Rigs for livebaiting

[darkside Robbo]

never had a go at fishing with live baits and have read some interesting reports where live baiting has been used.

Just wondered what sort of rigs and methods for livebaiting from the shore there are ? was thinkin small makie and pout as the bait

Thanks in advace

[sallysludgebucket]

For light work in reasonably close ( anything but a mild cast will deem any live bait deseased bait ! LOL ) I prefer a float with either an drilled egg lead 2 thirds the way down the drop and a single circle on the bottom. Or a float with the lead on the bottom with a fine boom and circle on a flowing snood. I have used a patanoster rig with some success, but movement seems to win over fixed.

A great way to play is cast a decent weight lead out in deepish water with a bead fixed in place with silicone twists either side on whatever drop you choose to cast with. Then if you can stand the funny looks for bystanders as you confidently have cast a plain weight with no hooks out, clip on a snood on a clip & swivel, with circle hook and live bait, hold your rod up high and let the livebait do the work of sliding off down the line. Helps if you hold the rod high to increase the angle, or use a long rod.

Remember not to strike a circle hook, give the bite time to develop and lift into the fish which in most cases is mouth hooked.

[darkside Robbo]

Thanks sally thats great!

Couple of questions (prob silly ones)
what sort of float and what size would u use? (surely it ould have to be fairly big to stop the bait pulling it under constantly)

Also I read from Mike Ladle's site he setup a float with circle hook but no weight have u ever tried fishing with that setup?

Thanks again

[thebigman]

Try a bubble float (circular) they have plugs so you can add a bit of water so you can cast. Just tie main line to one end of the float and clip a snood to the other end and away you go.
As for the live bait pulling it under-it depends on what your using.....99% of the time i use eels and prawns and neither of those are going to pull a bubble float under.
Hope that helps

[steve w]

Sally we call the livebait rig you described the Indiana Jones rig,after you clip on the swivel as the livebait is sliding to the sea surface you and everyone around you starts humming the Indiana Jones theme tune!That does get you some strange looks that turn green when you wind in your pollack or bass,then the people who gave you the strange looks sidle over to examine your rig!We tell them that after extensive research the technique only works if the theme tune is hummed as the livebait descends.It's surprising how many fall for it and begin humming as their bait descends.

[sallysludgebucket]

Even if I use a float and free line, I still use a weight directly under the float or a weighted float to be able to cast it out. I know Shakespeare do some great loaded pencil pike floats in quite large sizes.

I have a range of floats from basic course fishing balsa chubbers for a live sprat to panda pop bottles for joey mackeral, poly balls, bubble floats, and any old lomp of polystrene if I am feeling really tight ! LOL

Match the float size to the bait, rig, weight, tackle and distance required to achieve results and you cant go far wrong. I dont dot the float top right down if their is a bit of chop, but leave a good inch-2 inches showing on a large fat sea float. Dotting it down all but level with the surface reduces risistance on the take for some wary species.

A cool trick is to set up your float rig at home, mono mainline with a clip at both ends, a bead either side of the straight through float and either stops of twists of silicon to be able to set the depth. I usually poke a bit of garden wire through the float to start off with and add weighs until I know what it takes and write it on the float. If I am fishing baited hoikies I can omit a small weight easily, so a selection of various adjusting weights is better than a handful of say 1 oz.
Push the float inside a length of foam insulation and secure the clips with map pins. I colour co-ordinate them, green is deep, yellow is medium and red is shallow. Then I can chop and change rigs easily by clipping on another, if the live bait isnt working, I try baited hoikis at times adding a Dexter or Toby type lure on the bottom instead of a weight and gently working it. On the longer feathers I have made I add live sprats and small sandeels when I can catch the little blighters.

[King Of Leon]

ive used a rig where you tie a smaller hook on to a larger hook so its about an inch away. then bait up the smaller hook and wait ,hopefully you will get a pout or small whiting . then when a bigger fish comes in , he will take the prey and get hooked up himself. i have tried this a few times and only had one good run off it ,which i think was a conger(missed him). in my theory its hard enough to hook one fish on the same rig ......let alone two!

[King Of Leon]

for bass , i have caught some small mackeral on feathers then just hooked them through the lip and free lined them..........this can be very effective!

[darkside Robbo]

great advice guys thanks

[Bass-ic Instinct]

Ahhh the Lucozade bottle float! a great bit of improvisation for fishing decent sized lie baits such as joey mackerel. Thats the purpose of why the lid was orange! Perhaps not amybe but they do suspend bigger live baits well. Other floats which can be made cheaply at home are polly ball floats, although finding a supply can be hard. Pike floats are very good, why not try a pike drift float such as those from Leeda or Fox although be warned these can cost between £3-5 depending on size and brand. These are interesting as they allow you to trot the float out in the tide, or with a strong breeze, rather similar to the ballon float method used to catch tope and sharks off a boat.