The boatsales guide to making bait

Hyabusa bait jigs have been around for a long while now and they have revolutionised bait catching, with yellowtail, slimy mackerel, even nannygai lining up to commit suicide on their multiple hooks.

A handy tip from a commercial fisherman is to replace the bait jigs every day, especially if slimy mackerel are the desired bait species.

The jig might look ok, but the chemically sharpened hooks are often slightly bent or blunt, and for whatever reason tattered wings don’t perform as well and soon lose their mojo.

For the sake of a couple of bucks, throw the jigs away and start afresh. When the bait ground is crowded, there’s nothing better than getting in and getting out with a talk full of slimies while everyone else is still wiping sleep from their eyes.

The alternative to bait jigs is a berley trail of bread and minced pilchards, perhaps with a dash of tuna oil, and a light split shot-weighted handline with a size 10 hook on the end.

If trolling live bait rather than fishing on the drift or at anchor, unhook those slimies by hand rather than flicking them off over the tank’s edge, as torn lips mean the bait won’t track straight.

Don’t overload the bait tank, either, especially if the baits have been caught using berley, which they’ll almost certainly regurgitate.

Remove any that are struggling for use as dead baits. And before leaving the bait ground, dump a few bucketfuls of fresh seawater in to refresh the tank, as this will turn the water over faster than relying on the pump to do it.

A cord line is an efficient and fun way of putting a few striped and mack tuna or frigate mackerel in the boat. A length of VB cord tied to a plumbing O ring for shock absorption, a large ball bearing swivel, and a feather jig, Christmas tree, or Aussie-as Smith’s jig rigged on heavy mono and you’re in the game. These species are also entertainment personified on light game tackle.

A 7.0-foot spin stick rigged with a chrome baitfish profile is a good way of catching surface-feeding school tuna that might otherwise be hard to approach with trolled lures. This is also a lot of fun!

If intended as future skip baits, gill and gut the tuna without breaking the throat latch, then cryovac to preserve those all-important colours. Cryovacing baits also stops them drying out and protects fins from damage.

Tuna tubes, and their smaller counterparts the slimy tubes, are stainless or PVC cylinders usually fitted to a boat transom and fed via a high volume pump to keep the aforementioned small tuna alive until they can be deployed.

These are a sound investment where marlin chasing is part of the summer fishing program.

If there’s a bait netter operating locally, you’ll find his pilchards are a superior option to the WA variety (which are more than acceptable the rest of the time). The same applies to local garfish.

If you have any pillies that are going a bit soft by the end of the day, throw a handful of coarse salt in with them and they’ll be good to go next time.