Snapper half pillie rig?

[Nicko_Cairns]

Hi guys,

a lot of years ago I fished the barwon banks on a charter, we used a rig where the pillie was sliced long ways in two on a slight angle to make a slim bait that didn't spin. Two small ganged hooks were then inserted in the middle of the pilchard, cut side first. We drifted the baits to the bottom with small ball sinkers, took ages to get down but we did well on snapper.

so my question is, is anyone still using this rig? Worked well and can't find pictures of it anywhere. Not after other rigs, just a pic of this one.

Thanks.

[fishychrissy]

Gday Nicko,
Is that like making a "flapper bait" where you have the 2 fillets connected to the head but minus the backbone so they just waft around in the current? Be easy to do with slimeys and yakkas but a bit harder with a pilly I imagine
Cheers
Chris

[Nicko_Cairns]

Thanks but no Chris,
if I had any pillies in the freezer I'd try to replicate it. Hmmm I'll have to go buy some pillies and post the pic..

Gday Nicko,
Is that like making a "flapper bait" where you have the 2 fillets connected to the head but minus the backbone so they just waft around in the current? Be easy to do with slimeys and yakkas but a bit harder with a pilly I imagine
Cheers
Chris

[fishychrissy]

Be interested to see that rigged up too Mate, could solve some of my presentation problems in a decent tide as well.
Cheers,
Chris

[Smithy]

Was it with Bruce Cooper?

[Nicko_Cairns]

Was it with Bruce Cooper?

dunno smithy! it was well over 10 years ago...

[Smithy]

Was it a 6.5m Kevlacat with twin Yammie 2 strokes or a larger cat with twin Ivecos called Raptor? They are the two boats Bruce ran. Sounds right up his alley.

[gr hilly]

Trying to find out Snapper tricks ha Hilly .

[Nicko_Cairns]

Was on a 6.5m Kevlacat with twin Yammie 2 strokes or a larger cat with twin Ivecos called Raptor? They are the two boats Bruce ran. Sounds right up his alley.

Sounds about right, was a good technique, keen to try it up here, pillies will need to be pretty frozen though or they'll fall off, pics shortly.

[Nicko_Cairns]

So here it is, the reason it was chopped is so that it's a more streamlined bait and it worked well on the Snapper, a small ball sinker was left running all the way to the hook, for the life of my I can't remember if it was a single or double hook rig? (two ganged hooks maybe), but it floated down well, didn't spin and the Snapper seemed to love it.

I'm going to try it up here just to see if the lighter sinkers and presentation gets more bites... it takes a while to run the small sinkers out and it wouldn't be the best rig for a day with plenty of run but we'll see.. the head section was used for burley (I know, the head would be easier to put a hook in but I'm guessing it spun a bit more? Dunno).



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[Short Fuse]

Nick.

There are a couple of ways you can fish the pilly that way. Either on a single or a gang rig. We use this method using either 2 or 3 Mustad 7766s linked, and cut the pilly to suit whichever set of hooks in use at the time. Run a ball sinker directly down on top of the rig, although using a small soft fluro bead between the hooks and the sinker helps as well. We anchor up and get a good berley trail happening and then drift these rigs down the berley trail, adjusting sinker size to suit the conditions, but making sure it does not get into the bottom. I prefer to use monofilament line when using this method, and use a 6500 size baitrunner reel loaded with 8kg line.

We keep the bail arm open and let the line trickle off at a rate that keeps the pilly flowing away from the boat at the same speed as the berley pieces. When a fish takes the bait, the line speeds up and you just trip the bail over and let the fish hook itself. Works a treat on red throats up your way as well. A mate of mine lived in Cairns a few years ago and he caught heaps of red throats in the shallows using this method. When you are using a gang rig, put the hooks directly down into the bait from the top. keeping the pilly as straight as possible. This also helps to keep the bait from spinning. Happy to take some photos and put them up here if you want me to.

cheers

Jeff

[gr hilly]

Two 2.0 ganged works a treat on this set up Flatties love it to.Hilly

[Nicko_Cairns]

Thanks Jeff,

I've had a couple sets of 7766 ganged hooks separate on me while fishing big fish, I'm not sure if I'm closing them too much, putting too much hurt on the fish, or if the hooks aren't that great? Anyway I'm avoiding ganged hooks until I find a solution. Noticed the glow bead, similar to what NZ snapper fishos do.

I've been snooding double hook rigs lately and that's been working well, then changing to a light wire rig when the macks are around and on floating/drifted livies etc. I'll try the single hook rig with some trout and see how it goes, i think the pillies will have to be fairly frozen or one bite and the trout will be gone, I usually use a squid condom, pillie shoved into a squid skirt, works a treat.

Cheers.

[Smithy]

I prefer snelled/snooded rigs over gangs for snapper fishing. I put a 2" bit of lumo tube above my running ball sinkers. Snapper love flouro stuff. Think nuclear chicken! That is one thing I have picked up from gun Gold Coast snapper fishos who love using the McCubbin glow sinkers down there and guys like John Gooding etc. who like to use a lot of flouro in their rigs as well.

[GBC]

Jack erskines favorite fnq dead bait rig was a single rig on a mullet filleted into a flapper with the backbone cut out. The single hook was run through the eyes and then one of the fillets turned over the hook as well to expose the flesh rather than the skin.