Catching Pilchards

[gazza2006au]

One of my fishing location has pilchards but we can only manage 1-3 live pilchards before they become finicky, anyone got tips on catching more?

The other day i was cubing frozen pilchards slow burley trail and had the school 70cm from the boat, not going to use them alive as they die quickly but they'll make great dead baits for some pelagics

I wanted to run dual livie tanks but lack of money i can only run one tank, in the same tank will be squid, mullet, yakkas, slimies maybe a mix of all at times or anyone alone

If i can manage to keep pillies alive they will be another great bait in the tank

[NAGG]

I'd kill for a location where you can catch pilchards ....... I wouldn't be too concerned - dead or alive

Chris

[Red October]

Down here in Yamba we have tons of pilchards between April and November and we get them on bait jigs while they are around the boat. The big issue is getting decent quantities of them as they move around so quick and are easily spooked. We would be lucky to get a dozen or two before the schools take off. Need a big net like the three commercial boats who operate out of Yamba/Iluka, they use purse sein nets and gets tons of them if they are luck with the net.

In my experience easier to buy them fresh or frozen, although they are starting to get expensive.

[scottar]

Used to catch a heap of them in W.A. using a bait jig with a burley cage sinker on the bottom.

[Dignity]

Starting to see them up here in SE Qld, used to be very common until some years ago a company managed to get a licence to trial netting them for 2 years.
They were available in quite a few tackle shops here during that period.
Problem was the local pillies had a lot less oil in them, didn't attract fish like southern pillies and at the end of the 2 years there weren't enough left to net.
Now probably circumstantial but the pelagic scene dropped off dramatically, sailfish just disappeared from the scene.

[gazza2006au]

These pillies seem very weiry of sabiki jigs i have tried many times baited hooks and unbaited the best methiod we found was a single luderick hook those tiny green hooks and some bait but its time consuming was hopping someone had a magic trick to catching them

[Noelm]

I find it a lot easier to catch them in a bait shop.

[NAGG]

In all my boating / fishing years ..... I reckon I've only had a handful of times where I've had pilchards around the boat - the last time about 3 years ago down off Batemans Bay ..... when they were around you could only get a few before the buggered off - then they would come back ........ man they were good bait & I probably had my best session down there using those pillies .

I'd love to have quality baits like those for the mid / northern NSW snapper fishing .

Chris

[NAGG]

I find it a lot easier to catch them in a bait shop.

The quality can be hit & miss though ...... even buying IQF pillies .

When I go to Evans head , the local tackle store has the best pillies - typical 20cm & everything from Spotties , Snapper through to Jew love them .
I know next time up there - I'm going to buy a 15kg box & repack them into vacuumed sealed bags .

Chris

[Ducksnutz]

For anyone in Southeast Queensland, this guy has quality bait.

Not affiliated in any way just a shout out to a local quality business who looks after the customer.

https://mr-bait.business.site/

[disorderly]

The quality can be hit & miss though ...... even buying IQF pillies .

When I go to Evans head , the local tackle store has the best pillies - typical 20cm & everything from Spotties , Snapper through to Jew love them .
I know next time up there - I'm going to buy a 15kg box & repack them into vacuumed sealed bags .

Chris

Yeah thats the go..

The missus sealed them up in packs of about 10 pillies..

Now with the freezer setup we will be able to take more then enough..

We will start doing boxes of squid the same...

I have never liked wasting as much bait as we have by defrosting and refreezing after the trip...it basically just becomes expensive burley then..

[Volvo]

Good BIG !!! Drawstring Castnet , then individually freeze the feckers save wastage ..

[Dignity]

Yeah thats the go..

The missus sealed them up in packs of about 10 pillies..

Now with the freezer setup we will be able to take more then enough..

We will start doing boxes of squid the same...

I have never liked wasting as much bait as we have by defrosting and refreezing after the trip...it basically just becomes expensive burley then..

Yep, that's what I do, usually there are 2 stores where I will get bait and they will open a carton of pillies to show me the size which is really good as for a while they were only available in small. I often have cryovac bags from previous fish or bacon stored in them and reuse them for the bait, 10 per pkt.

I still buy block pillies but these get chopped up for burley.

[gazza2006au]

Hopefully heading out on the weekend a mate doesnt wanna go outside due to being off the water for 12 months he may get sick so we are going to get some live squid than heading back in to a well known location and hopefully we can get some pillies if my anchor holds or we can nick someones mooring over the deep water where the pillies are

I'll be taking my gopro and see if i can put together a little video

[Volvo]

Hopefully heading out on the weekend a mate doesnt wanna go outside due to being off the water for 12 months he may get sick so we are going to get some live squid than heading back in to a well known location and hopefully we can get some pillies if my anchor holds or we can nick someones mooring over the deep water where the pillies are

I'll be taking my gopro and see if i can put together a little video

That would be nice.