Best bait for fishing for each season or month?
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=138783
Printed Date: 02 Feb 2026 at 2:12am
Topic: Best bait for fishing for each season or month?
Posted By: pedestrianfisher
Subject: Best bait for fishing for each season or month?
Date Posted: 13 Sep 2024 at 7:32am
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Kia ora, what’s the best bait to use for fishing during each season or month of the year as a landbased fisher? I’ve heard from some that pilchards are best in the summer and grey mullet is best in Autumn. I’ve surprisingly seen a lot of fishers use raw chicken on the wharf! Thank you! |
Replies:
Posted By: MB
Date Posted: 13 Sep 2024 at 11:35am
| As someone who doesn't do much bait fishing (and therefore probably not the right person to answer!), I don't imagine it makes much difference to snapper. I've seen them eat everything from dead birds to polystyrene. They even eat my metal and plastic lures occasionally. Just can't see a snapper turning it's nose up at any free meal, they are the scavengers of our ocean. I do think the various baits have different attractant properties, so oily baits like blue mackerel and skipjack tuna will put out a good scent trail. If the snapper can't find your bait, it can't eat it and that may make the difference on the day. |
Posted By: BotStomper
Date Posted: 13 Sep 2024 at 12:51pm
| Fish can completely switch diet during a day, let alone a season. You should always be taking at least a couple of different types of bait with you and be prepared to change things depending on what's working on the day. There is a pretty big list of factors that are theorised to affect how fish will feed, and probably a bunch more we don't know about because we're not fish. |
Posted By: Pcj
Date Posted: 13 Sep 2024 at 2:22pm
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Mullet from a fish shop as its NZ,gas stationsetc use frozen from aussie and its mush.Burley is the secret. ------------- "Times up" |
Posted By: kiwi_hunter678
Date Posted: 14 Sep 2024 at 1:41pm
I see the same with people using chicken on the wharfs! Shocking to me, why not eat the chicken???
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pedestrianfisher wrote:Posted By: Mc Tool
Date Posted: 15 Sep 2024 at 11:18am
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Frozen bait should be thawed slowly .... like on a plate in the fridge ..... not at the last minute in the microwave . My bait depends on whats on sale at the supermarket , often free flow pillies or banana prawns ( eat the tail and use the heads for bait ) and live mussels. Salted baits are ok for a bit of variety and they keep . If your really desperate have a look round any rocks at the ramp , we have often started the day with limpets or cats eyes . Sometimes we bone out chicken and any leftovers go in the " to be minced for berley freezer " as does pretty much anything else remotely meaty or boney.......even leftover cat food , KFC leftovers . Pig or chicken pellets are good berley too , just need to put them in a mesh net or just chuck em over the side . I gotta laugh at them two clowns of fishing and adventure , a hunk of bait that would feed a starving nation , hooked once thru the skinny end while Im cutting pillies in half
 ------------- I wish I was young again .... Id be heaps smarter than this time |
Posted By: Pcj
Date Posted: 15 Sep 2024 at 12:38pm
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Nothing wrong with liver or sheep heart. Yet to try garden snails. I do know that after a dry spell snapper will venture to river mouths and feed on whats coming down the river.Only for a day or 2
------------- "Times up" |
Posted By: Mc Tool
Date Posted: 15 Sep 2024 at 12:57pm
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Ha ha , just picturing the Mrs trying to get liver on a hook.......yeah , wouldnt want to be in the same ocean let alone the same boat ------------- I wish I was young again .... Id be heaps smarter than this time |
Posted By: Kandrew
Date Posted: 15 Sep 2024 at 5:34pm
| Mullet or squid are normally good all year round baits. |
Posted By: pedestrianfisher
Date Posted: 15 Sep 2024 at 9:15pm
| Thanks all for the advice, looking forward to trying different baits this Spring! |