TACTICS By Jono Booysen
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WO or three decades ago the hottest topic in deep sea angling was which tackle shop had stock of top-quality sardines. This was followed by a mad dash to said establishment to join the fray as anglers jockeyed to get their hands on the precious merchandise. I can clearly remember opening up boxes and inspecting the eyes, stomach and skin colour before settling on those that passed my quality control test. If I was feeling extravagant a few mackerel were added to the basket before checkout. And should there be a sign saying “Fresh Bonnies” it was like a COVID-19 panic buying spree! Fast forward to our current day and there is less hype about fresh dead bait, or certainly nowhere near that of yesteryear. The focus has definitely shifted from dead bait to that with a pulse. Livebaiting for gamefish and bottomfish has become more and more of a rave among offshore anglers, even those old salts who used to religiously fish with deadbait. This might be due to the increasing accessibility of this bait source or due to the improved results that they produce. Either way, I can quite happily spend two hours in the morning looking for livebait — ostensibly sacrificing valuable fishing time — just so that I arrive at my marks with a well full of livies. My plan
14 • SKI-BOAT May/June 2020
regularly produces pulls continuously throughout the day as compared to the other boats that opted to fish with deadbait during the early morning bite which only lasted a short time before the fish became fussy and pulled their noses up at anything other than a livie. There have been many “how to” and “back to basics” articles on catching and storing livebait, so for the purposes of this article I will not be focusing on that aspect. Instead I will start from where you take the bait out the livewell and want to rig it up to target a gamefish or bottomfish. There are countless methods to rig up a livebait and just as many factors that influence your choice on which method to use. These include things such as target species, fishing method, depth of water, strength of tackle, how you want the bait to swim — the list goes on. The first decision you will make about how you are going to rig a bait depends on the species you are targeting. The main factor will be whether they have sharp teeth or not. This will dictate if wire is needed or not. If you are targeting ’cuda and wahoo — fish that feed by slicing baitfish and need to be hooked up on the strike, with no feeding time — I would suggest armour plating the livie with wire.
