live bait Rigging Live Squirt Worms and Saltwater Yabbies for Whiting Fishing

[BobbyW1]

Hey Guys I've been doing a bit of research on Sand Whiting and how they find there food. I have read that they rely on vibrations in the water emitted by their prey. 

Does anyone Rig there Yabbies Live or Their Squirt worms live. If so how would you do it to make sure they stay alive.

I know the most common way to rig these baits is just to thread them on to the hook but obviously they wont stay alive for that.

Let me know if its posable and how you guys do it? Thankyou 😀

[DrRaymondSnapper]

Try bait string to tie them on. It can be fiddly if they are very active but seems to work.

[BobbyW1]

@DrRaymondSnapper

I was thinking about doing this might have to try it thanks mate

 

[SpeedyGiraffe49]

Hey man, I can only speak for yabbies. In my experience, the yabbie doesn’t need to be completely thrashing about to catch fish. In fact I’ll still fairly consistently catch fish on a dead yabbie that’s been injured in the pumping process, but perhaps marginally less.

I will add though (assuming you’re fishing the sand flat where the yabbies are), I’ve found the most influential factors have been the tide and casting the yabbie back on to an area where the yabbie holes are. I can only assume that this is because the fish are already looking for yabbies in these areas, making vibration less influential on my catch rate. 

[SpeedyGiraffe49]

Oh and another point - when I thread the yabbie on to the hook it will usually stay alive moving legs and stuff for ample time to catch a fish. I won’t put a number to it because it’s so variable and I haven’t got hard data from timing it.

Again, this assumes that I have placed the yabbie in an area that the fish are already searching.

[BobbyW1]

@SpeedyGiraffe49

Thanks Mate ill note that. Also Ive heard they eat small soldier crabs. Have you tried this before?

[Green Hornet]

For yabbies I like to use a smaller hook than many, either a number 6 or 4 Gamakatsu Panfish works for me. With a #6, thread the hook into the bait from the tail and bring it out, hook point under the body, just before you get to the legs. No need for a bait holder style hook, with the barbs on the shank, because you can feed the eye of the Panfish into the bait to stop it slipping. This way avoids damaging the yabbies belly and they’ll stay alive for quite some time.
A #4 is done the same, but the exit point is between the legs. It kills the bait, though it’s still effective and holds better on the hook if you need a longer cast.   
Same size hooks and similar method for squirt worms, though a bait holder shank helps in this case. They’ll still wriggle around for a while no matter how you put them on. Long enough to get eaten if there’s any whiting around.  
I find the size 4 and 6 hooks a good all round size for bream, whiting and if using worms, luderick as well. I don’t see too many flathead getting off either.

 

[SpeedyGiraffe49]

9 hours ago, BobbyW1 said:

@SpeedyGiraffe49

Thanks Mate ill note that. Also Ive heard they eat small soldier crabs. Have you tried this before?

No worries. I’d also echo @Green Hornet’s advice below too. I haven’t used small soldier crabs before unfortunately - hopefully someone else can shed light on that one for you 🙂

[Blackfish]

I’ve also heard of small Soldier crabs but never met anyone that has caught a fish on them or uses them.

Maybe someone has, I’d be interested to hear.

[Steve0]

I never had much luck with soldier crabs, but caught fish on yabbies and worms during the same sessions. That said, I never tried small soldier crabs.

Much the same as @Green Hornet but with minor variations. I don't stick with any particular brand of hook, and always bring the hook out between the legs. Instead of using the eye to stop the tail sliding,  I use a half hitch on each ... uropod (I had to look that up!), which keeps the bait reasonably presented.  I always found a yabby moving slowly along the bottom gets better results than a stationary yabby. A uropod can pull off when casting firmly and the down side of traveling bait is it catches on things and the result can be the remaining uropod pulls off and the tail slides down the shank (baitholder barbs seem to make no difference). When that happens, use the damaged bait as burley and switch to a new one.

 

Edited April 4 by Steve0
typo

[noelm]

Squirt worms get taken the second they hit the water, no need for them to be alive for more than a short while. Nippers will stay alive for ages if hooked through the body and not the head, but they also get taken pretty quick most times.