fishing Shark Baits

[Angus]

Gday everyone.

We are often talking shark baits and what to use etc etc.

I want to know from everyone what they have had the most success on. For example i always hear of good sharks being caught on eel. However, i have never seen one caught on eel and most sharks that people tell me about were not caught on eel either.

So i want to know what bait has caught your best shark, and what bait has caught the most sharks for you.

I was talking to Neil Shultz today about this very topic and he had this to say

\"Angus,

As a general rule of thumb live baits attract a quicker and more determined response from sharks than dead baits. Livies however aren't the most practical bait, especially when fishing from the shore. Eels are renowned as baits for most land based and some offshore situation for large sharks. If I was chasing a tiger I'd choose a stingray wing as #1 followed by a chunk of eel. I suspect one of the reasons eel is so sought after is because it lasts a long time on the hook, especially where crabs and pickers are a problem.

I wouldn't bother using eels for bait in the river. Live mullet, bony bream and even catfish are very effective baits for river whalers. For dead baits in the river, mullet, bony bream and saltwater herrings (the bigger the better) top the list, (though I've caught them on glass perch, prawns, mullet gut and even corned beef). The biggest drawback with dead baits in the river are mud crabs and catfish.

Kind Regards,

Neil Schultz\".

So fire away lads.

Attached is a picture Neil sent me of the most successful shark bait and rig he uses. One thing i noticed and liked was the use of quite small hooks and wire. I think mabe some of us get a bit carried away with this? A lot of people have been complainin about Bullies fightin poorly but could this be because we are pratically pulling them in with a chain. I plan on trying much much lighter set ups come summer.

Cheers,

Angus

[Terry H]

I agree with Neil with regards to bait. There's nothing I disagree with, and nothing I can further add with regards to bait.

On the issue of hooks, I never used hooks that were too big for the small 3-4 footers. Mine are maybe 1-2 sizes bigger, and have a longer shank. Of course the whalers will seem small on my biggest rod, but then I didn't exactly purchase it just to target them:P

Post edited by: TerryH, at: 2006/07/05 18:23

[Brian D]

From my experience it's all about the burley and the timing, not so much about the bait as sharks, once switched on, eat anything including themselves.

Granted that my only real experience with sharks was last summer and considering that I have only caught about 50 or so, I may be wrong, but I caught them on pilly's, squid, bream, mullet, shark and yes the humble prawn and the ugly grinner.

The one common factor on all good sessions was tuna oil and burley.

This year I going bigger hooks, 10/0 at least for day fishing and 15/0 or bigger for night. At least 80lb wire and 30lb main line. Last year I broke 1 gaff and busted 2 big nets so I am also getting a bigger gaff!

And now I have reprogrammed by camera I will be able to upload plenty of snap shots, or at least I hope too!

[Feral]

The sharks I catch are usually bycatch when I am targeting tailor, particulary in the bay (get a lot of black tips) or off rocks (Get a lot of big showel nose sharks, have caught a 6 footer on a humble pilchard!)

From beach Rig is generally 12lb line, set of 4 x 4/0 gang, no lead. Maybe a swivel if Iam feeling fastidious. Generally 10 foot surf rod, Alvey 650C.

In the boat, same line setup, generally on a 2piece 7 foot bream rod. (Get a shark on that and its landing net / gaff time, surf rod will lift most sharks with the right wave).

Post edited by: Feral, at: 2006/07/05 19:55

[stingray]

:ohmy: Who said eel is not good ? lol

:whistle: Without a doubt the bait of choice for me is eel.

Eel will outlast any fish bait in the water any time, and get the big hits.

Small fish and most Crabs will stay away from a eel bait. With you you can have it in the water up to 24 hrs and know that it will still be there .

:whistle: Marek

[Feral]

Old man reckons best bait ever was whale, but I reckon there might be a few issues with sourcing that these days!

Does anyone know what the pro's use as bait on drum lines? That tends to be fairly successful.

[Tim a]

This is all very interesting and I have folloewed all your advise(in summer) and it did not work for me. I think its a curse.

[BIG DAVE 1]

INTRO: I think everyone has there own prefered way of catching sharks, me and my mates spent 10month on the drawing board before we got our first one. In that 10months we realised, were not chasing jaws so why are we setting up as we are chasing jaws? Eventually we got our first one and it was on a live mullet with out wire.

GEAR: When chasing these fish you need to ask yourself the question \"Do i want to wench it in or do i want to fight this fish?\" once you answer that question your set. I prefer to use light gear purely cause it makes the fight alot more fun and sometimes more frustrating.Some people like to use heavier gear when using heavier gear it minimises the chances of a bust of or a spooling. There are benifetes to both styles of fishing. If you are using light gear as i said before its more of a fight, but there is one main advantage to heavier gear and that is if a big shark comes along you have more chance of getting it. I think 10-15kg is perfect, Some people are using 24kg line aka 50lb, i think thats an over kill considering that people chase marlin on that sorta gear.

HOOKS: When i fish for shark in the river i use pretty small hooks saying that i dont mean whiting hooks, the sharks i get are only 3ft. I Use 6/0-8/0 Partridge Live bait hooks. I use them for 2 reasons there cheap as chips and there wont fail you. Also ganged 4/0 hooks are good too especially when you are using pilchards and gar.

BAITS: I have used pretty much ever bait for sharks apart from a few as specified by Mr shultz. Local baits i think are the key to success because thats what the sharks are use to eating. Saying that i think that bull sharks are the filters of the river eating all the rubbish so i dont think there too scared to try something different.

My prefered baits:

Mullet- Both live and dead

Herring- Live and dead

Catfish- I never got any luck with live ones but chunks of flesh work a treat

Bream- very common all along the river, favored by alot of toothy critters

Eel- Cut into strips on 2-3 ganged hooks depending on the size of fillet.

Whiting- live bait.

THAT ARTICLE WAS FOR RIVER WHALERS AKA BULL SHARKS (LBSF) Land based shark fishing is a different story and game plan all together. I could go on for ages about it but my fingers are tired from typing so much

DAVE

[Drop Bear]

eel seems to do the trick. Perhaps sharks are not that fussy. 

We are heading down to the river today to have a go as some. 

Wish us luck

[natang]

I’ve always used catfish or poddy mullet for bullies...

[Drop Bear]

10 hours ago, natang said:

I’ve always used catfish or poddy mullet for bullies...

We should have tried them. No sharks this week. Sad face emoticon.

 

[natang]

Livies though

[Drop Bear]

I will order a new pump for my live bait tank from @aussie123 today.