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Irresistible live baits BUNDABERG
Luke Truant
Over the last couple of months the weather has been pretty bad. This has been good for the fish, which have had a break from fishing pressure, but very frustrating for anglers. Unfortunately, we can expect more bad weather in the coming weeks, as May is traditionally a windy month. For that reason, I recommend making the most of every weather window that pops up. If you let the opportunity pass you by, you could have a long wait before the next one comes along. On a better note, May is when you can start having blinder sessions live baiting for XOS fish. I strongly recommend sourcing live bait on every trip you make in May. I would start at the end leads (the east cardinal mark out from Bundaberg), and drop your sabiki rigs down around there to catch some yellowtail. Grab the maximum amount of livies that you can keep alive in your tank. The yellowtail caught in May are usually small (around pilchard size), so use smaller hooks on your sabiki rig than you’d use in June/ July, when the yellowtail are bigger. Using small hooks on small yellowtail will decrease the time it takes to get your livies, and thus maximise your fishing time. Everyone hates wasting time untangling sabiki rigs, and getting stabbed by the hooks, but you can avoid all this by purchasing a hollow sabiki rod (approx. $60-$90).
You can pre-rig them at home, and when you find the bait just open the bail arm and you’re catching livies in the first five seconds. It’s the ultimate, if you ask me. If you want to see what it’s like, search for “sabiki rod” on YouTube. When buying one of these rods, make sure it’s long enough so the whole jig sits inside. To keep your yellowtail alive, make sure your live bait tank has sufficient flow rate, or the fish could die. I personally have never seen one that can have too much water flow. I use a Polymate live bait tank which is rectangular – a controversial live well shape, because it’s generally accepted that livies do better in a circle/oval
shaped tank. However, I have a very low death rate because of huge water circulation, which compensates for the rectangular shape. Don’t top be afraid to turn the flow rate right up on the outlet of the tank. If you have good flow, you can pack the livies right in. If one of your yellowtail does die, you can turn it into a butterflied bait. These dead baits work well, usually better than a pilchard will. The big fish love livies so much at this time of year that you need to bring as many as you possibly can. It will be easily your best large fish fishing for the year. In May I run a boat full of livies and don’t bring much dead bait because you don’t need it. At
A hefty red caught last autumn. These fish are taking livies with gusto.
A solid large-mouth nannygai (saddletail snapper) caught around this time last year.
cod are good on the plate, but when you’re catching one after the other, they will tire anyone out. Big gold-spot cod are susceptible to barotrauma, so they can need some help to get back down. The best way is to puncture their air bladder with a syringe, and attach a heavy release weight to get the fish to the bottom. I made a DIY release weight using dive weights and a 12/0 hook with the barb crimped down. I recommend hooking the fish in the centre of the top lip, as this position makes it very difficult for a revived fish to take off with the weight. At this time of year you can still catch extra-large grassy sweetlip in the 5kg+ range. The grassies can be found in deeper water than they were earlier in the year; they’re now in around 30-40m of water. I like the scattered reef/rubbly bottom areas for these fish. On your sounder screen, the
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Trout come in a wide range of colours and patterns. other times of year, I usually recommend half the boat using dead bait to get the fish picking and create commotion, with the other half of the boat using livies. However, often you don’t need any dead baits in May. In any case, nobody wants to be the person who
might miss out on catching a big fish! When using livies you can expect big red emperor and trout, but unfortunately, big gold-spot cod love livies, too. In May when the cod get their first taste of live baits, they just can’t help themselves. True,
rubbly stuff is normally just one or two pixels of colour on top of the sand. That’s your best chance to get away from the sharks, too. I never fish under 50lb braid in these depths. We use 55lb Schneider leader (I believe 55lb Schneider is the
equivalent of 80lb due to its abrasion resistance). I love 15kg rods with a soft action tip and a fairly heavy base. I’m not a fan of really light jigging rods for this kind of fishing, because they bend to the butt and don’t give the angler much leverage or lift. Jigging rods have their place, but it’s not here. Spanish mackerel should still be around in good numbers this month (provided we’re still allowed to catch them). There are plenty around the 10kg mark taking trolled lures, and you can also catch them on live baits. I always like to have a livie out the back for a Spanish when I’m targeting bottom fish. This surface livie could also attract an extra-large snapper. May is the month where you start catching big snapper on the surface, in water up to 50m. Every 8kg+ snapper I’ve ever caught has been off the top. May is traditionally a great month to catch mud crabs, and they were certainly going off their heads at this time last year. In my personal experience, most of the crabs in May come from in shallow water, i.e. a depth where your pots get close to drying. With all the mullet getting caught, there should be good mullet frames available for crab pot bait. • Truansea Charters specialise in 10-hour day trips chasing prized reef targets such as coral trout and red emperor, as well as arm-stretching pelagics like Spanish mackerel. The maximum number of anglers is 6, so you’ll never feel crowded. The price is $350pp (or $330pp if you book the whole boat), which includes all gear, fuel, bait, ice, chilled water/soft drinks and laughs! You’re welcome to bring your own reef fishing gear if you prefer. Other charter options include half-day reef trips, half day river trips and private guiding. To find out more visit www.truansea.com.au, or you can Like them on Facebook or call Luke on 0423 015 490.
