Livebaiting Workups

When cruising around the open ocean, workups are a relatively common occurrence. Whether over the sand, on top of a deep pin or a reef, there is some dynamite fishing to be had, writes junior angler Hayden Speed.

There are many different fish schools that you may come across, and some will be more of interest than others. Snapper will most likely be found under a school of kahawai, pilchards or anchovies – while kingfish and marlin will follow any baitfish school if the conditions and location are right. In northern areas, kingfish and snapper can be found in and around workups all year round, and in summer gamefish also tend to hang around offshore schools.

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But before rushing into a school and bombing baits and jigs down, slow down and watch which way the workup is moving. Try to position yourself either ahead of the school, or immediately behind it. When livebaiting for kingfish you’ll want to stay right with the workup, but for snapper you will usually do better fishing where the workup previously was – or where the debris has drifted down to. We will often just pull up behind the school and drift away from it – leaving the school working is important! Avoid running straight through the school as this may send the workup down and they may not surface again for quite some time.

There are a few different methods for targeting kingfish and snapper around workups. The ones we find most effective are surface lures and livebaits for kingfish, and soft-baits, slow jigs/sliders, and smaller-sized livebaits for snapper. But, hands down, our favourite is livebaiting for kingfish.

Livebaiting Workups

It is always worth the effort to catch a tank full of livebaits.

We have had many kingfish encounters on livebaits – with some being very large specimens. One method of livebaiting a school is to deploy a free-swimming livebait (no weight) and allowing it to swim freely out the back as you drift along. Free swimmers can be annoying and frustrating though, as they often swim back under the boat and tangle with other lines. Adding a balloon can help – in conjunction with the drift and wind – to hold the baitfish away from the boat.

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A variation that we have had lots of success with is a running sinker rig. This rig is the same as the free-swimming rig except that it has a ball sinker above the swivel (both rigs have a 1.5m long trace). We only use circle hooks for livebaiting as nine times out of ten we get a solid hook-up in the corner of the mouth, which makes releasing fish far more successful. 

The livebait can either be shoulder hooked, nose hooked, or bridle rigged. With these styles of rigging we fish the reel in free-spool and wait for the bite. Let the fish run for about three seconds (longer if using bigger baits, but for a small jack mackerel, koheru or kahawai three seconds will be fine) before flicking the reel into gear and letting the fish swim away to load the rod up. Remember, do not strike when using circle hooks!

Another system that works well is slow-trolling the livebait using the running sinker rig. For this you will need to bridle rig or nose hook your baits so they swim nose-forward, which will let them last much longer. The speed you troll at will depend on the size of your bait and the depth you want it to swim at. You can click the motor in and out of gear when slow trolling as this will set the depth of your bait. Moving forward faster will bring the bait up the water column, while slowing down will let it sink.

Livebaiting Workups

Nose hooking is one of several ways to rig a baitfish.

Targeting snapper underneath a school can be equally rewarding! If fishing livebaits, we again use the same running sinker rig, but set the bait down deeper. When over a reef a good depth to try is two to five metres above the bottom, but be prepared for a hard battle as the fish does not have far to go to the foul!

Over sand, again try at about two metres above the bottom. Fishing over sand is a lot more sporting as you can afford to let the fish run, meaning lighter lines and tackle can be used. If you have a plentiful supply of smaller baits you can simply shoulder hook them, but bridle rigging them is definitely the more ‘secure’ way of attaching them.

Casting soft-baits and working slow-jigs can be especially effective at times too. When using soft-baits you want the weight of the lure to just be heavy enough to reach the bottom – too heavy and the lure will look unnatural and it will sink too fast, which will mean you miss out on the strikes when descending. Too little weight means you can’t fish the deeper part of the water column efficiently.

Make sure you keep in touch with your lure when it’s descending as it’s very easy to miss a strike on the drop. We also usually add a little strip of bait to the skirt when using kabura style lures – this gives the fish a little extra scent to trigger a bite.

Preparation is the key to securing a successful result when livebaiting a workup. The schooling baitfish can be extremely hard to catch when they are under pressure from predators. Stopping on the way out to catch a tank full of jack mackerel, koheru or medium-sized kahawai is totally worth the effort!

 


June - 2020 - Hayden Speed

New Zealand Fishing News Magazine.
Copyright: NZ Fishing Media Ltd.
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