I was drift baiting on your boat the other day with that snelled rig with the size5 bean on it. You must of thought that was a funny looking rig then ha?lol.

Keep it tight, reeeeeeel tight!

Salmo you were doing almost the same thing at the comp with the snelled mulie rig that you used, but i was using wieght you werent! No difference realy as we were in pretty shallow water. Ryan will explain as andy said, im sure ryan will tell you exactly what to do :)

Keep it tight, reeeeeeel tight!

nice salmo, will be good to get a definitive answer on this, you may have noticed I asked the same question as a comment in a different thread :) Ill definitly be watching this space

Thanks for the replys guys....must go buy Wrangler at lunch time...

So basically a snelled floater turns into a 'drift bait' by adding a sinker....cool and very simple...

You would have noticed spess I had pretied rigs in my old lunch box....I just make snells at home and wrap them around a bit of sponge rubber ....some are weightless ....others have varing size ball or bean sinkers.....depending on the conditions.

Thanks again for setting me straight

And they looked good too mate....very neat and tidy and well presented.

Keep it tight, reeeeeeel tight!

Steering will be fixed by Monday arvo ;)

ahah! v cool...

Yes the Wangler June/July issue has my feature article on Driftbaiting and Salmo's been in recently to get a copy, all the best with it mate!

"Drift baiting" is drifting your bait down to very good fish holding grounds instead of having a patternoster rig plumet to the ocean floor at a hundred miles an hour. D/Bait is a delicate way to present the bait to quality reef fish whilst attracting bigger fish or more spooky fish. D/Baiting will entice fish to hit the bait with aggresion as it drifts away, periodical free spool will see it dart to the bottom with interest from striking fish.

D/baiting works well on calm days and winds up to 15 knots are suitable but a sea anchor is a must on 10knots plus or a fast drift etc. Since doing the D/Baiting I've caught more bigger fish, more quality fish and less sh!t fish than normal. My PB dhu of 20kg, offshore pink snapper PB 10kg and more dhufish than normal is a credit to drift baiting.

I'll stand by D/Baiting now as my prefered way to bottom fish and how effective it is. The fun of a fully loaded up baitcaster rod and the one on one with the fish changes my outlook on bottom fishing for sure. I lost the buzz many years ago for bottom fishing after doing so much of it, the sports aspect of drift baiting and the results have changed things and the buzz is back!

 

 ** Oceanside = Strudwick,Daiwa,Van Staal,Jigmaster Rods, Shimano,Penn etc...** Owner/Operator Oceanside Tackle and Marine 364 South Street, O'Connor, Perth WA Ph# 9337 5682 Fishing/Boating/Dive/Marine ** OPEN 7 DAYS **

Do it once and your hooked :) literaly, i am.

Keep it tight, reeeeeeel tight!

so, obviously the rig is weighted, how much max weight should you be using? How do you gauge how much weight to use when drift baiting?

See my other post re #5 bean sinker, but if you use heavier sinker weight it'll go against what the drift bait is suppose to do, if you need more weight means you probably drifting too fast. If you've got a sea anchor out and you cant hold "near" the bottom or get fish at your good spots then you'll be better off using a paternoster rig......experiment & mix it up!

** Oceanside = Strudwick,Daiwa,Van Staal,Jigmaster Rods, Shimano,Penn etc...** Owner/Operator Oceanside Tackle and Marine 364 South Street, O'Connor, Perth WA Ph# 9337 5682 Fishing/Boating/Dive/Marine ** OPEN 7 DAYS **

just went to the newsagent while the missus was next door getting bread from the bakery, didnt get a lot of time, however, turned to the Wangler article you wrote... noticed you got the weight hard up against the top snelled hook on the leader.....

Would you ever use a longer leader and then have the bean sinker or ball sinker stopped behind a swivel on your main line for drifting or is it more effective to use the sinker right next to the hook...

I understand the concept of driftbaiting now, cheers :)

Why I started using the sinker on the top hook and a crimp is to stop the sinker from running up to the swivel on descent and twisting & tangling which is does. Doing this change eliminated the problem and my bait hit the floor quicker for my snapper fishing where the rig was originally designed for.

Then I started D/Baiting I did the same but with a bigger weight. Why I dont put the sinker on top of the swivel is because of the same tangling issue. The other reason is again it goes down quicker which is needed as the weight & bait does take it's time as it is with D/baiting. The final reason why I put the sinker on the top hook for D/Baiting is to give the squid a life like jigging action when it moves through the water!

All the best!

