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Livies!


anthman

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Hello all - thank you everyone who contributed to my other post about getting into soft plastics, it was an informative, fun and another to put some $$ into ><

To mix things up, I've decided to explore the world of using a popular live bait - yellowtails / yakkas!

I've worked out how to reliably catch yellowtail (burley mix + size 12 hook + tiny bait + handline).

My objective is:  to use yakkas landbased, in a safe location (i.e. no rocks with waves crashing on them), within Sydney (northern beaches, lower north shore, sydney south/Sans Souci). Targetting any thing that eats yakkas - just like with my SP learning experience, would appreciate any advice on where i should begin.

My questions are:

1. What is good starting rod/reel/line/leader/rig to fish with yakkas? I have access to:

 - Rod: (1) 12ft graphite surf rod (40-100g lure weight), (2) 12ft surf rod (very very heavy fibreglass, can probably cast something huge), (3) 10ft light graphite rod (10-50g lure weight) and (4) 7ft 3-6kg rod (10-30g lure weight~). Also have standard light outfits (1-3kg, 2-4kg etc...)

- Reel: various sizes - 1000, 2500, 3000, 4000, 5000, 7000 and 950(0)

- Line: Braid - upto 30lb, Mono - upto 40lb

- Leader: upto 40lb FC

- Terminal tackle: have various "live bait" hooks - 1/0, 2/0, 3/0, 4/0, 5/0 and 6/0, various weight sinkers and swivels etc...

2. Where is a good, safe location to fish from? preference is for proximity to the northern beaches, lower north shore and sydney south. Are most beaches are standard place to fish yakkas from?

3. What rig is ideal for (1) Salmon, (2) Kingfish and (3) Mulloway? Which fish is easiest to target this time of year/location per Q2.

4. What technique should i use with the rigs above? e.g. cast far and and let it sit, use a float/balloon etc....

5. Any other advice? things i should know? How many yakkas do you go through, how to keep them alive (i have  a bucket and battery-powered aerator)

Thank you all in advance, as per my other post, ill update this opening post with the answers/responses received.

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I'll pm you,

livies are good off the beach for jewies too. The calmer the sea, the more effective they are over dead bait as the jewies can feel the vibrations they make better if the sea is calmer. 

For pelagics, I'd recommend running the live bait under a float and vary the depth depending on if they are feeding deeper or closer to the surface. I use the floats with rattles and reflective sides with a lot of success on the kings. 

The wharves in the harbour are good places to drift a livebait from too if you don't like rock fishing

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I fished with three yakkas last night at the beach. Two without a sinker and one with a half Oz ball running sinker to a swivel. Double Snell hooks on each rig (one pinned top front of the dorsal and one pinned top behind of the dorsal). 

 

Two yakkas without sinkers still alive. One with sinker got its head bitten off.

1) what do you reckon it was that bit it's head off? (See pic)

2) should I have gone with a sinker on the other two rigs? what is the optimal rig for beach jewfish? (Line, leader, swivels, sinkers and weight)

Thank you all in advance!

20161116_222822.jpg

Edited by anthman
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