Live Baiting

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Advice on Buying Live Baiting

Live Baiting - an excellent way to target Kingfish...

Live baiting is mainly used for targeting Kingfish but is also used to target other species such as like large Snapper and can even be used to target game fish like Marlin, Hapuka and Blue Nose.Show More...

Gear used is similar to that of deep sea fishing. Balloons are used in shallow water which keeps the live bait off the bottom so the 'livie' doesn't get lost in the reef. Use cotton to tie the balloon on so the balloon can break away when a fish strikes.

In deeper water a Ledger rig is dropped on the edge of a reef to get the live bait in amongst the schools of fish down below.

Some people troll live baits at very low speeds to cover more territory.

15-24 kilo gear is used and so are both monofilament and braid. Mono has stretch which absorbs impact and retains pressure on the fish while braid can go slack and the hook can fall out. However braid does give extra sensitivity to the activity of the fish.

Livies are caught using Sabikis. Livies are mainly found around wharfs, shallow reefs, harbours and estuaries. Once you catch livies you need to store them in a live bait tank. A continous water feed is critical to survival of the livies. If you catch a livie that's bleeding, it's best to throw it away as it can contaminate the water and die. Only retain good fresh livies.

There are multiple ways of rigging live bait. For Kahawai, the most common way is to place the hook through the back of the fish behind the dorsal fin. For yellow tail, feed the hook through the nose of the fish.

Heavy duty trace is required for live baiting (100 lb to 300 lb). Larger fish are likely to swim and bust the line on foul or rocks so 1 to 4m of trace can absorb the impact of the line being caught up in the foul.

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