** Oceanside = Strudwick,Daiwa,Van Staal,Jigmaster Rods, Shimano,Penn etc...** Owner/Operator Oceanside Tackle and Marine 364 South Street, O'Connor, Perth WA Ph# 9337 5682 Fishing/Boating/Dive/Marine ** OPEN 7 DAYS **

Ryan sets his rig up so the sinker can travel about 200mm then crimps the line so it cant travel any more..if that makes sence, basically it stops the sinker running up and fowling on the swivel which is conected to the mainline. I however place a lumo bead after the snell then 150mm up the line place my sinker but double the line through it so it cant run at all. I find both methods work well so the bait drifts or waifs down evenly with the sinker and presents better. Thats why you need to secure it some how. I also find that if you do it like this the sinker will hit the snagg first allowing the hooks to float over it and not snagg up.....this is when its on the bottom dragging along...it acts like a little speed hump.

 Keep it tight, reeeeeeel tight!

I put the crimp approx 6-8 inchs up from the snell to allow me to half hitch the top section of the squid, this also eliminates the need for a sinker stopper/bead etc

My bait hardly stays on the bottom so snagging isn't an issue and as soon as I engage the reel the bait drifts off the ground, hopefully into a mouth of a quality reef fish!


** Oceanside = Strudwick,Daiwa,Van Staal,Jigmaster Rods, Shimano,Penn etc...** Owner/Operator Oceanside Tackle and Marine 364 South Street, O'Connor, Perth WA Ph# 9337 5682 Fishing/Boating/Dive/Marine ** OPEN 7 DAYS **

Your better than me at explaining mate!lol.

Keep it tight, reeeeeeel tight!

hehehe....done about 100 plus driftbaiting trips in metro waters so it comes easy, now for my next new adventure in metro waters......stay tunned!

** Oceanside = Strudwick,Daiwa,Van Staal,Jigmaster Rods, Shimano,Penn etc...** Owner/Operator Oceanside Tackle and Marine 364 South Street, O'Connor, Perth WA Ph# 9337 5682 Fishing/Boating/Dive/Marine ** OPEN 7 DAYS **

Drinking with shag!lol. hehehehe jokes dude!

Keep it tight, reeeeeeel tight!

Adam got me onto drift baiting wich has accounted for 90% of the snapper Ive caught. Snapper seem to love drift baits for whatever reason. Ive used it in Metro,Kalbarri and Abrohlos and never failed to produce snapper.

hahah thanks ryan, makes sense.

I have been using the drift bait technique a bit aswell and have had a problem with the squid being picked of by wrasse or other little fish.  So I decided to try various wrasse as bait and put a fillet on the snell.  And I have had pretty good results, 4 dhuies, a couple of snapper and a couple of bauldies in 4 trips, have found that with the fillet you are better to cut it in half so it is long and skinny.  Using this I have hooked a lot more fish rather than using a wider fillet.  The fish seem to try and swallow the whole bait and hook ups are improved rather than the fish sucking on the bigger bait.

hope that makes sense

Cheers
Dean

ah, makes sense... jelly bean baiting in a bigger sense.....

Does any body have a diagram they could post on the site please?

Thanks,


T

hehehe.....funny as, Spess

Yeh as I mentioned in my article " I'm not trying to reinvent the wheel here as driftbaiting has been around for years. However, the technique I prefer has really only been used by a few anglers, generally up north for reef fish whilst at anchor"

I did it for years with filming FWA and for pink snapper in the Sound for 10 years but just had to try it in Metro waters on bottom fish. The squid has a lot of smell that it gives off so that's why I use it, I dont have issues with pickers at my spots, perhaps only every so often but if another bait works then all's good.



** Oceanside = Strudwick,Daiwa,Van Staal,Jigmaster Rods, Shimano,Penn etc...** Owner/Operator Oceanside Tackle and Marine 364 South Street, O'Connor, Perth WA Ph# 9337 5682 Fishing/Boating/Dive/Marine ** OPEN 7 DAYS **

** Oceanside = Strudwick,Daiwa,Van Staal,Jigmaster Rods, Shimano,Penn etc...** Owner/Operator Oceanside Tackle and Marine 364 South Street, O'Connor, Perth WA Ph# 9337 5682 Fishing/Boating/Dive/Marine ** OPEN 7 DAYS **

I use whole sand whiting, the bigger the better. I find the squid gets picked to quick.
Whole sgt baker arn't to shabby either.
I am still fishing with the standard patenoster rig with more convential baits for the snapper/baldie/blackarse whatever, but that rig (I've always called it a stinger line), is set further back and is only for fish with big appetites.
. 
.
No Orange Hats Allowed

I've actually tried many baits and I found that the squid got the best results for me and I dont want too much of a resistant bait. Each to their own and certainly stick to what works for you. The grounds I fish dont have a lot of small sh!tty fish so I dont have my squid getting chewed. I also dont do long drifts either so it's either catch a fish or wind up before going off my grounds into crappy fish territory!

