Baits on the bottom vs suspended baits

[thriller]

I have been spending vast amounts of time live baiting or lure fishing,

I guess like most of you are, but maybe not as much as some of you of course.

I have been thinking about trying to fish with my live bait off the bottom a little,

say 1 to 2 meters or so I guess. Just want to change it up a bit, possibly reduce the stingray

catches etc,

What do you think? Is it worth the effort, or a waste of time?

Thanks for your reply's in advance..:cheer:

[tiotony]

I find I get heaps more hits a metre or 2 above the bottom, catch less vermin too. If I can get away with fishing completely unweighted dramatically more so, but of course current is a factor then. In heavy current/deep water have used a paternoster rig a couple of metres above the sinker with success too.

[hunter armytage]

Hi Thriller,

I have to agree with tiotony , getting the bait of the bottom will certainly help improve the satandard of your catches , unless you like catching rays and catties of course as these are essentially scavengers searching around the bottom for what ever they can eat so if your baits up above them you generaly dont catch to many.

As well as the paternoster rig mentioned earlier I also use a sliding swivel on the main line with a small crimp at about a 1metre from the bottom and another about 2.5 metre up with the swivel inbetween and around 600mm of branch line comming off to the hook and bait.

This works well in my experience in the river as you can present the bait naturally in reasonable current without it twisting around the mainline.

[tiotony]

Thats a great idea with the running swivel and crimp stopper, I'm definately gonna try that.

[Joel Eadie]

hey mate are you LB or in a boat? land based would be pretty hard cas of wind, current and not knowing the depth

[dansike]

hey mick, I find its hard to keep your bait suspended just a few metres off the bottom while fishing LB in the river, by the way i caught nothing after you left today.

[eg_vtec]

i usually run longer leader instead. find it to work well too

[thriller]

This information I am gathering will be for fishing from a boat or bridge.

I will try it out soon.

Anyone want to pm me with a Coomera Jack fishing spot? (boat)

Probably not but it can't hurt to ask.

cheers, MJ.