Fishing Baitball Action

It’s that time of year when most pelagic anglers in SE Qld get excited. Huge schools of baitfish make their way north while being tracked by a herd of predators. If there is a pelagic species you like to target then there is a fair bet they are in the dinner queue!
I have had a lot of fun on the pelagics lately as they gorge themselves on the abundant food supply. There are a few techniques which have produced a lot of fish and are worth mentioning here.

Finding the fish is typically not too difficult. Look for the birds and fish busting up bait on the surface and you have found your fishing spot.
Before charging up to the scene of mayhem sit back and watch for a while – it is a difficult task but often well worth the effort. Try to see which way the fish are moving and get an idea of what type of fish are feeding around the baitball. Having identified this, aim to get just within cast distance and ideally ahead of the moving pack of fish.
Lure options are pretty simple when targeting this type of feeding frenzy. Soft plastic shad type lures or metal slugs are great options.
I have been experimenting lately with using plastics around the baitballs and have had some great success. There are however some tricks that will improve your success rate. I have found the 4 and 5 inch Gulp and Powerbait minnows and jerkshads are great plastics to use in these instances. They look a lot like the bait being eaten and can be worked well in the water to make for realistic imitations. I typically add a few inches of single strand to the head of my jighead to prevent bite offs by toothy critters such as mackerel. I usually load the plastic on to a 1/2 Oz 1/0 hook size jighead. One of the keys to success when fishing these scenarios is to highlight your lure and produce reaction bites. By this I mean rely on the “kill it” instinct to get a predator to bite a lure it might follow and leave if given too much time to think about it. This can be done by altering the physical appearance of your lure, or changing the retrieve.

To change the physical appearance of the lure, I always paint eyes on to my jigheads. By purchasing a white and black permanent paint marker from the newsagent/stationery shop the job can be easily accomplished. There is a reason that many baitfish have evolved to developing black spots on the tails – and it is so they don’t get struck around the head by attacking predators. The moral of the story – predators find eyes hard to resist!

To get the best out of reaction bites when retrieving your lure there are a few techniques to try.
I always start by casting to the edge of the baitball. Having done this I let the lure sink ensuring I keep the line tight throughout.

This allows the lure to sink to deeper water while making the lure look like a dead/wounded baitfish. The lure also starts to drift away from the main patch of bait making it a definite target for predators. The sinking lure combined with Berkley scent, fluttering action and eyes standing out in the water make it very hard for a predator to resist! Be warned the bites are often savage, rip the rod out of your hands type stuff! If there are no bites on the drop, begin to retrieve the lure in high speed bursts followed by a pause to let the lure sink again. If there are no strikes after this, target another area of the baitball, or simply move on to the next patch of busting fish and bait.
I have taken some really good fish over the past month using these techniques. I am finding it very hard to go past the 6’6 - 8 to 10kg jiggin stick and Abu 806 for this type of fishing. 20 to 30lb Stren Super Braid and Flourocarbon leaders are all you need to get in amongst the action and catch some quality fish. The bait will be around for another month or so, so get in amongst it!

Happy Fishing,

Nige