Shallow water bronzies

[ducky]

G'day guys.

Have started dedicating a bit more time to going for whiting. Small sharp sessions on a single tide and have been getting good results. I'm going to start bringing out 1-2 heavier rods to drop bronzie baits out the back. In the past I'd fished dedicated sessions chasing them in deeper water where you can fish a 4m wire rig with large twin hooks between 4-10m down. However I'll be fishing between 2-6m deep on average. Last time I tried in this depth I hooked 3 black rays which resulted in 2 destroyed rigs and an awful lot of wasted time.

Does anyone target them in shallow water in ray country. What rig do you think I should use? Part of me is thinking a 100-200lb wire rig with a single 9/0 hook about 1.5m long leader and fished 1.5m down with fairly small baits. Half a whiting or similar. It will mean any 8 foot or larger sharks are unlikely to be landed. But the smaller stuff is still have potential. I'm doing it for the table so would only take up to anbout ann 80kg fish. Interested in feedback if you've done it before.

[cobby]

Tie the balloon to the swivel/snap swivel a bit over the metre mark from the hook. You'll still get the occasional car bonnet sized rays/skate

[ducky]

Tie the balloon to the swivel/snap swivel a bit over the metre mark from the hook. You'll still get the occasional car bonnet sized rays/skate

So only run 1m of wire?

What size wire and hooks would you go with for the smaller units?

[cobby]

200lb with a single 10/0 is fine with a similar or slightly heavier wind on/shock leader. If push comes to shove you can always up anchor and get towed around or give chase. Most are only going to be that 40-120kg mark as it is anyway. You're really just trying to get the bait as far away from the bottom as you can without having it to close to the surface

[ducky]

Yeah sweet as. I'll crimp up a few tonight.

When you say a 10/0 do you mean a jobu suicide or just the standard big circles you can get?

[ducky]

For the record I've rigged up a couple of big boi J hooks. An owner Jobu and something else that was in the tackle tray haha.

[cobby]

Any hook is fine. Mustad 7699D, Owner Jobu etc etc. Could mix in a bigger hook if you feel like it. Realistically you'll be putting about 8kg of pressure maximum if you're running 15kg outfits so your only real issues would be potential tail wraps, which the wind on helps with, and a bigger shark crushing the hook if you've pinned it in the corner of the jaw. Run a decent berley trail, largely fish oil based to keep the rays down. Can even throw a livey like a big Cowanyoung or medium Salmon on to deter the rays who'd much rather a dead bait. Then it's just the waiting game

[ben475]

i look forward to seeing a pic when you get one.

[ducky]

i look forward to seeing a pic when you get one.

I've dropped so many toothies in wpb and recently Welshpool over the years. So yeah I'm looking forward to finally landing one.

As it turns out the other hook is rigged up was a mustad 7699D. Touched them both up on the diamond stone. Livey has got me thinking. I might throw in the needles and pin a whiting out the back live. Hopefully avoid the rays this way

[e.welch]

G'day guys.

Have started dedicating a bit more time to going for whiting. Small sharp sessions on a single tide and have been getting good results. I'm going to start bringing out 1-2 heavier rods to drop bronzie baits out the back. In the past I'd fished dedicated sessions chasing them in deeper water where you can fish a 4m wire rig with large twin hooks between 4-10m down. However I'll be fishing between 2-6m deep on average. Last time I tried in this depth I hooked 3 black rays which resulted in 2 destroyed rigs and an awful lot of wasted time.

Does anyone target them in shallow water in ray country. What rig do you think I should use? Part of me is thinking a 100-200lb wire rig with a single 9/0 hook about 1.5m long leader and fished 1.5m down with fairly small baits. Half a whiting or similar. It will mean any 8 foot or larger sharks are unlikely to be landed. But the smaller stuff is still have potential. I'm doing it for the table so would only take up to anbout ann 80kg fish. Interested in feedback if you've done it before.

If you don’t want to catch rays you have to run baits that are rays themself any fishy bait will guarantee you catch rays whereas if you run stingray for bait you will get sharks and no rays and you will still catch the same sharks that you would have caught running fleshy baits