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Why is the longline so good!??

Printed From: The Fishing Website
Category: Saltwater Fishing
Forum Name: Newbies Corner
Forum Description: If you're new to fishing this is the place to ask any questions about getting started ...
URL: https://www.fishing.net.nz/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=129913
Printed Date: 03 Feb 2026 at 2:24pm


Topic: Why is the longline so good!??
Posted By: [email protected]
Subject: Why is the longline so good!??
Date Posted: 03 Jan 2019 at 12:49pm
Hi all,

Hoping someone could enlighten me. i went out on my Kayak at Raglan the other day, only about 200m off the boat ramp over sand and dropped my longline. Once set, I did 45min fishing with the rod within about 50m of where the longline was, I had no bites at all, got a bit annoyed and went to collect my longline. (I should note I wasn't using any berley)

Anyway, on the longline, all the bait was eaten and I caught 3x Gurnard, 1x Kahawai and a Rig shark! So whats going on?

How can the longline attract that much attention while my rod had nothing? I've read that a longline creates its own Berley trail and so will naturally attract fish. Is this correct? 

Does it then follow that for my rod fishing I should anchor the kayak and drop a berley cage, and wait for all the fish to turn up? 

Everywhere I read, there are a millions opinions but using berley off the kayak seems to be a pretty strong recommendation. 






Replies:
Posted By: Tagit
Date Posted: 03 Jan 2019 at 1:27pm
Three basic options when boat fishing.
1) Use a fish finder to find the fish
2) Use burley to attract the fish to you
3) Drop and hope

then number 4 is a combination of 1 & 2

1 and 4 regularly work well. 2 will work quite regularly but not always. 3 will work on the days you get lucky

Burley on a kayak though I would do with a very light rope. When that Great White or big Bronzie grabs your burley cage you don't want to be attached to well.


Posted By: [email protected]
Date Posted: 03 Jan 2019 at 1:42pm
Well with a Kayak, I can't make enough ground to make good use of a fish finder, nor do have one, so that's out. 

So far its seems like the Longline is a winner.

I was just wondering why it seems to work so well? Like it must attract the fish to it by creating it's only scent right?

Anyway, I plan I trying berley but I'll set it on it only float/weight while I set my longline, then come back to it, anchor, attach to the berley with say a 40lb nylon, so like you said, when a shark has a go, he can have it!!




Posted By: Tagit
Date Posted: 03 Jan 2019 at 1:51pm
There is no doubt that a lot of bait in the water helps. Have you tried fishing from the kayak just down current of the long line?


Posted By: [email protected]
Date Posted: 03 Jan 2019 at 1:59pm
That's a good idea! Didn't think of that. I'll give it a go.

I was planing, on keeping my berly and my longline like 200m apart, so I was effectively doing two separate fishing trips. But that could almost work better, just fishing in the longline trail. 


Posted By: smudge
Date Posted: 03 Jan 2019 at 10:27pm
I have experienced the same thing many times out west. you already have the answer and I'd follow TAgit's advice. Because the west coast is generally lacking in structure, loose schools of fish happen across your long line. with a bait every metre or so they soon learn where the next meal is coming from. As you have already sorted  out by yourself. fish directly behind the longline.  remember that the longline uses circle hooks and it doesn't strike. Do the same

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Best gurnard fisherman in my street


Posted By: [email protected]
Date Posted: 04 Jan 2019 at 8:40am
Originally posted by smudge smudge wrote:

remember that the longline uses circle hooks and it doesn't strike. Do the same

I could be wrong, but I think my longline has J-Hooks, their stainless steel 4/0 size. The backbone has crimps so the fish swim off and then sort of get struck after a few metres of swimming. Anyway, it works well!! Looks like about a 1 in 3 hook rate per trace. Good enough for me. 

Ill try both a separate berley pot out of the way of the longline and also fish in the long line trail, see what happens. I'm spending 2 weeks in Port Jackson. Also going to trying fish on the reef, however, my poor little kayak might be too small if there're significant swells. So plan on putting the longline just inside the bay. 

