Hardyheads

[badboygibbo]

Recently I have been dragnetting and I keep catching a hell of a lot of hardyheads. Are these good bait? Are there any size limits or bag limits on them? Also i have been getting small ones ( about 2-3 inches ) and also some bigger ones (at least 6 inches).

Oh and also there are some garfish around which i have caught.. most are small but yesterday i caught one 35 cm. (in the net) Are these alot better than hardyheads?

Thanks alot

Paul

[nadders]

from my experience which is mostly limited to the river and the mouth of the river, hardyheads are useless oxygen wasters for your bucket and garfish crap all over them

i dont think ive ever had a hardyhead hit by anything lol

garfish are great though, dead or alive

the story might be different out in the bay or other areas or even for other people but thats just what i've experienced so get some more opinions before you reject the little buggers like i have

[badboygibbo]

Ive given them a small go in the place i fish and have caught a few good bream ... the reason why im askin is because im going to give it a proper fish tonight on the right tide and also to see how other people do with them.

[Tiny Tin]

i'm exactly the opposite to nadders (sorry mate). the only snapper we caught at the brissy river mouth was on a hardihead. when i catch squire at whitepatch bribie island i get them on hardiheads. try em and see what you think..you can butterfly em for something different (cut the back bone out leaving two flaps hanging from the head). i sometimes go through the mouth of the hardihead leaving the barb protruding near if throat/belly..put the sinker straight onto it's nose. get a few of the others and cut em up small and use them as a berley..a few bits every 3 or 4 minutes. that's what i do anyway

[rayke1938]

Hard to keep alive but as a dead bait good for bream and flathead.Present them as per Tinytims post.

Cheers

Ray

[Old Scaley]

Have to agree with Ray, great bream bait when they are fresh. Second only to live herring, but much tougher on the hook.

[Fisherheads]

Hello to all fellow fishers and I hope this will help with the question about Hardy heads as bait. Some years back my Dad and I dragged the bait net around Elliott heads near Bundy and caught buckets and I mean buckets of Hardy heads which we froze fresh and took off shore on our next trip from Burnett heads. The results were and no I am not kidding we caught over 250 lb of turrum or trevally and every time we baited up with these small fish we get to half way down and were hit with another double head of trevally. I guess to point was if you don't mind eating them then they are a fantastic bait , we caught the occasional hussar etc. but mostly Trevor's.

[Eatsausage]

If put straight on the hook the same way you would live bait a small mullet they are extremely good bait for flathead as good or even better than the mullet especially at night 

[Kat]

I have caught great snapper on live hardyheads in the Southern Moreton Bay Islands and lost a few even better snapper on the same bait.  They definitely work and I would expect it is a bit of a "match the hatch" situation.  Fish are feeding on the baitfish that are in the area and if hardyheads are what you are netting then you should use them.  I do like gar though - especially if you are thinking about freezing and using as dead bait.

And for some reason I am replying to a very very old post????

Cheers Kat