Bait, Burley and Fluorocarbon?

Pier Fishing, Rock Fishing and general land based fishing around Melbourne
dezza68
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Bait, Burley and Fluorocarbon?

Post by dezza68 » Thu Sep 20, 2018 10:03 am

Been doing a bit of gearing up for snapper season and one of things I'm trying to do is not take so much gear. Walking into some spots is not easy, so taking less kit makes sense.
This made me think about the "essentials" being fresh bait, burley and good leader material, are they really essential
So fresh bait, does it have to be fresh? I personally think that any fish that will take a static dead bait is obviously not adverse to a bit of scavenging. So is fresh really best for fish that are opportunistic feeders? Does stinky old bait give off more smell than fresh in the wate?. If you think of it we rarely use "fresh" burley, any old stuff will do and some say the smellier the better.
I have been consistantly fishing fresh and unfresh baits and honestly can't say I have found a difference.
I have used fresh and unfresh burley and again can't see any difference. In fact I'm still not sold on the whole burley idea landbased. In PPB there is not enough tide to disperse it so unless you are sitting on a school, I don't think it will attract them from elsewhere. I have fished at Blairgowrie and burleyed up, but it didn't pull the school in from where I could see them, even though what tide there is, was going in the right direction. It does though hold a shoal when you get them in the trail. On the otherside in WPB, the spots I fish the tide runs too quickly and disperses the trail, so again Im not confident it does much to bring fish too you, but it may keep them there if they turn up.
So fluorocarbon? So when Im fishing in clear and shallow water, I do think I have a better hook up rate, I have tried the same breaking strain line in yellow and have seen fish shy away, although red line doesn't seem to bother them, again is this another myth? adding red beads or tubing as an attractant, as red is the first wavelength of light to be filtered out by water.
In the less clear and deeper water I can't see any difference. I have tied up bright yellow traces in 40kg mono and it made no difference.
So this snapper season, the only fresh bait I'll use is what I catch on the day, Im not carrying in any burley and will just use plain old mono leaders instead of the expensive stuff.
Will this make any difference? Well it will make the walk in easier not carrying kgs of burley, might make a difference to the confidence by not stressing over fresh bait. If it all fails I'll just cheat and go out in the boat :)
Would be interested to see if there are differring experiences.

fishnut
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Re: Bait, Burley and Fluorocarbon?

Post by fishnut » Thu Sep 20, 2018 10:19 am

There's been a few occasions while fishing for reds not getting a touch,then when the surface burley started attracting baitfish (gars/slimeys) and i get a few an put them straight on the hook didn't take long to have rods buckling
So my opinion the fresher the better

dezza68
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Re: Bait, Burley and Fluorocarbon?

Post by dezza68 » Thu Sep 20, 2018 11:05 am

fishnut wrote:There's been a few occasions while fishing for reds not getting a touch,then when the surface burley started attracting baitfish (gars/slimeys) and i get a few an put them straight on the hook didn't take long to have rods buckling
So my opinion the fresher the better
Just wonder if that’s just a case of changing the bait to what the fish are feeding on?

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Re: Bait, Burley and Fluorocarbon?

Post by hornet » Thu Sep 20, 2018 11:43 am

A saying I've heard over and over is if you wouldn't eat the bait yourself (cooked for you / fresh for bait) .....the fish won't like it much either.
He who has the most fishing rods WINS ! :ts:

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Re: Bait, Burley and Fluorocarbon?

Post by Lightningx » Thu Sep 20, 2018 12:03 pm

I have never taken kilos of burley when I go lb fishing for reds. If I think back to most of my best sessions I haven’t had to burley at all. We were only using frozen bait bought from the local servo as well. Have never used Fluro leaders and caught plenty of big ones mate :)

dezza68
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Re: Bait, Burley and Fluorocarbon?

Post by dezza68 » Thu Sep 20, 2018 12:12 pm

[quote="Lightningx"]I have never taken kilos of burley when I go lb fishing for reds. If I think back to most of my best sessions I haven’t had to burley at all. We were only using frozen bait bought from the local servo as well. Have never used Fluro leaders and caught plenty of big ones mate :)[/quote

I agree, we eat food that has been frozen all the time and can’t tell the difference so why would a fish be able too?

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Re: Bait, Burley and Fluorocarbon?

Post by DougieK » Thu Sep 20, 2018 12:24 pm

People get carried away talking in absolutes.

You don't NEED the freshest bait possible to catch a fish but it will improve your chances.

You don't NEED fluro carbon but some people like to use it, especially when finesse fishing.

You definitely don't need berley but situationally it can be extremely effective.

You don't NEED to be able to cast a mile but sometimes it really really helps.

I can keep going forever but you get the idea. Research tactics, take the time to prepare and give yourself the best possible chance of catching the fish you're chasing. Sometimes not everything is going to be perfect but you'll get a fish anyway.
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Mattblack
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Re: Bait, Burley and Fluorocarbon?

Post by Mattblack » Thu Sep 20, 2018 12:50 pm

I'm pretty time poor, so when I do get an opportunity to go out I prep as best as I can...so best bait/burley I can find, quality terminal tackle etc.
All of it is probably unnecessary, but it gives me the illusion I've given it my best shot.
I think burley is good for holding the fish in an area more so than drawing them in.....just like feeding chips to seagulls.

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Re: Bait, Burley and Fluorocarbon?

Post by ChristianGoneFishing » Thu Sep 20, 2018 3:24 pm

Agree with what has been said earlier. These things just improve your chances and are often situational. Also agree burley is best for holding fish but have also experienced first hand a school moving towards us following the burley trail and then holding, often being the only people in the area catching anything as a result. But again it's not always the case. I have seen schools blow by uninterested also.

With bait, I have caught flathead with chewing gum, snapper with smelly chicken, but probably had more success with fresh bait.

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Re: Bait, Burley and Fluorocarbon?

Post by StarrangerAU » Thu Sep 20, 2018 3:28 pm

My two quid:
Regarding FluroCarbon - when fishing land-based from piers and the like, I usually will use the Fluro so the other mugs can see where my line is and not keep casting over my frickin lines. I've changed tactics now and go fishing when the mugs don't or won't. I do have a suspicion the fluro-carbon has impacted my catch rate of Pinkies, as that has petered off poorly in the past 10 months.

Regarding Berley - My experience recently at Portland was that hanging a netted bag of fish-heads and frames worked wonders in bringing feeding activity into my vicinity, I was very impressed and will do it as often as I can. My other success has been to make tennis ball sized homemade frozen berly balls and throw one out to where I am fishing every 15mins.

Regarding Fresh Bait - For me , this varies dependent upon the targeted species, for reds I abide by the mantra that fresh is better. I suspect though most scavenging species won't pass up servo squid, prawn, pippi, or pilli if offered. In the estuary the worms and yabbies must always be fresh. Tip: try fresh mussels they stay on longer than Pippis and appeal to mostly the same species. (available from Coles, look for Australian saltwater washed (not frozen) in a sealed vacuum bag from the grower $7/kilo bag)

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