** Oceanside = Strudwick,Daiwa,Van Staal,Jigmaster Rods, Shimano,Penn etc...** Owner/Operator Oceanside Tackle and Marine 364 South Street, O'Connor, Perth WA Ph# 9337 5682 Fishing/Boating/Dive/Marine ** OPEN 7 DAYS **

Simple really!

Cheers,


T.

How important is the leader size Ryan. You said 80lb in the article.

Thats the only size I haven't got. Do I go up to 100 or down to 60?

I use 100lb black magic supple trace and that works fine for me.

i have never mastered the "snell" knot! can anyone show/tell me the easiest way of doing this knot?

cheers
sam

yeh ill check out google images..


cheers
sam

This is one way: http://www.aandifishingtackle.co.uk/knots/quicksnell.gif

Another way: http://www.aandifishingtackle.co.uk/knots/snell.gif

I do it the first way

yeh i can do it the first way! but then do u just tie the 2nd hook with a uni or sumthing?


cheers
sam

Do the same with the second hook. 5 or 6 wraps up the shank, back down through the loops and then through the eye and tighten.

look in your yellow tide book ....most have a knot called a SA Mulloway snell.....easy as

That one is similar to the one I do just reversed. Ill show you Sam when I see you. Easy to tie even when the boats bouncing over waves.

** Recfishwest Member - 0416 ** Rockingham Offshore Fishing Club **

Sam ill show you a sweet way that myself and bouttime do when snelling! Its eaasu as and ill show you when i get the rod off ya. Cheers Chris.

Keep it tight, reeeeeeel tight!

Colin449 quote {Your best bet is to go into one of the good tackle shops, where they are fishermen first and salesmen second, and get them to show you}.

Well said Colin, as for the leader yes you can use 100lb but i want to have the driftbait lookin as natural as i can so that's why i went 80lb. The new Jinkai Plus (semi hard trace) is awesome!

Catcha


* Oceanside- Advice, Knowledge, Experience.......that's our difference *


Owner/Operator Oceanside Tackle and Marine
364 South Street, O'Connor, Perth WA
Ph# 9337 5682 * OPEN 7

drift baited on Monday in between dives with Ryans rig and a fresh mullet fillet for bait. picked up that dhuie. Was very impressed with the rig and the fish on my small Penn 60 and light line. Iam sold on this method for water up to 35 metres and light winds

Good Online Topic Salmo

Just had a good read - interesting rig Ryan - but makes absolute sense with the crimp and avoiding twist.

I'm not as dynamic as Ryan, so I still use a Patanostra and bottom bounce, but I'll often float a snelled fillet (plenty of Seargent Baker down here) from a second Rod off the stern with a baitcaster (providing those black surface pests aren't around). Also use 80Lb rather than 100 - still plenty of beef, but  contributes to the natural presentation.

As you say, floating a bait down (or the rig you've suggested) accounts for 'spooked' or sly fish much better than a patanostra and the set up givbes the perfect blend of weight for relatively quick location, minimised snag and more natural presentation.

On many occassion I've suffered the 'hook-spit' of a Dhui 'enhaling' the bait then exhaling with a patanostra rig. Much less chance of that happening with a free bait or drift bait rig, I'd suggest.

The other advantage of course, is that you always stand a chance of picking up something before you get anywhere near the bottom.

Line wise, I like Jinkai for it's subtle 'knottability', but, especially with patanostras found IMO that I prefer black magic as I find it gives more rigidity for the droppers.

That said, I'll certainly be getting my hands on some Jinki Plus.

Again, as you say, drift speed and drogue(sea anchor) need to be considered.



Colin MOLLOY


PS - BTW Salmo - There's no such thing as a stupid question - like I said, darn good question actually.

Bouttime was drift baiting up here in Exmouth at the 80m mark and was getting reds and spangles. Best thing was he had that little edge over us bottom bouncing as they were already clear of the structure (and some of the sharks) and came to the boat a lot easier. Drift baiting accounted for nearly 85% of the fish we caught over 1.5 weeks.

quote Bq544: "Iam sold on this method for water up to 35 metres and light winds"

I have used it in as deep as 55m and still gets down to the bottom in the strike zone fine, but has to be good weather.

Hmm cant seem to open any of your pics on this rig can someone advise please .

Ryan, what would be the max depth you could drift bait in assuming wind conditions (using a sea anchor) are at the limit?

60mts? 

That is a question open to questioning and will never end.

There are so many variables at play here that there is no real definitive answer to this.

If you had perfect conditions..... No wind, no current and no drift then the maximum depth would be the length of your line.

As soon as there is an influence of either or a combination of the above then all you can do is add weight to your line and see if you can hold bottom.

Obviously the more drift you have, the stronger the current or wind then the more weight you need to have. There does however come a point at which the weight you add to your line becomes greater than your rig can handle !!