Live Bait Shore Fishing

Tracina · April 20, 2011, 20:16:54 CET

Used three rods. Two 40-90 g action and one 120 g action... Fishing with live bait!!! See attachments for setup and catches MO-FO!

Let's start from the bait: went fishing near the creek's harbour area in the afternoon in order to get it. 5m rod (Bolognese) 0.14 monofilament in the spool, and 0.10

for the hooklength. 2 g float, and #16 hook. Bait: bread&cheese paste. You never really know what you're going to catch, but mostly Mullet (Mugil cephalus), Sparli (Diplodus annularis) and Salpa (Sarpa salpa). Believe me catching them with 0.10 is easy, but boy do you have to be good with the reel's breaking system . People often think you are playing a big fish and seem disappointed when you finally bring to shore a 10-15 cm fish!!! But sooo much fun. To keep them alive I just place them in a bucket full of sea water. While I fish I try to change the water often as they need cold oxygenated water. Then I ran home (emptied and re-filled the bucket one more time to the brim) and shoved an aquarium oxygenator in the bucket. Covering it up with a cloth seems to help calm the fish down and reduce stress. Yesterday I kept 5 bait fish: 1 Vopi, 3 Sparli and 1 Salpa (no mullet). You don't need many; if you know how to hook them up they stay alive for a long time (1-2 hours). AFTER DINNER, I WENT FISHING.

What was I targeting? Barracuda for sure as I keep on seeing them patrolling the shore, but any predator really. It mostly depends on whether you "bottom fish", or "surface fish". Last night I decided to do a bit of both:

2 classic running ledger rigs with 2m hook lengths to give the bait more freedom to move.

1 TELEFERICA. This is a particular technique that allows us to fish far from shore WITHOUT STRESSING the bait fish with a cast. Basically you prepare a rod (I used the 120g action) and just mount the lead. CAST AS FAR OUT AS YOU CAN. (At this point no hook!!!!!). Then just bring the line into tension and LEAVE THE ROD to the side. Prepare a hooklength with a swivel on one side and the hook on the other ***. Attach the bait fish to the hook IN THE BUCKET (try to avoid stressing it). DON'T KILL IT. One hook in the BACK is usually enough, TWO if the bait fish is big (ONE IN THE BACK, ONE IN THE TAIL). When you are ready, and you have "hooked" the bait fish, take the swivel and attach it to the main line you have cast out. Simply allow the swivel to run down on the tight line you have cast out. Help it by moving the rod a bit. The fish swims out. ***SOMETIMES the (MO-FO) fish tends to swim back to shore rather than going out... Add a weight just below the swivel of the hooklength as this will force the hooklength DOWN dragging the bait fish with it. GIVE IT TIME. Eventually the little fish will go much further than if you had cast it out. But mostly, IT IS ALIVE, and stays so for a looooooooong time.

You have to be careful with bite detection and setting the hook. Remember the hooklength is running FREE on the main line so you will usually see the rod fly "sideways" when you get a bite. Start retrieving but remember that you will only really set the hook when the hooklength has travelled all the way down to your lead.

Tracina forever!!!!!!!!

twoutes · April 21, 2011, 00:17:57 CET

Very intersting way of getting the live bait out there, and l like how it can move along the water column. Thanks for sharing that information.

robby017 · April 21, 2011, 09:41:03 CET

well done, very interesting i must say!!!!

The_Gaffer · April 21, 2011, 10:07:46 CET

Very interesting read, and quite a unique technique. Well done.

malvizzu · April 21, 2011, 11:39:59 CET

Interesting indeed and makes lot of sense in not stressing the live bait. Thanks for sharing. To keep live bait you can also use the fish net (barrada)

suffrun · April 22, 2011, 16:33:29 CET

well done and interesting read indeed!!

debarry · August 04, 2011, 09:15:41 CET

A great idea. New to fishing forum and the maltese fishing. Did all mine in UK but now I am living here so need all the help I can get. Will give this one a try. Thanks for info.

skip · August 04, 2011, 15:26:23 CET

Excellent article, and genuine sharing of a truly unique technique that I haven't come across before. It's been a long long time since a post of such quality and detailed information sharing has come on the forum, and a big thanks to Tracina for sharing.

He could have easily kept all of this to himself, but instead chose to share with the entire community

(Topic Stickied)

guido99 · August 04, 2011, 16:27:31 CET

Excellent post, thanks for sharing.

framerc · August 04, 2011, 17:02:08 CET

Excellent idea, Thanks

lapsi · August 10, 2011, 18:35:33 CET

Well done and thank you for the info on this type of system.....regarding line thickness what do you use and do you use braid?

(proset u grazzi ta l informazzjoni ta din is sistema...... rigward hxuna ta harira xtuza u tuza xi braid?)

Maria · November 29, 2011, 12:26:31 CET

X'jigifieri meta tghid 40g-60g action? Grazzi.

robby017 · November 29, 2011, 12:49:47 CET

its the casting capability of the rod..... you should not use less or more than what is recommended by the manufacturer as it will result in damage to the rod, eventually breaking it.

rule3 · July 27, 2012, 09:08:31 CET

Hi, what would stop the sliding swivel at the bottom in case the weight is stuck?

Simon G · July 27, 2012, 12:52:56 CET

a stop knot with a bead (used in running floats) should do the job