queensland How do you rig your live baits

[blairv]

I was dwon at Bulimba last night - first donut of the season :-(

There were fish out there - I know due to the fact that all my live bait turned up with no heads - just below the hook of course

So this leads me to my question - what is the most popular way to rig up livies? (To be specific Herring and Poddy Mullet on a 4/0 circle hook).

Lip Hook, Dorsal Hook or Tail Hook?

Be interested to know the thoughts here....

Thanks

Blair

[burger93]

Mate i rig them through the back with no sinker so that they can swim good.Put the hook near the dorsel fin.This works for me .

cheers sean

[fishingnut]

in between the head and dorsal for me

[Yellow Peril]

Depends a bit on current. Strong current livies must be rigged with hook through the lips, in front of the eyes, or dorsal fin so they can get water through the gills. No current and you can pin them towards the tail so they swim away from you.

I like to pin herring in front of the dorsal, not enough room for hooks in front of the eyes. Bigger baits I put one hook up through the top jaw and a stinger 2/3 of the way to the tail.

If you are getting heads bitten off livies, in my experience that generally means bream, and you need to either go to bigger baits to avoid the bream, or use cut baits to catch bream.

[BassTracker]

I assume your fishing for threadies, ive found the best way is to use a paternoster rig, sinker below hook, so the fish can swim, keeps the rays and catties away and hook in the middle below pectoral... works

[tugger]

when passing the hook through its back anywhere it must be above its lateral line otherwise you kill it and if livies had there head taken off and your fishing snaggy or rocky areas it might be a good bet on a jack if thats what the first one comes back like then put the hook through its head in front of the eyes or lip

mark

[blairv]

Thanks for all the advise. These were not small livies 5-6 inches long and biten clean in half. funny thing was thre three times this happened, it didn't even register on the line - no drag scream or rod movement so whatever it was same in quick and sneaky....maybe a Jack? Would they be around Bulimba?

[Joel Eadie]

it could have been a large muddy, how clean was the bite?

[apoklyps60]

heres an example of a trap rig. used here for the larger live baits with the tail biters. nose hook and then a treble for the tail. 3-4 inches of line between the hooks.

[DES]

blairv wrote:

Thanks for all the advise. These were not small livies 5-6 inches long and biten clean in half. funny thing was thre three times this happened, it didn't even register on the line - no drag scream or rod movement so whatever it was same in quick and sneaky....maybe a Jack? Would they be around Bulimba?

I have this happen occasionally too. It is a mystery but I suspect pike eels.

[blairv]

Yep I am thinking Pike Eels too. I have caught a coplue of these - vicious buggars!

[nadders]

have had mullet around that long bitten in half often by tiny bullies

[tobie10]

Hey Blair, that happened to ryan and angus one night they were down in bulimba. Things kept being bitten clean in half. They switched to wire leads and ended up pulling out some bullies! They have a thread up about that somewhere. They also thought it was a donut night until they switched up. Guess if there's a bunch of bull sharks in the water nothing else will be around :laugh:

juls!

[ryanyoung]

I hook mine through the back, just under the dorsal fin. This seems to work. Juls is right, it happened to Gus and I, always just below the hook, very clean bite. Ended up with a couple of bullies!

Oh....I'm back by the way, so if anyone is keen for a fish, let me know !!!!!

Cheers,

Ryan.

[51MPL]

when you guys are fishing with live-baits on (or i was last night with a big dead bait); how do you go about setting the hooks? i was using approx 3/0 hook with a 2nd 3/0 running on the trace and when i'd start getting nibbles and bites i'd wait and wait til the rod got more load and the fish would tear drag out faster before i tighten the drag a bit and try to set the hook myself. worked for all but 2 times so whats the go?

[tugger]

i set the drag before casting out and never adjust it when i got a fish playing with it this would be diferent with a bait runner reel

mark