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Re: Bait for landbased gummies

Posted: Sat Aug 19, 2017 8:37 pm
by CarlG
Whiskers wrote:Sand crabs are fine but almost any sort of crab will do.

I usually try to catch the small green or brown shore crabs. Even the small soldier crabs are readily taken.

Trying to catch your crabs for bait can be as much fun as trying to catch a gummy.

Look for them at low tide, specially in areas with small rock pools or clumps of weed. Bear in mind that there are regulations in place prohibiting the taking of crabs from the inter tidal zones of Port Phillip Bay.

If you're uncertain of how to use them go to Google and look up Smooth Hound fishing. Loads of information and videos. Most of the info is British but the English Smooth Hound is essentially the same fish as our Gummy Shark.

You'll never be happier to catch crabs!
:rofl:
In the UK, crabs are primo shorefishing bait, but peeler crab,(when the crabs are in the moult phase).
Hardback's are only used for wrasse fishing as far as I'm aware..

Re: Bait for landbased gummies

Posted: Sun Aug 20, 2017 4:50 pm
by adamk
problem with alot of the prawns there imported with parasites, an the amount of inported ones on display as austrialian in supermarkers o_0

Re: Bait for landbased gummies

Posted: Mon Aug 21, 2017 10:02 am
by Broomstick
I used to fish that area a lot...at least every couple of weeks for about 2 years. I kept a log of every fish I caught and on what bait, tides etc. I just had a look over it and of the 62 gummies I caught, 26 were on salmon, 23 on scad, 8 on squid, 2 on slimey mackerel, 2 on trevally, and 1 on mullet. These results might be a little skewed as I used salmon and scad pretty much every session (I liked them because they had tough skin), while the others I only used sporadically (except squid, which I used around 50% of the time). If I couldn't catch my own bait, I just used to buy fish from the fish monger, and I think it worked just as well.

Re: Bait for landbased gummies

Posted: Mon Aug 21, 2017 10:10 am
by smokin_reels
Broomstick wrote:I used to fish that area a lot...at least every couple of weeks for about 2 years. I kept a log of every fish I caught and on what bait, tides etc. I just had a look over it and of the 62 gummies I caught, 26 were on salmon, 23 on scad, 8 on squid, 2 on slimey mackerel, 2 on trevally, and 1 on mullet. These results might be a little skewed as I used salmon and scad pretty much every session (I liked them because they had tough skin), while the others I only used sporadically (except squid, which I used around 50% of the time). If I couldn't catch my own bait, I just used to buy fish from the fish monger, and I think it worked just as well.
Thats crazy Pat! Must have been a fair amount effort. Luna with you on all those trips ? :)

Re: Bait for landbased gummies

Posted: Mon Aug 21, 2017 10:19 am
by Broomstick
smokin_reels wrote:
Broomstick wrote:I used to fish that area a lot...at least every couple of weeks for about 2 years. I kept a log of every fish I caught and on what bait, tides etc. I just had a look over it and of the 62 gummies I caught, 26 were on salmon, 23 on scad, 8 on squid, 2 on slimey mackerel, 2 on trevally, and 1 on mullet. These results might be a little skewed as I used salmon and scad pretty much every session (I liked them because they had tough skin), while the others I only used sporadically (except squid, which I used around 50% of the time). If I couldn't catch my own bait, I just used to buy fish from the fish monger, and I think it worked just as well.
Thats crazy Pat! Must have been a fair amount effort. Luna with you on all those trips ? :)
Of course :). She was a trooper...whenever it was cold, she'd dig a little hole next to the fire and curl up. Super cute. We spent some longggg, cold nights on the beach...we would haver averaged around 10hrs a sesh back then. I don't have it in me any more ha

Re: Bait for landbased gummies

Posted: Mon Aug 21, 2017 10:27 am
by smokin_reels
Broomstick wrote:
smokin_reels wrote:
Broomstick wrote:I used to fish that area a lot...at least every couple of weeks for about 2 years. I kept a log of every fish I caught and on what bait, tides etc. I just had a look over it and of the 62 gummies I caught, 26 were on salmon, 23 on scad, 8 on squid, 2 on slimey mackerel, 2 on trevally, and 1 on mullet. These results might be a little skewed as I used salmon and scad pretty much every session (I liked them because they had tough skin), while the others I only used sporadically (except squid, which I used around 50% of the time). If I couldn't catch my own bait, I just used to buy fish from the fish monger, and I think it worked just as well.
Thats crazy Pat! Must have been a fair amount effort. Luna with you on all those trips ? :)
Of course :). She was a trooper...whenever it was cold, she'd dig a little hole next to the fire and curl up. Super cute. We spent some longggg, cold nights on the beach...we would haver averaged around 10hrs a sesh back then. I don't have it in me any more ha

Thats a crazy amount of effort.

