I'd use kina on the hook but they've a bugger to get the point through , and you have to use so much force that something sharp inevitably ends up somewhere soft - like through the hand.

I agree that there is no need to match burley with bait. I mean Kina works very very well as burley but we dont bait our hooks with them do we.

I do like to mash up some of the bait to get them feeding on what I'm useing.

Most of my fishing is in less than 20 metres so I use surface burley.

I have used crushed mussel and deployed by hand. This worked very well.

The best berley is fishing bait fish from the berley trail and smashing them up with one of this stainless steel mincer rod thingies.

Fresh bait is best ... so is fresh berley. I use a plastic drum with holes cut in the side, which is mounted on the aft boarding step (the side I can't use because the steering cables etc come across it.

Smudge, post! Very good.    I'm not too worried about using bait that's not the same as the berley. I dont think you need matching berley and bait. I dont think berley fixes fish to its flavour. Berley attracts fish and gets them excited and feeding. I think if you have good bait the fish will take it, and it doesnt matter much if your berley is something different. I'm also not too concerned about feeding the fish with berley. I think it's pretty hard to fill a snapper with food. It'll have room for your bait. Having said that about berley and bait, i remember fishing for alert trevally. Pilchard chunks for berley and pilchard chunks for bait was the way to catch them.

Rock fishing: berley in 2 litre milk bottles. This is sometimes annoying. Berley is released too slowly or you lose it all far too soon. A bucket brew is probably better. Ingredients: any old fishy stuff you have, except snapper. Bread, bran, cooked rice, tuna oil are good things to add. Method: grind it up.  

I'm no expert, But these have been my experiences.

up to 30 feet burley on top, unless the current is flowing, anything deeeper than that it gets tried to the anchor warp ( I'm just waiting to get towed around by mrs bronzie).

Burley Ive tried and didn't like

Course mussel burley, crayfish burley, pig pallets and tuna oil. I found all these burleys to course and some like the cray one stunk bad.

Ones I like,

Koi carp, nice and oily. samon burley, again nice and oily and minced nice and fine, Pilchard burley not minced that fine, kina burley and that stuff from woolworths works well also.

The Key to burley as I see it is 50 %  material used, and 50% how well its minced up, having good burley that is to course and keeps blocking up is no help.

I don't belive you need great quanites of burley just enought to keep a fine trail in the current. And I have found that you don't need to "match the hatch" so to speak.

For after work fishing at the  moment I'm using Hooked on you, hand genades in a burley bag, in the light currents it lasts from 6 - 9 pm and only cost $3. It's a fish based burley thats minced up fine, so it  puts out out a fine trail.  

One tip when out on the Maunkau don't have your burley sitting on the bottom over slack water, as sure as eggs some bugger fish will rip it to peices 

Ohh and Smudge I love to squish up pillies in my hand to, just feels right, And I'll give that bread burley a go for my little red friends next winter.

Wefaknis

mate have you seen his hipnotic rainbow yet???

I think the biggest mistake I make with burley is that it probably needs to reflect what your bait is, snapper especially will favour one bait over another so why tempt them with a mussel burley and try and catch them on pillies, what do you guys think about that....i think that seeing snapper are scavengers they will eat most foods, in my opnion i think that its good to try something different esp with minced burlies as they dont usually contain anything worth eating but are extra good at getting the fish to bite....anything fresh is my suggestion