Just a word of advice in advance....
This is not a topic open for discussion to discredit or criticize any angler's trace/rigs or his/her in-ability to catch fish, so please no negative comment, rather comment & contribute positively.
Neither do I need advice, as I have my own method which has yieled me good successes, but I am merely intrigued as a fellow angler who has seen(and so have you guys) so many different livebait traces along the KZN coast & Cape waters used by fellow anglers.
Especially during the winter seasons, used by my own friends, other anglers, on the web, Youtube, angling magazines, fishing forums, etc, & it will truely be facinating to hear from our fellow anglers what their best
trace/s look like, & reasoning behind it.
Believe me, there is always a reason for an angler why he does s.thing a certain way, sometimes I think they might be better politicians than our government cause the way they can debate, reason & argue with overwhelming persuasion & sonetimes mathematics thrown in is astonishing.
(I think you can understand now why I said no negative comment on someone elses traces!!)
This might be a very old or boring topic, & one that has seen literally 100's of different styles, ways, methods & traces, with each its own reasoning behind it.
To make it simple, lets see pics of your favorite livebait trace, mono/fluoro used, trace length, hook types, sizes, how many you use, & how you rig up your live mullet, shad etc, be it a throw or slide trace for targeting garrick, kob & GT's. but not sharks.
I dont care getting bitten off by a shark while targeting these eds.
Pse dont post other angler's pics, web pics or traces/rigs from other sources, but rather your own, & what you use or believe in.
I have'nt taken pics, but my old favorite trace for targeting garrick & using live mullets from 15cm up to even 30cm, was 1 x 5 or 6/0 Mustad (hook size depends on size of livebait & target specie) firmly under the skin behind his head after threading the trace line with a bait needle from the dorsal fin. This on a 1m mono clear or white line on a running sinker shorter than the trace.
Then tie a overhand loop & place it over its tail & pull it till it sits snugly (not to tight) which will act as the "shock-knot" to prevent the hook pulling out on the action of the cast. It actually carries the weight of the livie during casting, but you are very limited ito your effort to obtain distance.
But, garrick & kob feeds close to the "gutter" where mullet try hide away from the preds, hence no real distance needed.
In my younger years I used a treble instead of the J-hook, but soon had more confidence in using 1 x J hook(old brown mustad hooks).
I've since moved on to circles when they started to become popular, or still using
J-hooks, depending on the livebait size & what specie I am targeting.
I have seen many traces, & 1 that stood out for me used by shore anglers was almost like an off shore cuda trace, with the 1st hook (a treble) hooked under the anal fin of a live shad, the middle J-hook pinned under the skin & on the side of the fish, with the 3rd J-hook in the lip. All these hooks tied onto mono of about 20kg.
This is then slid on the non-return clip.
Now if you had completed this rig, you will see that your livebait seems "back to front" (as if trawling)....& will lead to ask yourself how will this livebait swim freely or forward without being hindered & still catch fish ??!!
Well, on the KZN South coast it was used by quite a few anglers....& best part of it all with success landing their garrick.
I was suprised, but clearly the anglers were doing it as if a sworn-by method.
Now I can argue or critisize this method as much as I want to, saying it looks "up side down" , will the livebait swim free, will it breath properly, will it stay alive for a long time, give my negative thoughts & comment, but the result ultimately was that they successfully landed their garrick with the treble firmly hooked in the mouth near the throat & the 2nd hook slso in the mouth.
So ja, I have now seen it all......or so I thought.
::respekt:::respekt:::respekt:::respekt:
This is not a topic open for discussion to discredit or criticize any angler's trace/rigs or his/her in-ability to catch fish, so please no negative comment, rather comment & contribute positively.
Neither do I need advice, as I have my own method which has yieled me good successes, but I am merely intrigued as a fellow angler who has seen(and so have you guys) so many different livebait traces along the KZN coast & Cape waters used by fellow anglers.
Especially during the winter seasons, used by my own friends, other anglers, on the web, Youtube, angling magazines, fishing forums, etc, & it will truely be facinating to hear from our fellow anglers what their best
trace/s look like, & reasoning behind it.
Believe me, there is always a reason for an angler why he does s.thing a certain way, sometimes I think they might be better politicians than our government cause the way they can debate, reason & argue with overwhelming persuasion & sonetimes mathematics thrown in is astonishing.
(I think you can understand now why I said no negative comment on someone elses traces!!)
This might be a very old or boring topic, & one that has seen literally 100's of different styles, ways, methods & traces, with each its own reasoning behind it.
To make it simple, lets see pics of your favorite livebait trace, mono/fluoro used, trace length, hook types, sizes, how many you use, & how you rig up your live mullet, shad etc, be it a throw or slide trace for targeting garrick, kob & GT's. but not sharks.
I dont care getting bitten off by a shark while targeting these eds.
Pse dont post other angler's pics, web pics or traces/rigs from other sources, but rather your own, & what you use or believe in.
I have'nt taken pics, but my old favorite trace for targeting garrick & using live mullets from 15cm up to even 30cm, was 1 x 5 or 6/0 Mustad (hook size depends on size of livebait & target specie) firmly under the skin behind his head after threading the trace line with a bait needle from the dorsal fin. This on a 1m mono clear or white line on a running sinker shorter than the trace.
Then tie a overhand loop & place it over its tail & pull it till it sits snugly (not to tight) which will act as the "shock-knot" to prevent the hook pulling out on the action of the cast. It actually carries the weight of the livie during casting, but you are very limited ito your effort to obtain distance.
But, garrick & kob feeds close to the "gutter" where mullet try hide away from the preds, hence no real distance needed.
In my younger years I used a treble instead of the J-hook, but soon had more confidence in using 1 x J hook(old brown mustad hooks).
I've since moved on to circles when they started to become popular, or still using
J-hooks, depending on the livebait size & what specie I am targeting.
I have seen many traces, & 1 that stood out for me used by shore anglers was almost like an off shore cuda trace, with the 1st hook (a treble) hooked under the anal fin of a live shad, the middle J-hook pinned under the skin & on the side of the fish, with the 3rd J-hook in the lip. All these hooks tied onto mono of about 20kg.
This is then slid on the non-return clip.
Now if you had completed this rig, you will see that your livebait seems "back to front" (as if trawling)....& will lead to ask yourself how will this livebait swim freely or forward without being hindered & still catch fish ??!!
Well, on the KZN South coast it was used by quite a few anglers....& best part of it all with success landing their garrick.
I was suprised, but clearly the anglers were doing it as if a sworn-by method.
Now I can argue or critisize this method as much as I want to, saying it looks "up side down" , will the livebait swim free, will it breath properly, will it stay alive for a long time, give my negative thoughts & comment, but the result ultimately was that they successfully landed their garrick with the treble firmly hooked in the mouth near the throat & the 2nd hook slso in the mouth.
So ja, I have now seen it all......or so I thought.
::respekt:::respekt:::respekt:::respekt:
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