How to cast live baits?

[DJS]

Hi all

New to this forum - I have done a bit of a search on how to cast out live baits, and it has come up with donuts, so I was wondering how people do it?

I know you are supposed to hook small fish twice, once behind the head, the other time in the tail, but it you use a bit of lead then give them a hoik into the river, won't they just fly off the hooks? as they appear to be pretty minimally hooked in order to retain their liveness?

I know some people use kayaks etc to set baits but what oter options are there?

Also, what size live baits are people using for sharks? I have seen posts of 30cm luderick being used, so how do you lob one of those out into the river? As far a as catfish go - what size have people used on sharks? 15-25cm?

Thanks

Dave

[Do$tylz]

Mate just don't thrown them out into the water like you are going for the fish throwing olympics.

And the smoothest motion possible as well.

You'll find that most livie's stay on with no dramas. I find sometimes they stick better than prawns that you get from a frozen prawn.

[DJS]

So just by the tail and out as far as possible? Also, how much lead can you use with them?

[Angus]

Mate you should be able to cast most livies, herring and prawns are a little delicate but mullet are as tough as leather.

Basically go for the smoothest cast possible. If its smooth it will be fine. Its only if it jerks or what that it might come off.

Angus

[kevinchen19870316]

try hardyheads and mullets, it's hard to pull the hooks out of them when u wanna change ur bait

[Do$tylz]

Where you hook your livie is up to you and conditions. I alternate between tail, shoulder, through bottom lip to top lip.

Sinker size, I haven't every really gone much bigger than thumb tip size sinker (dunno what number size that is), but I couldn't imagine sinker size really making all that much difference.

Smoothness of casting is the most important part.

[ellicat]

Do$tylz, Would you mind putting up a pic of your thumb please ?

[Fisher_90]

Lol

[DJS]

I was more imaging going for a hammer throw/discus motion rather than casting them... well i'll give it a go and see how it travels.

Cheers

Dave

[werewolf]

DJS wrote:

I know you are supposed to hook small fish twice, once behind the head, the other time in the tail, but it you use a bit of lead then give them a hoik into the river, won't they just fly off the hooks?

.

.

Also, what size live baits are people using for sharks? I have seen posts of 30cm luderick being used, so how do you lob one of those out into the river? As far a as catfish go - what size have people used on sharks? 15-25cm?

Dave depends on what size sharks you are chasing. The river is full of sharks around the metre mark, but there is smaller numbers of the bigger ones.

If you are targeting the smaller sharks, they will tend to take the livie whole if it is small enough, and they are more likely to do so if it isn't full of metal!

The 15-25cm bait is okay for bigger sharks, but you will get more hits with a 10-15 cm livie. As the other boys have said, herring are crap for casting, but mullet go great guns. I use a massive sinker and have no probs. Go for a lob, more than a sharp flickB)

[adri4n]

Hey dave, good to see you here on the forum

I usually hook my livies the same way, one in the tail which I make deeper and in the head, which is really very shallow, so essentially most of the weight bearing is on the hook in the tail, I've done this with alot of livies and they seem to be ok with it, I've even released livies after 20 mins in the water to no ill effect.

Also I find that if you have a rod with a fibreglass tip, or one that is full fibreglass or with more flex and whippy, they are much gentler on the livebait and won't tend to rip out your hooks as much as the stiffer rods.

[faulked]

im guessing your talking baits to big to cast when using 2kg and above baits i normally drift them out with a baloon i tie a piece of spare line to my main line where i want the balloon set then i knot the balloon ove that piece of line and under a sharp jerk or two it will release and let bait sink to the bottom you can even do this with a 40lb raY 2 house bricks for sinkers and six metres of wire the only thing you need it wind and tide in your favour:) :)

[Cliffy]

faulked wrote:

im guessing your talking baits to big to cast when using 2kg and above baits i normally drift them out with a baloon i tie a piece of spare line to my main line where i want the balloon set then i knot the balloon ove that piece of line and under a sharp jerk or two it will release and let bait sink to the bottom you can even do this with a 40lb raY 2 house bricks for sinkers and six metres of wire the only thing you need it wind and tide in your favour:) :)

Well said faulked...I'm with you on the issue of balloons, and add the following for whatever value it's worth. After many pointless hours of following the Minister of the Treasury around Spotlight stores, it occurred to me to question whether this (rather boring) experience could be livened up a bit by looking around for fishing connections, and you bet it could :woohoo:! Who'd have thought it - fishing gear in a bl@@dy haberdashers shop, but there it was - oversize balloons. I've used these a couple of times on really REALLY big baits and they're just the ticket as they're about twice the size of normal balloons and seem to be made of somewhat thicker material.

Can't believe I've just written all that about sodding balloons :blush: - must need to wet a line!

[ellicat]

Ahaha...can't wait for your next post Cliffy....knitting needles perhaps:laugh: :laugh:

[faulked]

spotlight also sells 3metre sewing tapes very handie on bigger fish and tackle/sewing trays and velcro to fix your boat vinyl for cusions and yes even large teddy bear needles for deadbaiting feathers for lures bells for jingle jangles all sorts of stuff my misses has been dragging me there for years mate:laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

[Do$tylz]

ellicat wrote:

Do$tylz, Would you mind putting up a pic of your thumb please ?

Hahaha...:laugh:

I just realised that we were talking about shark fishing here.:S

So let me re-phrase that. More like at least a sinker the size of both of my thumbs put together.