Im yet to catch my first gummy, should hit you up for pointers. :thumbsup:

Re: Bait for landbased gummies

Posted: Mon Aug 21, 2017 10:47 am
by Kosta7
Broomstick wrote:I used to fish that area a lot...at least every couple of weeks for about 2 years. I kept a log of every fish I caught and on what bait, tides etc. I just had a look over it and of the 62 gummies I caught, 26 were on salmon, 23 on scad, 8 on squid, 2 on slimey mackerel, 2 on trevally, and 1 on mullet. These results might be a little skewed as I used salmon and scad pretty much every session (I liked them because they had tough skin), while the others I only used sporadically (except squid, which I used around 50% of the time). If I couldn't catch my own bait, I just used to buy fish from the fish monger, and I think it worked just as well.
Wow! That's an amazing effort. Still haven't got a gummy but haven't put the hours yet. Find it so hard to motivate myself to stay at night. Only manage a few hours after the sun sets. Maybe if the weather is a bit better, have company and the necessary aperitifs :cheers:

Re: Bait for landbased gummies

Posted: Mon Aug 21, 2017 11:01 am
by STriplett1997
Broomstick wrote:I used to fish that area a lot...at least every couple of weeks for about 2 years. I kept a log of every fish I caught and on what bait, tides etc. I just had a look over it and of the 62 gummies I caught, 26 were on salmon, 23 on scad, 8 on squid, 2 on slimey mackerel, 2 on trevally, and 1 on mullet. These results might be a little skewed as I used salmon and scad pretty much every session (I liked them because they had tough skin), while the others I only used sporadically (except squid, which I used around 50% of the time). If I couldn't catch my own bait, I just used to buy fish from the fish monger, and I think it worked just as well.
Thanks for your comment bud, helped a lot.

Re: Bait for landbased gummies

Posted: Mon Aug 21, 2017 11:20 am
by Brett
Kosta7 wrote:
Broomstick wrote:I used to fish that area a lot...at least every couple of weeks for about 2 years. I kept a log of every fish I caught and on what bait, tides etc. I just had a look over it and of the 62 gummies I caught, 26 were on salmon, 23 on scad, 8 on squid, 2 on slimey mackerel, 2 on trevally, and 1 on mullet. These results might be a little skewed as I used salmon and scad pretty much every session (I liked them because they had tough skin), while the others I only used sporadically (except squid, which I used around 50% of the time). If I couldn't catch my own bait, I just used to buy fish from the fish monger, and I think it worked just as well.
Wow! That's an amazing effort. Still haven't got a gummy but haven't put the hours yet. Find it so hard to motivate myself to stay at night. Only manage a few hours after the sun sets. Maybe if the weather is a bit better, have company and the necessary aperitifs :cheers:

It's hard in winter to stay real long, a bit of company always helps.

I'm the opposite regarding baits, in the 2 yrs I fished it regularly(sometimes 5 nights a week for 3 months) I had more success with squid than anything else.
I also found you get a lot more rays on flesh baits.
Also that banjo's and cuttlefish, squid and sea lice love Eel, more than gummies do. Only ever caught 2 gummies on eel against 50+ on squid and probably around 15 to 20 on flesh baits(salmon/yakkas etc).
Would go down during daylight and scout for a spot, setup before dark and usually fish till around 2am, did some overnighters, but found that normally you would get a fish between 9pm and 11pm. Fish would often show up in pairs and be caught within 10mins of each other.

Best thing to do is get out there and give it a go, with a few different baits until you find what works for you, then it becomes easy.

Re: Bait for landbased gummies

Posted: Mon Aug 21, 2017 12:25 pm
by Broomstick
Brett wrote:
Kosta7 wrote:
Broomstick wrote:I used to fish that area a lot...at least every couple of weeks for about 2 years. I kept a log of every fish I caught and on what bait, tides etc. I just had a look over it and of the 62 gummies I caught, 26 were on salmon, 23 on scad, 8 on squid, 2 on slimey mackerel, 2 on trevally, and 1 on mullet. These results might be a little skewed as I used salmon and scad pretty much every session (I liked them because they had tough skin), while the others I only used sporadically (except squid, which I used around 50% of the time). If I couldn't catch my own bait, I just used to buy fish from the fish monger, and I think it worked just as well.
Wow! That's an amazing effort. Still haven't got a gummy but haven't put the hours yet. Find it so hard to motivate myself to stay at night. Only manage a few hours after the sun sets. Maybe if the weather is a bit better, have company and the necessary aperitifs :cheers:

It's hard in winter to stay real long, a bit of company always helps.

I'm the opposite regarding baits, in the 2 yrs I fished it regularly(sometimes 5 nights a week for 3 months) I had more success with squid than anything else.
I also found you get a lot more rays on flesh baits.
Also that banjo's and cuttlefish, squid and sea lice love Eel, more than gummies do. Only ever caught 2 gummies on eel against 50+ on squid and probably around 15 to 20 on flesh baits(salmon/yakkas etc).
Would go down during daylight and scout for a spot, setup before dark and usually fish till around 2am, did some overnighters, but found that normally you would get a fish between 9pm and 11pm. Fish would often show up in pairs and be caught within 10mins of each other.

Best thing to do is get out there and give it a go, with a few different baits until you find what works for you, then it becomes easy.
Yeah I think I caught most on flesh baits because that's what I had confidence in, so I used them the most. I agree with you about eel - I used it a few times and didn't get a sniff. I wouldn't use it again. I caught a lot of gummies in pairs too, but I very rarely caught more than 2 in a night.