a man that will bite you if you even think if trying to take one 🤣🤣🤣

[Rebel]

Well done.

Will help a lot of people,starting fishing.

Cheers.

[Restyle]

2 hours ago, XD351 said:

I have seen bream caught on all sorts of weird things like bacon rind, earth worms and maggots .

Don’t seem to see anyone using soldier crabs , cockles or green nippers ( clickers ) much anymore .When I last used oysters I had to buy a jar of them for bait and two for me ! Thread a couple on a 9555b # 4 hook and wind a bit of white cotton around it all to hold them on the hook  - no sinker and let this drift down amongst the racks .

When I was a kid baits like Occy leg and pudding were common and you used cheap mince for yakka bait - a chunk the size of a rissole would catch all the yakka you could want.

Garfish is my preferred bait for Hawkesbury flathead or genuine Hawkesbury prawns - the ones that come from the trawlers there not the frozen crap , just because the the frozen packet in the bait freezer says Hawkesbury prawns doesn’t mean they are - same goes for squid . 
Poddies can be frustrating things to catch and this is why these days I’m leaning more towards lures .

I always get a laugh when I hear someone say they used cooked prawns for bait - there is no way known that you could get a cooked prawn past my gob to put it on a hook 🤤🤤🤤🤣

 Wouldn’t get a occy past me to put on a hook! Oysters not so much, not a huge fan of eating them

most bait shops sell genuine Hawkesbury prawns, but at times the trawlers don’t run so they substitute them with backup frozen Hawkesbury. I’ve never used green nippers, solider crabs or cockles for bait, from what I heard green nippers nip you much harder then the pink nippers.

3 hours ago, noelm said:

I never use the crust of bread, because it floats and attracts Seagulls, I just use the inside piece and squash it tight so it sinks.

More ducks than seagulls for me as I catch my yakkas and mullet at night when the angel fish and stripes get lost. When they rock up I throw a bead of bread on 

3 hours ago, Isaac Ct said:

Definitely agree with @JamoDamo with the crabs, also the ones of the rocks I have seen big Blue Groper caught on them. I think personally beef mince is a very good bait for Yakkas but takes a bit of practise to put on the hook.

completely forgot about mince! Used it a few times but mostly for burley, same for cat food which is usually pilchards or tuna anyway, never really mastered putting it on a hook properly

 

 

[Fab1]

6 hours ago, Restyle said:

Thought id make a list of baits i find are overused & underused baits and list how effective i find them from personal success to others. I will give abit of a reasoning on how myself and others find success with these baits and if they should be overused or not. 

 

Overused Baits

Hawksbury squid - To start off with hawksbury squid, Its gotten to the point where some believe hawksbury squid are a completely different species of squid, These are often asked for alot because they are usually bait sized & because they are local many think they are fresh, what they don't understand is trawlers do not run on the weekends so the "fresh" squid they have have ether being laying around in a esky for a few days or defrosted. A few bait shops (which i wont name) sell moreton bay squid as hawksbury squid because they can be difficult to get as they are usually by-catch from prawn trawlers and the trawlers don't necessarily run all the time. Its a great bait like basically all squid, but when the cheapest you can get is 45$/kg but its usually more, you're paying for it being "hawksbury squid".

Californian squid - A much cheaper great alliterative, Although it isn't recommended to use this as bait but food in some cases because of the risk of virus. Other then that its a great squid to use for your weekend fisho and you get plenty of it for a box weather that be half a kilo or a kilo. If i am to buy bait, i much prefer to support local over imported stuff. Alternative and just as good cheap squid are the Morton bay squid which generally sell for $20-$30 a kilo depending on supply and demand.

Southern calamari, Arrow squid - Great baits, a hint to find locally caught southern calamari is the torn up skin, if the skin is all torn up its a locally caught squid as they use nets, while the really nice looking calamari are generally from south Australia and a caught on jigs. They are pretty overused, especially on pelagic fish and jew but do catch fish. Squid you catch yourself is the freshest and best squid you can use for some fish. Stays on the hook forever and is a tough bait to use.

Live Tube worms - Although they are pretty tough and live for days in a bucket, they break apart really easily on the hook. A pretty decent bait but there are better alternatives like nippers and beach worms. I've gotten better results on them and achieve a better bait presentation on the hook, But live tube-worms are a great bait for whiting and a really popular. You can only buy tube worms from shops as they are farmed.

Hawksbury prawns - Not a huge fan of prawns, but they are a great all-round bait for just about every estuary species, pickers love them so don't expect to catch anything too big off them constantly, wouldn't recommend getting these from servos as they are usually freezer burnt.

IQF/Block Pilchards - Reliable bait for more flesh eating fish so don't expect whiting, blackfish, drummer etc on them. Fall off the hook abit easily but do well catching a wide range of fish. I tend to use these for burly 

Salted Pilchards - A better alternative to block and IQF pillies as they stay on the hook longer and still catch just as many fish, my goto bait for quite a few species including kingfish & trevally and also for catching bait like yakkas, slimies & bonitio 

Live Nippers - easy to gather can be abit to pricey to buy, my goto bait for whiting but can be used to catch just about anything from jewfish & kingfish to bream and blackfish. A very fragile bait which can fall of the hook easily.

Live yakkas & slimies- Live forever but i do not get good results on them, much prefer live poddys or squid.

Chicken & Chicken gut- My most disliked bait, the pickers love it and it become a clump of slime on the hook. 

