Baits, Lures, Rigs & Leaders

Choosing between bait and lures

Bait and lures both catch fish, but they solve different problems. Bait works on scent and taste, so it suits dirty water, deep holes, night sessions and fish that are feeding slowly. Lures cover ground, letting you search a long stretch of flat, rock wall or snag-lined bank until you find the active fish. On Australian Fish Species we treat the two as tools, not tribes: many good sessions around Sydney start with a soft plastic to locate fish, then switch to fresh bait once a patch of feeding fish is found.

Baits that consistently produce

Fresh beats frozen almost every time. Buy or gather bait the day you fish where you can, keep it cold, and cut it to size rather than burying the hook in a lump.

• Estuary: nippers (bass yabbies), bloodworms, peeled prawns, mullet strips and squid for bream, whiting and flathead.
• Beach and rock: pilchards, garfish, whitebait, beachworms and cuttlefish for tailor, Australian salmon and mulloway.
• Reef and offshore: whole squid, slimy mackerel, yellowtail scad and pilchard cubes for snapper, plus live baits for kingfish and mackerel.
• Freshwater: scrub worms, shrimp and yabbies for golden perch, Murray cod and trout where bait is permitted.

Berley in small, steady amounts. A cricket-ball-sized handful every few minutes holds fish better than a bucket dumped at the start, and it keeps your scent trail matching the tide.

Lure selection by water type

Soft plastics

Paddle-tails of 65–100 mm on 1/8 to 1/4 oz jigheads cover most estuary work, especially for flathead on the drop-off and bream around structure. Match hook gauge to the fish, not just the plastic: heavier gauge for snags, finer for open sand.

Hardbodies and vibes

Shallow hardbodies of 40–70 mm shine along mangrove edges and rock walls. Metal or soft vibes fished with a lift-and-drop cover deep holes for mulloway, bream and freshwater natives.

Metals, stickbaits and poppers

Long-cast metals of 20–65 g suit beach and rock work for tailor and salmon. Stickbaits and poppers earn their place when kingfish or tuna are pushing bait on the surface.

Rigs that cover most situations

1. Running sinker rig: ball sinker to a swivel, then 40–80 cm of leader. The all-rounder for estuary bream, whiting and flathead.
2. Paternoster rig: two dropper loops above a snapper lead. Ideal for reef, deep channels and beach gutters where you want baits presented clear of the bottom.
3. Unweighted or lightly weighted bait: a single hook and no lead, drifted with the current, for wary fish in clear shallow water.
4. Float rig: keeps baits above weed and snags, useful for luderick and for pinning live baits off the rocks.
5. Live bait rig: bridle or pin rig with a heavy fluorocarbon leader for kingfish, mulloway and mackerel.

Leaders, knots and line class

Leader does three jobs: abrasion resistance, shock absorption and reduced visibility. As a starting point, use 4–8 kg fluorocarbon for estuary lure fishing, 10–15 kg around oyster racks and rock walls, 15–24 kg for snapper and mulloway, and heavier again for reef and game work. Wire or long heavy mono is needed where mackerel and other toothy species are about.

• Braid to leader: FG knot or double uni, kept slim so it passes the guides cleanly.
• Hook and jighead: improved clinch, uni or snell for bait rigs.
• Loops and droppers: dropper loop and perfection loop for paternoster rigs.

Re-tie after every serious snag or good fish. Run your fingers along the last metre of leader; any roughness means it is time to cut back and start again.

Matching gear to bite windows and species

Rig choice follows the fish and the conditions. A run-out tide over a sand flat calls for light leader and a small nipper bait; a dirty run-off tide in a deep hole calls for heavier lead and a bigger, oilier bait. If you are targeting a specific fish, work back from its diet and habitat — our flathead guide and bream guide set out the exact baits, jighead weights and leaders that suit each species through the seasons.

Rigging kit worth carrying

• Leader spools in three or four breaking strains, stored out of sunlight.
• Ball, bean and snapper sinkers across a range of weights so you can hold bottom in any current.
• Chemically sharpened hooks in several sizes, plus circle hooks for bait fishing that improves release survival.
• Jigheads from 1/16 to 1/2 oz, split rings, quality snaps and a small sharpening file.
• Long-nose pliers, side cutters, a knot tool and a landing net or lip grips for clean releases.

Handle fish you intend to release with wet hands, keep them in the water where possible, and check current size and bag limits with your state or territory fisheries authority before you keep anything. Questions about rigs for a particular system? Reach us at [email protected] or +61295585271 during Mon–Fri: 09:00 – 17:00 (AEST).