Fishing expert Lee Rayner shares some of his best advice about bait selection and rigging to help you be more successful next time you cast a line on your boat.
In a lot of cases bait can be the best way to find yourself hooked up to a fish. While any old bait will catch you a fish, following a couple of fundamental principles can often help you catch more fish and bigger fish. These simple tips relate to how you look after your bait and how you rig it up. Rigging is a critical piece of the puzzle as you could have the best bait in the world, but if it’s not rigged correctly, it may not look natural to a predator. Also, if the bait is cut a certain way it may mean small fish can pick it to pieces before a bigger fish can get it. Or even worse, a great fish could eat the bait but you miss getting a proper hookup because of how you rigged the bait.
Bait presentation
Better bait rigging refers to rigging the bait so it looks natural in the water. In all cases you want the bait to be as straight as possible so it doesn’t spin, as this will prevent a lot of fish from eating the bait. Or if they do try to bite it, they won’t be as committed because it just doesn’t look right. Wherever possible, just pin the hook through the bait once. Winding the hook back and forth through the bait often causes it to bunch up and spin, reducing the hookup rate when you get a bite, as the bait bunches up on the hook preventing it from finding its mark in the fish’s mouth.
The best bait you can buy
For most forms of fishing, freshly caught bait is nearly always the best, however that’s not always possible. So, when you do gather fresh bait make sure you look after it. If you plan to use the bait over the next 24 hours or so, then I prefer to just keep it cold in the fridge; freezing it isn’t required for a short period of time and that way it’s still genuinely fresh bait. If on the other hand, you won’t be using it within the next day then packing and freezing it is usually the next best option.
I gather lots of my own bait, including species like squid, yakkas, garfish and several other fish baits. A key trick to remember when gathering and packing your own bait – if it’s a saltwater species – is never let it touch fresh water. This changes the bait and definitely makes it not as effective, so if you need to wash or clean the bait, do it in salt water.
Secondly, when I’m packing bait, I like to use soft freezer bags and roll the bait like a newspaper in the bag so all the air is squeezed out and it is nice and straight. I also like to do lots of small packs of bait, that way I’m only ever thawing out what I need rather than a big bag of bait that will lose its quality if it’s thawed out and not used. Aside from gathering your own bait, there is still plenty of good bait you can buy from the shops, just always look for bait that’s not covered in ice and still has lots of colour in it.
Better rigging for better results
Squid
Overall, the good old squid is probably my favourite bait, most species of fish love them and you can get so many different bait types from one squid. Squid strips work well and can be rigged on a single hook so they sit like a long strip. These work really well in current as they waft around and are also great when trolled for species like kingfish. They can also be run with two hooks in them with one at the top and one pinned along the bait. Just make sure that there is a bit of slack line between the two hooks, otherwise the bait will bend and then spin, causing it to look unnatural and in most cases bigger fish won’t touch it.
One of my all-time favourite baits are squid rings. These are super simple to rig; they don’t spin in current and big fish seem to love eating them. Personally, I like to cut a calamari ring about 10-15mm wide, pinch it at the top and put a single hook (usually a circle hook) through the top of the bait, you can also use a snelled two-hook rig, but any decent fish tends to be hooked on the top hook. Lots of big fish get caught on squid heads as there is lots of good stuff going on with this bait. Legs wafting around to give the bait movement and a big eye on the bait that I firmly believe is a huge part of a squid heads success. Predators attack the head of a bait as they know this is where the vitals are. Cause damage here and the bait can’t get away. When rigging a squid head, it can be either whole or split it in half to reduce the size. I prefer to usually split them length ways, unless it’s a smaller head. When it comes to rigging, try a larger hook right through the hard part of the head between the eyes. If I’m using a two-hook rig, I like the second hook to sit right at the start of the tentacles. The biggest tip however is to use hooks that match the bait – if it’s a big bait use big hooks.
Fish
It makes sense that fish baits work so well as any small fish is just part of the food chain and they offer lots of different options for rigging. Whole baits are great for many reasons. Not only does a whole fish look natural to a predator but the other factors are that they are generally tougher and last longer when they aren’t cut. When it comes to rigging a whole bait, a single hook through the head can be great but one of my favourite ways to rig them is backwards. Do it on a two-hook rig with the bottom hook coming out of the head and the top hook out the side of the bait, then secure the bait with half hitches of the leader around the base of the tail.
Fillet baits can also be dynamite as they make the bait soft as it wafts around in the water. It also lets out lots of smell and is basically self-berleying. If the fillet is a large one and quite wide I prefer to also split it lengthways so it’s long but narrow, thus making it easier for fish to eat and also giving better hook exposure. When it comes to rigging, if it’s a tough fish like a yakka or mullet fillet then a single hook pinned in the top (head section) of the fillet is perfect. However, in most cases I prefer a snelled two-hook rig. As with the squid strip, make sure there is slack in between the two hooks; if it’s bent in any way it will spin in the water and not be as effective. The only downside to fillet baits is that with the meat exposed on a fillet, smaller fish can attack the bait eating the soft meat and leaving you with just the skin. If this is the case, then the next bait is your best option.
Chunk baits
After squid rings, these are probably the next most common bait I run. This bait offers the best of both worlds – it’s almost as tough as a whole fish but lets out smell like a fillet bait. Best of all, small fish can’t destroy it as quickly as they do with a fillet bait, and due to its shape, it is also a tasty mouthful for larger predators. The other reason they work so well is that pinned correctly they won’t spin in the current and offer an excellent hookup rate. When it comes to rigging it’s exactly the same as a squid ring – single hook pinned in the top of the bait, or a two-hook rig with one in the top and the other lightly pinned in one side of the chunk.
Give it a go
All the baits I’ve mentioned here are easy to rig up. When your baits are rigged correctly and look natural in the water, they’ll often attract bigger fish who will usually be more committed when they eat it. A correctly rigged bait also won’t just fall off the hook or bunch up causing you to miss the fish. Hopefully, the simple principles I’ve shared will help you to catch bigger and better fish. Happy bait rigging!
By Lee Rayner
Photography by Paul Dodd
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