[Portland Bass Hunter]

My mate and I have been using live baits on and off over the last few months and have had quite a few takes which result int he bait coming back very dead with a big bite mark out of the gut through to the back, any ideas what fish maybe doing this?

I say fish because it is a definate fish mouth shape and not a mangled mess like that of a cuttlefish or squid attack......

 

[gusangus]

What baits were you using?? live sand eel and joey mackerel will attract bass. if it was live sand eel, when you hook it on pass the hook through the mouth and out through the gill plate and gently hook it into the soft underbelly not deeply hook just nick it . this will put the business end of the hook exactly where the bass will strike just behind the eye. For joey mackerel it's worth putting a pennel rig on wiith one hook through the top lip and the other just nicked into the flank again just behind the eye, hope this helps.

 

[Portland Bass Hunter]

Cheers for the reply,

The live baits were either Pout, Whiting or Poor Cod and fished from the shore.

I've had the same problem at both Chesil Beach and Weymouth Stone Pier. We have been using hair rigs so that the live bait is lip hooked on the lower smaller hook.

I'm going to keep trying as I get a lot of runs on live baits, but I think i'm going to re-think the method and adopt a bit more from my old days as a Pike Angler and start using a single hook in the lip of the bait and a treble in the flank.

 

[gusangus]

yup mate that will work

 

[blueskip]

I think you right on by using a treble in the flank, especially if the livebait is largish, the fish tend to try to kill it on the first strike, then swallow it at its next attempt.
I do it with "joey's" in the summer, a Mustad Viking 79515 in the lip & a treble with 1 barb crunched down, nicked in the flank, not foolproof but more effective!
blueskip

 

[Portland Bass Hunter]

Cheers Guys,

What size Joeys do you use from the shore?

As I said so far I've only been using pout and the like but hav'nt tried mackerel yet, and as we all know that is one fish that is easy to catch off chesil in the summer so plenty of bait availible!