Unweighted Live Bait Problem

[thriller]

I have been fishing with unwiegted live bait in a stiff current.

I can see the fish I am targeting most of the time..

The problem is I can't seem to set the hook.

I rig up poddy mullet through the nose, I have had a dozen strike/runs

with zero hookups.

some bait taken from the hook some bitten clean in half and others left limp on the hook.

I have been trying to fish with the drag set very light just gripping the spool to set the hook but still no solid hook ups.

What am I doing wrong?

BTW I think the fish I keep missing are Jew and Jacks on the surface.

Help. :S

[Scope]

Have you tried rigging the poddy through the back ?? As long as you keep it high enough the fish stays alive.

I know what you mean though it can be a pain in the donkey getting a good run. I've had poddy mullet rigged through the back, then had the heads bitten off, so I rigged it through the lips and then the back was taken

[mick fillet]

wow, sight fishing thats mad that you can see the fish your targeting.

what hooks are you using maybe try bigger hooks.its fustrating isnt it :silly:

what river you fishing thriller,

I had a similar scenario not long ago at the mouth of the brissy.ended up being tailor.I ended up stoping feeding freespooling line to them and instead i started a moderate retrieve of the livie just winding it in making the preditors chase the bait in agresion rather than leting them play with the bait turned out to be some good size tailor that night.really get the bait moving swimming under the surface and the tailor came from every where to smash it hard.If they are tailor really put the chase on and they dont hold back scoffing the lot.

[sweresy]

mate have you tried giving a small 'circle' style hook a go.? i would suggest to slightly downsize your livey (if possible) and back your drag right off. When it takes off slowly tighten down your drag (not striking) and lift the rod. The design of the hook should just slip round into the corner of the mouth. Oh yeh and i usually pin the livey between the dorsal and tail just enough to hold it into the flesh. my 2 cents. cheers

[Eug]

add a stinger to the tail.

[daveylad]

What I learned from Tugger was a circle hook through the top of the back I think he uses a 4 or 5, Last time I put a small weight one and was hit by an unstobable so i reckon if theres a bit of a current use a bit of weight it would also depend on the condition of the live bait.

[Bri The Pom]

When i think there are jewies i switch on the baitrunner lever on my reel and when they run with a very light setting i calmly count to four and then strike. I think jewies must not strike early. I hook through the nose/eyes with a small sinker. Just my opinion.

[Schmuck]

I've found that in high current the bait swims alot better with the hook through the nose so as Eug said add a stinger treble around the anal fin of the mullet.

[Mr FeLiX]

sweresy wrote:

mate have you tried giving a small 'circle' style hook a go.? i would suggest to slightly downsize your livey (if possible) and back your drag right off. When it takes off slowly tighten down your drag (not striking) and lift the rod. The design of the hook should just slip round into the corner of the mouth. Oh yeh and i usually pin the livey between the dorsal and tail just enough to hold it into the flesh. my 2 cents. cheers

That's generally the technique I would use, but I started off usind mustad 'big mouth' fine wire hooks, pretty effective on flathead it seems.

Felix

[ellicat]

Here's my two methods for the faster current stuff.

A with a small sinker (if required)

B for faster currents where I want the fish to still have a bit of free swimming rather than being pinned.

Hooks are snelled/snood. The one at the front takes all the pressure and the rear is between the lateral line and the backbone.

I agree with the strike method others have said. Slow the line down rather than quickly stopping it suddenly or too quickly as you may just pull the bait from the fish's mouth.

[dassa]

As drawing shows the first one works well for me and as swersey said try circle hook's they should pin the fish in the corner of the mouth

cheers dassa

[thriller]

I'm thinking this happens all the time.

So I will give the stinger rig a go.

I have to place the hook through the head as the current is too strong for anything else.

Pretty darn frustrating to see the fish take the bait over and over and leave me with the hook. lol

I will try again tonight for the third night in a row.

Stay tuned for Photo's if I get on to the buggers.y

Thanks for the help everyone :ta: