OK... We all talk about bait, rods, reels, boats, jigs and fishing spots all the time but it occured to me there has yet to be a discussion on berly. To me fishing without berly is bloody nearly a crime, unless the boat is not anchored. So lets get some ideas and thoughts flowing on berly; how you deploy it, flavour, who makes there own, top or bottom and when? Stories about berly, tricks or tips etc...

Usually when I am going out for a channel fish and know I will be in 12m or more I will tie the berly 1-1.5m above the shackle on the warp before we leave the marina, to do this I use two or three strong cable ties, seperate the rope a wee bit and push the cable tie thru... works a treat. Of course This means you must clean the anchor well at the end of the session.

If in 15m or less I have the berly on the top... But if the tide is too strong I will set it a bit deeper. But in the channels I will set it on the bottom, unless it is wind against tide and the boat lay is yucky then I set it where I can see which direction it is flowing...

ok your input please...

 

I have started using the mega burley 8kg sack...it seems to work wonders in lala's secret snapper spot...i think its important to also use chunked pillies, more so in clear water as fish have wicked eye sight and smell combined with morsal sized bits seem to get the fish on the bite..some burleys are defently better than others...go the kina.

I understand how important burley is but I dont use it everytime I go fishing.

I fish the Manukau and I dont usually use burley there because it brings in sharks and rays, of course what it means is you need to find a spot where fish are feeding (natural burley) or where they are passing through. The strong currents kind of detract from it too as they way I see it the fish are likely to hold too far back and the idea of a fish swimming up the burley trail in a huge current doesnt make a lot of sense to me. I do use burley when gurnard fishing though but I make it out of a bread (or chook pellets)/scallop gut (or crab) and I put the bag about a foot or so off the bottom with a big weight on the sea bed. This burley doesnt seem to interest the rays or sharks so much and gurnard come right up to the bag so I generally fish pretty close to it.

When I fish the east coast I always ... well usually ... take burley usually my own and stick it on the top if its shallow say less than 10 metres or down a bit depending on depth and current.

Before a trip I go down the local boat ramp in summertime and catch a pile of yellowtail, use half for bait and grind up the rest, i get lots of kahawai in winter time ...not so many this year and I use the frames for burley too.

With a burley trail at the top it often brings in bait fish so if its quiet I'll catch them for bait and burley.

It is a lot of work making burley but with the amount you need it gets pretty expensive.

I usually throw chunks of bait in as well. One BAD habit I have is squishing up pilly heads and fish frames with my fingers under the water, one day a shark will bite them off ..especially on the manukau where you often cant see more than a metre down.

Kahawai respond real well to burley but I dont use it because I figure its not worth the effort as usually they are pretty easy to catch.

When fishing for piper burley is pretty much a neccessity if you want to catch a decent amount.

If you dont use burley or just use a token amount, just think about how bait fish swarm around coming from nowhere when you use it,  kingfish especially show up in that scenario, mainly because they are on the surface and you can see them, the same happens down below but you just dont see it.

I also like to get burley right on the bottom if there's lots of little fish about preferably at the front of the boat because the bigger fish will hold back and hopefully the little fellas will barge right on up to the burley and leave your baits alone.

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.

Best burley system I have seem is those wobbly pots but an auto grinder thing on the back of the boat would be a good trick aye.... just drop the old bait in  ...

Ummm you got an identity crisis there lalandi ... the serial killer thing was one thing .... but a pink triangle????

just a comment there Toby.at the mussel farms, Mussel burly isnt as effective as say kinna or bonito. It dosnt do any harm but the fishing improves if you add another flavor. My thought are that in the farms they are feeding on mussels all the time and although they love the meal, its great to offer another flavor of icecream to bring them to your door

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

  

No discussions on berley??? Do a search, there've been a few as I recall, maybe they've just been missed.

I don't worry whether the berley matches the bait either. The main idea isn't to just attract your target fish, but to attract bait fish which inturn with the commotion they begin will attract or hopefully attract your target fish. That's how I plan it anyway.

As far as berley goes it's way easier just to go buy one from the gassy or wherever, but there's nothing as fun as making your own in the garage. All the old bait from the freezer and some additives such as fish oil, wheat, oats, breadcrumbs. Even a sprinkle of glitter. When I do make my own I don't mash it into a porridge but leave decent chunks of pillies etc which works well when it's being used as a bucket berley. I don't own a mincer, so a paint stirrer or gaff comes in handy.

Another good thing to do is when you catch a kahawai or another baitfish is to bleed it and scale it over the side as this visual signal should turn the fish on too.

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.

 

Shark berley