Hi guys, I'm new to the forum, but have been mooching around for a while and reading your great advice. You guys are awesome! Been fishing for a couple of years, but in that time have gone at it with the gusto of a demented beaver. Anyway, I just had a question regarding slidebait traces. What sort of length and strength of trace do you use when targeting Kings. I had a beautiful YEM on my livebait hook (near a rivermouth) on a 40lb trace the other morning for a good 3 hours, but nothing was interested in this tasty morsel. I suspect my trace was a little too short maybe? 80cm? Should I put them on a long leash or short? Cheers Razz
Re: Trace length
Posted by racepics on 19/1/2013, 5:54 am, in reply to "Trace length"
Thats a bit of a contentious issue here. There are guys in this forum who catch a lot of kings slidebaiting. Some use long traces (up to 2 metres) others use short ones. I doubt it would matter if a hungry Kingi came along. It may have some bearing on the lifespan of your livey though?http://www.paniasurfcasting.org http://www.surfcaster.co.nz
Re: Trace length
Posted by Chad on 19/1/2013, 3:41 pm, in reply to "Re: Trace length"
The length of your trace should be dictated by the sea.
On a calm day, no swell, a longer trace will be of good value. It enables the fish to swim naturally. When I say long trace, 2 metres max.
On the other hand, a bit of swell, a bit rough, a shorter trace will go out better initially, so that can be the way to go to get good clearance. However, by short, it'd say 1 metre minimum. The shorter your trace, the more time your live bait spend swimming past your mainline, this can create tangle which is a pain in the bum.
On the other hand to counter it, the thicker your trace, the les proned to tangles, but less likely to get serviced by a kingfish.
40lg fluro is great in good conditions, I would bump it up to 60lb and a shorter trace in shittier conditions. That purely to eliminate tangles.
Hooks are as important as anything too. Non gloss, black hooks WILL work better than a bright silver hook the reflects in the shallow water to the sun near the surface, you wont to eleminate that and make you livebait as natrual as possible without a hook saying " her I am". Use the appropriate hook size for your live bait.
Black magic hooks are cheep, in the KS series, however do rusk fast if not washed afterwards. Fantastic livebait hooks in both 4/0 and 5/0, great for Yems and smaller kahawai.
You don't need fancy clips and gimmicks mate, keep it all simple and you will catch fish. This summer alone my livebaits have accounted for around 20 kingfish. Best landed around 18kg, with a couple of spectacular ass whoopings in there too.
Persevere and results will come. One magic day slide baiting out of 10 trips will erase any day spent catching small HB goldfish.
Best of luckWairoa Hawkesbay
Take Nothing For Granted
Re: Trace length
Posted by Chad on 19/1/2013, 3:47 pm, in reply to "Trace length"
Scotty, you have a fantastic little write up on your name also, great way of thinking.Wairoa Hawkesbay
Take Nothing For Granted
Re: Trace length
Posted by Razz on 19/1/2013, 11:27 pm, in reply to "Trace length"
Thanks for the advice racepics and Chad. Yep, I know good things come to those who wait and my first king off the beach will come.
on 18/1/2013, 8:58 pm
and my first king off the beach will come.