Live Bait Question

[Volcano]

The old man and I managed to get some live bait on Wednesday out from mooloolaba - quite a surprise for us in and of itself. The next question really was "how do we fish with this?"

We caught 2 types of live bait: pike and yakka (I think thats what they were. the pike was almost like a garfish without the snout and sharp teeth - looked kinda like a mini mackeral)

The rig we made was basically a ~6 foot length of leader (about 60lb I belive) with a runnign ball sinker as thick as a finger and a 2 hooks, 1 of which was snelled about 2-3" from the bottom hook. The bottom hook went through the back of the fish near the head and the snelled hoook through the tail section(ish)

Does that process sound right?

It was ALOT harder to do with the pike things. And they didnt really survive long.
Didnt really matter too much which bait we used as neither of the live baits produced anything for us...

[honda900]

Volcano,

Yes thats about right for the rigging, also sounds correct on the species.

Regards
Honda.

[PROS]

all you need is a single hook when stationary.

if the tide is not running or slow running, hook through the shoulder


if tide is strong, hook through the noise


if trolling, stinger hook is a great addition.

Pike should last a long time. Try not to handle the fish too much otherwise they loose too many scales.
Hook just under the skin, no deep penetration

Check to make sure they are not dead on the line.
Try swapping the live baits every half hour or so.

[Volcano]

Thanks guys. I think I set the hooks too deep into the pikes so probably killed them myself.
This was the first time we'd collected live bait and ended up with over a dozen in total. Very happy with that result - just wish they converted into fish. Tough day out on the water yesterday though.

[Extremetooth]

Agree with the above but here's some alternatives
Try a hook placed just behind the skull so the hook points forwards. Same place as the first pic but the hook in the other direction. Fish swims better and holds better than the lip. Add a treble as a stinger not in the fish and about the length of the tail.
Make sure ur weight is light so it slows the bait and doesn't pin it on the bottom.
Tie a balloon to the line a few feet from the bait as an alternative to the weight
Good luck

[MudRiverDan]

Yes a lot of people kill the bait by throwing the hook through the spine and over handling the bait.

Best to pin the hook lightly through the upper back area above the spine (quickly and don't maul the bait in the process).

Live bait rule : If the fish doesn't eat it whole, then it isn't worth catching.

Dan