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Live bait rig via the nose
There are basically three methods of attaching a live fish with a one hook rig. The method described here, ‘nose rig’, is best used when the live bait is to be trolled or worked in stronger currents. It’s also a good method of attaching a smaller fish that might struggle with a larger hook in the dorsal fin or tail area. If you intend working under a float consider the dorsal fin method. If working quieter waters with a weight, opt for the tail method. When attaching the hook you’ll need to determine some issues. Consider hooking across the bridge of the nose, missing the mouth or hook down through the nose taking the hook through the mouth. Care should be taken with this method as the fish must be able to pass water through the mouth to the gills. Hooking through the upper mouth, out through the bridge of the nose is the preferred method of many when trolling. The other method is to simple pass the hook through the lower jaw. The size of the fish and hook will determine your preferred method. With commonsense you’ll find all methods work a treat.
Bait Presentation
Bait presentation is sadly overlooked by too many fishermen. Today the lure making industry make a fortune out of lazy fishermen. Rigging baits in place of presenting a lure will, in 100% cases, out fish the lure.
A well rigged squid makes the very best flathead lure. Small well presented squid, worked as a lure, will catch more bream than lure or standard bait! In fact catch more fish than any lure or standard bait.
Small Bait fish too, can be rigged and presented in place of a lure. The first couple of try’s may seem fiddly, however, once you set yourself with the right equipment and have some practice under your belt, you’ll out fish everyone around you and never look back.
With much smaller baitfish such as hardyheads, herring, minnows, galaxids, gudgeons and smelt, you may need to use a fine two hook rig. Use a sliding snooze to have the secondary hook sliding. Place the secondary hook through the lip and the primary through the tail. Tweak it and you’ll quickly get it set to swim well. Split-shot or small bean sinkers can be used to add weight. Simply place the weight between the two hooks and use hosiery elastic (Bait Mate) to hold them snuggly in place.
Intertwining the shaft of a hook through a bait, takes away its natural action. Before long the bait will quickly gather around the point of the hook, which is just what you don’t need. If the bait is large enough to thread, quite often it is better to opt for a two hook rig.
I once fished alongside a gentleman that used a three hook sliding snooze rig when fishing with Pipis, cockles and goolwa off the beach. The hooks where small but I never saw him miss a fish and not once did he have to strike to hook them up. I on the other-hand, using a one hook rig, I had to worked hard for a third of the fish he took home!
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Fish Baits
