Garfish Questions

[gazza2006au]

Hey Guys

Can anyone give some advice on rig, technique etc.. for catching garfish? how do they fair in live bait tanks?

some mates took me out a couple nights ago we done an all nighter and managed a couple garfish by scoping them up in the net they were put into one of those 60litre colorful bins u find at reject shops etc.. other small bait fish and live prawns were placed in with them but my target will be gars

later on in the night the gars didn't make it so im wondering if they would even survive in a small live bait tank? tank will be around 290x290x200 roughly 15-16litre tank it is quiet a small tank as i have a small boat

the gars we seen and caught can be up to the width of my bait tank will this be a problem? may have to throw back the bigger ones

can u catch garfish at night? any tips?

[Lovey80]

They will survive quite well in a larger tank with constantly flowing fresh water over them.

Take a Herring jig and cut tiny pieces of prawn onto the hook and hang below a float. Bread also works.

[mitc69]

i find bread works better,

best if it a pump live bait tank or enjoy switching water, otherwise air pump is needed if u over stock it... just like any fish tank ... for 60L tank i wouldnt keep more then 20 live bait anyhow...

[gazza2006au]

Thanks guys, i cant find a small enough bait tank to fit into the rear behind the seat in my 3.15m tinny so going to make one from one of these BCF 25L water containers, the water level will only be around 10-12 litres with a Rule 360gph pump running on 6v battery

i can run the pump the whole time im downrigging but i will need to turn it off when moving from location to location, hopefully they survive

thanks for the tip on bait

can they be caught at night? during the day where the gars are is right in the main channel from a busy boat ramp and a sanctuary zone so im limited where i can fish and during the day there is that much boat traffic i reckon i wouldnt have a chance but during the night they are everywhere

[scottar]

No need to turn the pump off if it is installed with a scoop type pick up on the transom. I assume you mean a 12 Volt battery to run the pump. If they are there at night they won't be too far off during the day - might just need to burley them up a bit. Not sure whether they feed at night or not.

[Lovey80]

I find they chew harder at night with less boat traffic. Fish as light as you possibly can and those tiny glow sticks attached to the float help also.

[Noelm]

Garfish have very fragile scales, if you grab then and they lose lots, they will die pretty quick in a bait tank, take care when getting them off the hook and they will stay alive much longer, also make sure the overflow from the tank has got some sort of mesh or they will all just go straight out easy as pie. Pretty easy to catch, very small hook, light line and pieces of peeled Prawn or bread will work, together eith some burley, don't use dry bread for burley, it will float and attract birds that will put the Garfish off, so wet the bread well first.

[gazza2006au]

Thanks Noelm some great pointers there, never actually thought about handling the gars and loosing scales

heres the tank i went with its 30 litres and from bunnings, i chose a 6v 12Ah battery from Jaycar i went with 6 volts so the pump stays quiet and only pumps as much as i need

did have one problem with my boat empty the bait tank pump is only 1/4th submerged so it doesnt pump my tinny is flat bottom so no deep V however it works when im in the boat

ok windows 10is rotating my pics when i upload them so i'll use photobucket its a little more than i wanted but it works ok, i just got back from the lake testing it out and it works good no fish in there yet but hopefully this weekend

tank fills up to just above the lower white fitting which is 15 litres