 

Neutral baits

Salted fish strips - Great bait to help avoid pickers as they have trouble with the skin and the baits abit tougher. Smaller strips like yakka are great for Flathead and bream while larger strips like mullet are good for pelagic's and jew. You can easily salt these at home in a tray. you can fillet and salt just about anything and use it as bait 

Live Beachworms - just as good as nippers and last a lot longer on the hook then nippers. Can be difficult to find and gather

Mullet & mullet strips - really good bait for jew, flathead and even bream and kingfish. Very tough bait and stays on the hook forever & the pickers tend to avoid mullet strips. I prefer strips over the whole fish.

Fish strips - Best used if not defrosted, they become mushy if defrosted. If you're going to freeze them just salt them instead. If fresh its just as good of a bait as you can get. You can strip up just about anything but the better species i find are Yakkas, slimies, mullet, bonito, mac tuna & garfish 

Live poddy mullet - By far the best bait to use for Flathead and Jew, not too difficult to get and are tough fish both on the hook and in a bucket. Their only downside with most bait is time to obtain them.

Bread - A cheap and ok bait for baitfish like yakkas, pilchards or yakkas are much better

Whole IQF/Butterflied fish - Not a huge fan of these, usually used as yakkas or slimies, much prefer strips.

 

Underused bait

Garfish & salted garfish - Not a huge fan of normal garfish as they are really soft, but salted garfish are just as good as any other salted fish strip

Oysters - My goto bait for bream, fall off the hook really easily but absolutely deadly on bream and really easy to gather, just double check you are allowed to where you're fishing.

Whitebait - Don't see many use these anymore, but they are just as good as pilchards bait wise but are soft salted or not.

Preserved beach worms - Great bait for travelling, can be used over and over and not go off, really tough bait and a overall decent bait to use

Live pilchards - Hard to keep alive on the hook and impossible to keep alive in a bait tank, but a deadly bait for most pelagics, can be difficult to catch & is usually bycatch when going out for yakkas

Mullet gut - Can be good for trevs and bream but usally gets picked off quickly

Cunjevoi - Really good of the rocks and is everywhere, bream love it. like with oysters its abit soft 

 

Excellent write up mate. The only problem is a lot of those baits listed I use and am sure the bait shop sells me the broken ones.MINE DON’T CATCH FISH!!!!

[Rebel]

Hey @Fab1. The baits you buy are returrned by @Yowie after he has used them.

Cheers.

Edited August 16, 2022 by Rebel

[Burger]

23 hours ago, XD351 said:

Put a tray of oysters , mussels or prawns in front of me and I turn into a snarling beast of a man that will bite you if you even think if trying to take one 🤣🤣🤣

My missus is like that too (ummmm, but not the beast of a man part). . .. we're going on holidays soon and all she keeps talking about are the fresh prawns!

[slothparade]

Had a funny find in bag of bait prawns, a small like 7cm flatty. Kinda surprised lol, never seen that before. 

[Fab1]

3 hours ago, Rebel said:

Hey @Fab1. The baits you buy are returrned by @Yowie after he has used them.

Cheers.

I wouldn’t be surprised.Bloody Yowie.He must buy all the good ones.😂

[adamski]

Don't forget chicken marinaded in raw garlic!

[Restyle]

2 hours ago, slothparade said:

Had a funny find in bag of bait prawns, a small like 7cm flatty. Kinda surprised lol, never seen that before. 

i see more small jewies then anything mix amongst the Hawksbury prawns. with fresh calamari they will occasionally have gurnard and 10cm flattys in them though  

[Yowie]

2 hours ago, Fab1 said:

I wouldn’t be surprised.Bloody Yowie.He must buy all the good ones.😂

I only buy salted pillies. I freeze squid and salt and freeze fish fillets - tailor, yakkas, small tuna, mullet, trevally - but then again you have to catch something to be able to freeze it.  

[Yowie]

Fresh caught then frozen squid (lasts well), salted and frozen fish fillets (lasts even longer), or both fresh if caught and used same day, nippers, bread.

Prawns are for eating 👍 not bait, though the prawn heads make great burley, and cooked prawn heads will attract the reddies.

[Fab1]

1 hour ago, Yowie said:

I only buy salted pillies. I freeze squid and salt and freeze fish fillets - tailor, yakkas, small tuna, mullet, trevally - but then again you have to catch something to be able to freeze it.  

Keep rubbing it in mate.I can see the headlines now.Local Port hacking gun fisho and boat mysteriously disappears from Lilli pilli area whilst out fishing to be able to brag about how many fish he catches on fish raider.😂😂Locals are suspecting a hopeless fisherman from the MacArthur area may have been involved due to being tormented by this deceased fisherman.😂😂

[Little_Flatty]

13 minutes ago, Fab1 said:

Keep rubbing it in mate.I can see the headlines now.Local Port hacking gun fisho and boat mysteriously disappears from Lilli pilli area whilst out fishing to be able to brag about how many fish he catches on fish raider.😂😂Locals are suspecting a hopeless fisherman from the MacArthur area may have been involved due to being tormented by this deceased fisherman.😂😂

Fab, you do know that you need to put baits into the water, with a hook attached, if you want to catch fish right? Also, your bathtub and toilet doesn't count as fishable waters...unless there are live fish in there! (That said, if I recall correctly though, @Yowie has caught a fish out of a toilet...true story and no word of a joke! But then again nothing fishing-wise surprises us with Yowie...) Make sure you try these suggestions before you lodge any warranty claims with the bait shop 🤣

[AlbertW]

@adamski has already mentioned it but strips of chicken breast marinated with tuna oil and parmasean flake cheese are killer bait, just marinate them overnight, throw them on a long shank with a running sinker and you'll have a good feed, the scent will basically get you anything like flatties, bream and snapper, I've got good snapper and flatties on them and had a chonky bream bust me off.