Catching Livies

[castamasta]

Hi guys
Trying to catch livies around the shark nets on the sunny coast and havnt had much luck,has anyone got some tips for me? you best to tie up and berley? Cheers for any help.
Gav.

[waterbouy]

Any tips would be good, from pple in know.... eg Smithy. I struggle also.

[Lancair]

Im in NSW, so we cant use a cast net like Qlders.
We use a live bait jig and go to some predictable and reliable inshore reefs, 8-15m depth, sound around until you see a mass of bait, stop the boat quickly and get the jigs in the water. Sometimes you dont even need to hit bottom before you have several hooked up, wind in and deposit in bait tank without touching them if possible.
A method Ive learnt to easily get them off and into tank without touching them needs 2 people. One holds the rod and sinker, keeping the line with bait jigs and hopefully fish, at about a 45degree angle and just tight enough to stop them tangling. The other person holds the main line steady over the bait tank with one hand, with the other hand and using a the BACK edge of a knife blade, run it down the little line to each hooked fish until you have the shank of the hook flat against the blade edge, pinch the hook shank and blade together using your thumb and flick it upside down to flick the bait fish off into the bait tank (hopefully not overboard). Its really easy and quick way to get the jigs back in the water quickly to get more, when you get it right. Baits last longer if you dont handle them until you need to stick a hook or bait needle in them. Ive had slimies and yakkas still fighting fight after 10hrs in my live bait tank.

[RAT-KING]

Try cutting up bits of squid tentacle and puting them on your bait jigs, that usually gets them started after a while you probably wont even need the squid anymore.

[Lancair]

Ive never needed to actually put bait on my bait jigs.

I have seen a snapper caught on a bait jig once tho, again no bait, just the jig hooks.