I hope this page helps you with gathering your baits

Squids & Cuttlefish

Squid and Cuttlefish are very tough and effective baits, able to withstand the onslaught of small rubbish fish and still remain in good shape to attract the bigger fish. As they have very little smell and oil, it is best to keep them moving. If you skin them or show the white flesh, the fish have a much better chance of seeing the bait.

Fish Baits

Some dead fish baits like pilchards and garfish can be used whole on gang hooks, whilst more firm bodied fish like yellowtail, slimy mackereal, striped tuna, frigate mackerel are more attractive if they are fished live or dead. If fishing with these types of baits dead, you should cut them into pliable strips which can move around more with the movement of the waves. You can take some nice fillets off small baitfish with a sharp knife, and throw the rest in as berley. Remember: the heads can also catch some big fish too.

Live Bait

Rigging live baits can be done in a number of ways. The idea of live bait is to position the hook in such a way as to let the bait swim as normal and not kill it. Just find the lateral line and staying above it, either hooking the bait behind the head, or in front of the dorsal fin, or down towards the tail, or through the top of it's mouth. Also, live squid makes a top bait; just place the hook through the top of the broad end of the cape so that the eye of the hook rests on the back of the head.

Cunjie

Cunjie can be found at most rocky shorelines around low tide. Cunjie is easily recognised as a lump that clings to the rocks, usually covered in moss, cabbage or barnacles. Cunjie varies in size from no larger than a golf ball to larger than a cricket ball. You use the reddish-pink inner flesh for bait. You can easily remove it by cutting it out with a knife or knocking the whole Cunjie off the rock and removing the flesh as you need it.

Crabs

There are heaps of crabs around Australia, but the two that are mainly used as bait are the red and black crabs. Black crabs usually hang out under ledges and crevices and are easily identified by having a smooth dark shell. Red crabs are fun to catch - you have to find them by feeling through weeds and looking under rock pool ledges. CAUTION must be taken because of the extremely deadly Blueringed Octopus. When using crabs you must set the bait on the hooks properly, and make sure the hooks are sharp.

Cabbage & Weed

Cabbage or sealettuce is the most common bait used to catch blackfish from the rocks. You can find it right at your feet on the rocks or get it from roock pools at low tide. You normally fish with it using a float and light line and small hooks. When rigging the cabbage to the hook, it is best to selct a rosette where several leaves join a central stalk and pass the hook through once or twice at the end of each leaf. By half-hitching the stalk of the rosette onto the line, the bait will then sit naturally.

Nippers

Nippers are usually fishing in a similar manner to pilchard cubes, only on a slightly smaller hook, say a size 2/0 or 3/0.

Beach Worms

To catch beach worms you need old smelly fish. Place the fish in a hessian bag or tie them on a rope. The drag it over the sand at low tide to find the worms. When the worms smell the fish, they will stick their heads up from the sand. Once the worm has raised it head, place a small pice of bait near the worms head to get it to stick it's head out even more. As the worm rises out of the sand, you position your special worming pliers around it's head, close them, and quickly and gently pull the worm out of the sand. You can also do this with you fingers if you don't have the pliers. Beach worms vary in size from 30cm to 2.0 metres.

Pipis

Pipis are a good bait for bream and whiting. With pipis, you use the inner flesh of the pipis and place it on a 2-1/0 hook.

Yabbies

Saltwater yabbies are easy to get, all you need is a pump. Just go down to the beach at low tide, look for the small yabbie holes and start pumping. When you pump them, just place them in a bucket with saltwater to keep them alive.

Shrimp

Shrimp thrive in estuary weedbeds and can be caught all year round using a fine mesh net. I use a net made up of mosquito mesh. During winter and spring, schools of shrimp can be found under bridges and wharves in large clumps of weeds.