[steve2_1]

reading through various internet pages, ive heard this is a good way to get a big bass or other preditor fish on the shore, especialy rocky shore lines.....

*catch a smallish maccy, say a good size joey
*handling as little as possible, hook it lightly with a 6-0 hook through the top jaw
*use nothing else tackle wise, just a hook
*release bailarm, release maccy letting it swim off, allow it to take about 30 ish meters of line
*swing back bail arm, allow said maccy to swim around on its own accord (this will appear as a constant knocking of the rod tip)


and if you follow this exacly, with a bit of luck and patience, a specimen sized bass will be had. this would be indicated by the rod having a very hefty knock, followed by a lot of line taken (set drag accordingy)

has anyone used this technique, and where? how did you do?!
im going to give it a go next time im out, it sounds promising and quite rewarding if it goes well

 

[peachie 48]

Not fished this method before but I have float fished small live mackies lots of times at different venues. Can be very good but you need to scale up your gear to do it using a float big enough to handle the bait. You also need a bit of space or you will end up crossing other anglers lines. I have fished this way early mornings on shoreham arm and taken bass up to 10lb but you do need small livebait.
Can also work with small bream too.

 

[sjp1979]

reading through various internet pages, ive heard this is a good way to get a big bass or other preditor fish on the shore, especialy rocky shore lines.....

*catch a smallish maccy, say a good size joey
*handling as little as possible, hook it lightly with a 6-0 hook through the top jaw
*use nothing else tackle wise, just a hook
*release bailarm, release maccy letting it swim off, allow it to take about 30 ish meters of line
*swing back bail arm, allow said maccy to swim around on its own accord (this will appear as a constant knocking of the rod tip)


and if you follow this exacly, with a bit of luck and patience, a specimen sized bass will be had. this would be indicated by the rod having a very hefty knock, followed by a lot of line taken (set drag accordingy)

has anyone used this technique, and where? how did you do?!
im going to give it a go next time im out, it sounds promising and quite rewarding if it goes well

Hiya mate its easier to try a 5oz weight or 6 so it gets the macky down as if it is just swimming anywhere with no weight chances are it will stay a distance from predator fish. so a heavey sinker and a nice trace with a hook on and then drop it either down wall or in close all depends on where your fishing, but without some kind of weight i think it would be harder to hook something as it would just act natural and keep away from areas where as if you were down wall where the bass prowl the bass has more chance of hitting it

 

[samfish]

Hiya mate its easier to try a 5oz weight or 6 so it gets the macky down as if it is just swimming anywhere with no weight chances are it will stay a distance from predator fish. so a heavey sinker and a nice trace with a hook on and then drop it either down wall or in close all depends on where your fishing, but without some kind of weight i think it would be harder to hook something as it would just act natural and keep away from areas where as if you were down wall where the bass prowl the bass has more chance of hitting it

Agreed, if you want to keep a live bait down by a structure/wall/pier then you will need a heavy weight to anchor it in place and stop it swimming away out of the predicted strike zone.

However, if you are fishing off a rock ledge, over a reef or even an open beach then Steves free-roaming technique would be my no.1 choice. I would personally use a circle hook though for efficiency of hooking. It's about as direct as you can get just you, rod, line and hook. It's an all or nothing technique though, you may have to endure a few blanks but eventually law of averages states you will get the result you are after. Good luck!

 

[fishermann]

My own favourite method is to cast a 5/6 oz. grip lead as far as you can, then when you have your joey hook as already mentioned (I prefer circle hooks as well) to a hook legnth of 3/4 feet, the other end has a link swivel which I then clip onto the line and let the fish do its own thing.
This way I search the whole area from the rocks to the grip lead.
I know you can`t strike doing it this way hence the circle hook.
Works for me anyway.

Dave

 

[syisafterbigbass]

Gotta be the oldest method in book i rekon , it does work i have seen it for myself not tried yet but will do this weekend as last weekend i saw one of the biggest bass ive seen out of the water done that exact way , she was released we were in shock for hours :fish:

 

[weste4]

http://www.mikeladle.com/archive/catch187.html this bloke knows pretty much everything about the bass