Thanks for the tipsSmile Appreciate it!


Posted By: Reel Deal
Date Posted: 04 Jan 2019 at 9:52am
I would be surprised if J hooks not circle like most long lines - yes I suspect the extra baits in the water attract fish - also i suspect having fish hooked and swimming about struggling from time to time attracts other fish like seagulls - checking out what they are missing then cripes there’s a bait not touched “boom” fish on.

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The gods do not subtract from the allotted span of men's lives the hours spent on fishing - Assyrian Proverb


Posted By: Tagit
Date Posted: 04 Jan 2019 at 10:42am
Years back I went out on a friends commercial cray boat to get some bins of Snapper for his daughters wedding. We were fishing out of Napier. We steamed out for several hours into the middle of nowhere and dropped a few lines. Then we drifted about with rods over the side getting no bites. My other mate from Auckland was basicly sleeping with a rod over his shoulder sitting on the gunnel after the big night we had prior and the 4am start. His rod suddenly goes off and up comes a 25lb Snap. Only bite we had. A bit later we started pulling the long lines and there were more 20lb+ Snapper than most people would see in several lifetimes, and so many 10lb+ fish that we thought we would run out of fish bins. Something like a 75% catch rate. It was just ridiculous. Quick call to the local fish receivers and that took care of the mass of fish that weren't needed for the wedding. 
Same thing as the OP. Drifting next to loaded long lines and almost no bites.


Posted By: Alan L
Date Posted: 04 Jan 2019 at 2:49pm
We have the same experience. I have a mate who regularly drops a long line then goes for a rod fish. The long line out-fishes the rod probably 80% of the time. Never figured it out. But the above seems to have the answers - more bait on the floor, and I would place some credence on the caught fish thrashing about. You see this effect numerous times over a wide range of species - the others think they are missing out and are looking for anything to bite. So, as already suggested - fishing near your long line should help the rod.
I learnt something today.
Alan


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Legasea Legend member


Posted By: [email protected]
Date Posted: 04 Jan 2019 at 9:08pm
Originally posted by Reel Deal Reel Deal wrote:

I would be surprised if J hooks not circle like most long lines -.

What's this hook?  https://www.marine-deals.co.nz/stainless-longline-hook-pack-size-18-qty-25" rel="nofollow - https://www.marine-deals.co.nz/stainless-longline-hook-pack-size-18-qty-25

This isn't the exact ones ive got but it looks exactly the same. They look like J-Hooks to me, or am I mistaken. (I am new to this!! :) 


Posted By: smudge
Date Posted: 04 Jan 2019 at 9:30pm
That is a longline hook not a J hook. Long line hooks, trecurve hooks, circle hooks all work on the sdame principle and are pretty much all the same thing. Only put the hook through the bait, don't strike the bites and you will get bugger all gut hooked fish. They are perfect for long lines and dropper rigs fished in deep water

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Best gurnard fisherman in my street


Posted By: [email protected]
Date Posted: 04 Jan 2019 at 9:34pm
Originally posted by smudge smudge wrote:

Only put the hook through the bait, don't strike the bites and you will get bugger all gut hooked fish.

When you say "Don't Strike the Bite". Do you mean if I was using it with a rod?


Posted By: smudge
Date Posted: 04 Jan 2019 at 9:39pm
Originally posted by mojojo mojojo wrote:

Originally posted by smudge smudge wrote:

Only put the hook through the bait, don't strike the bites and you will get bugger all gut hooked fish.

When you say "Don't Strike the Bite". Do you mean if I was using it with a rod?
Yes. Imagine how a long line works. The fish takes the bait and swims away until the line comes up tight. The fish hooks itself. If you strike bites using a circle/longline/recurve hook chances are the hook will come flying out the fish's mouth without hooking up. I use circles almost exclusively. Good question!


