Live-baiting for snapper in the shallows in the little Osprey 450SC - Part 1

A bit of a fun snapper day back out on the little Osprey

Well it had been awhile since we had the little osprey in the water, Pea was keen to join so I thought we could go try our luck livebating for snaps in the shallows. The forecast was looking good at last so we headed off at first light to make a day of it. Our first part of the plan was to drop a berley and draw in the mack's. We were fishing a particular spot for them but sometimes this spot can hold some horse mack's which can make it hard for catching snaps on them. It is a spot that can hold some good snaps as well but a little more into Autumn is when they usually turn up here for us then the size baits don't matter so much. After launching and arriving at our spot I set up the berley while Pea sorted out the sabiki rig. We did have bait onboard to start with which also helps to bring the snaps in. I was just going to concentrate on the mack's while Pea tried a few pillie baits. It was also the first time we would be trying out the livebait tank on the little Osprey.

Pea had the sabiki going just as I finished setting up the berley, and hooking up it was our first yellow - but it was a hua of a thing. I was hoping we would get a few smaller ones for our livebaiting and we weren't going to be plagued by these big 30cm yellows... Pea dropped again and basically hooked up on the drop - the yellows were here at least - it can be hard to find them around here sometimes. It was still a little big but his next drop hooked up a nice little snapper lollipop for me "oh yea boy" my excitement kicked in but now I had to hope there were some good snaps about. Normally if the mack's are here the snaps are here too I threaded the hook through the body from tail to the head, clipped the tail to slow it down and flicked it in. I was using my Okuma avenger to allow the fish to run - when using these livebaits the snaps love to run with them first.
The smaller yellow were few and far between but we had a couple in the tank to start with - worse case we would have to drop down to some yellows cut in half or cubed. Pea picked up a couple more then started fishing with half pillie - sometimes it's hard to get him off those baits but if we went to cubed yellow I know he would swap over then. My little yellow started to get twitchy - this sign is showing there is a bigger fish there that's making it nervous. Pea was first to hook up on a snap - they do find the pillie baits hard to resist. His second bait in didn't last long, and he was once again hooked up. I had my second mack in, which once again got tickled. It was hard to watch Pea catch fish and I knew if I changed over I would be catching to but if you want the bigger snaps you have to stick at the livies - we get a lot of 40-45cm fish here which will scoff up any baits so I was keen to stick at it in hope of a 60cm plus model.

My next livey in got hassled pretty quickly and after letting it play and run for a while I struck and hooked up. I was stoked to be on at last - nothing big but I was on the board (2 - 1 for the dead bait) Not having a small mack in the tank I just had to pick the smallest one - if the big boys were here it wouldn't matter. I knew once all the commotion and berley pumping there would be a few 50-60's mooching around. After a while Pea was hooking up left right and center but I stuck to the livies with gritted teeth. There was a heap of fish now turning up and he was hooking them pretty much as soon as the bait hit the bottom - we were only in 4mtrs of water so his rod was bent just about as soon as he flicked the bait wire over.
It was getting really fishy with snaps, kahawai and yellows now at the back of the boat in the berley trail - just not many small yellows for me to fish with. Pea had 4 in the bin before I was hooked up to my next one on the livey, This one was a little better and this is what livies can do for you - it was a nice fish around 65cm and although Pea was having fun haling fish it was nice to have caught a bit better fish. Pea had swapped over to cubed yellows which works just about as good as livies - they just seem to love them. I managed to catch one more nice little yellow which was my last to use with all the rest being just too big - it did catch me another nice snap but soon there was pretty much nothing smaller than 50-60cm coming aboard so I changed over to the cubed bait as well. We finished off the day on a few more nice snaps and also released a few to fight another day.

With 10 in the bin and a couple of better mods around 60cm we called it a day - the cubed bait did out fish the livies, but I'll be back in a month where the smaller fish will thin out and I might luck a couple 70-75cm fish on them. Another epic day out on the little Osprey catching fish in the shallows with a mate...

Tight lines

Видео Live-baiting for snapper in the shallows in the little Osprey 450SC - Part 1 канала REEL KIWI FISHING FISH WHISPERER