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Best gurnard fisherman in my street


Posted By: Alan L
Date Posted: 04 Jan 2019 at 10:08pm
I use those exclusively on my gurnard traces. I set my sinker just on the bottom and let it bounce with the swells. Leave the rod in the holder - don't touch it. Until you need to wind the fish in. Out-catches any other rods on the boat. They hook themselves and I think the bouncing bait and sinker attracts them.
Alan


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Legasea Legend member


Posted By: smudge
Date Posted: 04 Jan 2019 at 10:20pm
Originally posted by Alan L Alan L wrote:

I use those exclusively on my gurnard traces. I set my sinker just on the bottom and let it bounce with the swells. Leave the rod in the holder - don't touch it. Until you need to wind the fish in. Out-catches any other rods on the boat. They hook themselves and I think the bouncing bait and sinker attracts them.
Alan

Thumbs Up


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Best gurnard fisherman in my street


Posted By: Muppet
Date Posted: 04 Jan 2019 at 10:21pm
All you did was demonstrate the difference between rec fishing and comm fishing. LOL


Posted By: Darkmoon Angler
Date Posted: 12 Jan 2019 at 5:44pm
I've had a lot of experience fishing close to longlines. Ive noticed the longline will catch fish when holding a rod will not on a lot of occassions. Yet on a few occasions the rod was the better option particularly when a lot of under sized snapper are about. 

This might interest ya.:
 DIY Kayak Long line Deployer:  https://youtu.be/l5miMuMbdrQ" rel="nofollow - https://youtu.be/l5miMuMbdrQ
Its a concept in development. I made this from some building off cuts. Anyone could make one for there own kayak. Works well and gives the option of using softer baits like pillie cubes. And you don't have to paddle all the way out with a giant berley trail leading to the main course... ie.. YOU!



Posted By: Darkmoon Angler
Date Posted: 12 Jan 2019 at 6:54pm
Totally concur with that. I did 18 mths deckhand commercial snapper fishing in my youth. Best set I experienced was 300 hooks set with 298 fish taken. About 70% were snapper between 10 and 25 pound and the rest trevally between 10-15lb. One kingfish of approx 80 lb!. It was Insane. All on 50 lb mono traces. Wont say where but it was right on Christmas of all times. Last day before Liegh fisheries closed for holidays. 
Also experienced 2500 hooks set with nothing but a couple of hag fish or snot fish as we use to call em. 
When its on .... its ON!


Posted By: jakepitsville
Date Posted: 15 Jan 2019 at 10:19am
my long line rarely outfishes my rod, In my opinion its nothing to do with more bait in the water causing a burly effect, its simply being able to cover a wider area when fishing means more likely to intercept moving fish and a long line bait just sits there and doesnt move, its alot more natural then a bait that is pulled up and down 20x so its more likely to be eaten fishing then being moved in and out of the water.


Posted By: [email protected]
Date Posted: 06 Feb 2019 at 8:13pm
Well went for my fishing holiday. I can confirm there are lots of snapper in Port Jackson. Few points.

1. My long line was awesome. Best day was 7 snapper on 25 hook line after an hour. Let 3 go. Biggest 46cm.
2. Salted pilchards work very well. Even cut smaller than you think. Like 1 pilchard cut into 4. All bait was always eaten within about an hour. Except when i set it to close inshore.
3. Salted squid on the rod is very effective
4. The reef is dangerous for kayakers. I got into trouble once as the current picks up dramatically, even at high tide!! Had to abandon the longline one day and collect the next. Be careful!! The next day 2 snapper were still alive. One trace had been bitten off!! Probably by a shark

It seems that smaller bait works better than big ones. Interesting. Salted bait is definitely the way to go.


Posted By: The Jester
Date Posted: 08 Feb 2019 at 1:45pm
Did you salt the pilchards or buy them salted? I've had good success with salting barracuda, kahawai not so much


Posted By: [email protected]
Date Posted: 08 Feb 2019 at 3:18pm
Salted my self. You can buy pool salt from bunnings for like 10 bucks for like 20kg. Its nice and coarss which is what you want.


Posted By: letsgetem
Date Posted: 10 Feb 2019 at 6:40pm
Longlines should be banned. I could use a longline, but I choose not to because they are too effective, therefore put unsustainable pressure on the fishery.



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