While it is probably the calm before the onset of multiple winter gales, the recent offshore conditions have lent themselves to considerable fishing action over the last week or so. This is one of the times of year when sports fisherman abandon the summery practice of chumming and revert back to trolling simply because fish on the move are more inclined to feed to the go.

The trolling has primarily been good, old-fashioned bait rigs and selected artificial lures, and combinations thereof have been producing. Just lately the arrival of small mackerel on the Banks has started to favour live baiting.

Live baiting is possibly the most exciting form of fishing there is. For most of the year, anglers rely on ocean robins or scad which are, essentially, a baitfish that will be eaten by pretty much anything that can get its mouth around one, or toothy critters that can chop the smaller fish into bite-sized chunks. Then there is that special time of the year when the juvenile mackerel or little tunny show up in massive quantities and, in very short order, become the bait of choice.

Happily, it is now that magical time when the live baits have pretty much self selected themselves. Now comes the question of how to rig them and herein lies a variety of answers, each of which has several champions.

First off, there is the simple, very old-fashioned method of simply slipping hooks through the back of the frigate. Both hooks point up and the advantage are that this is quick, a few seconds, and if the wahoo or tuna are present it won’t take more than a minute or so to elicit a strike.

This quick way of rigging a bait often sees an unattacked bait die of natural causes after just a few minutes. The main problem with this method is that the bait is dragged forward by the trolling boat in an unnatural position (sideways) and often suffocates due to a lack of water flow over its gills. There is also the risk of hitting the spine of the fish with the hooks and that will paralyse the fish rendering its value as a live bait worthless.

A more refined version of this became popular here about 40 years ago. Imported from Hawaii where they fish live baits significantly larger than frigates, this method’s biggest advantage is that the bait will last a long time.

This involves tieing a loop of line, usually string, to the front hook and then using a large needle (like a sail or bait needle) to pass the line through the fish’s eyes socket in front of the fish’s eyes and then reattaching the loop to the front hook. Thus, the hook is actually in front of the fish’s nose with the fish firmly attached.

Trolling will then keep the fish headed directly ahead so that it will not drown. The second hook can then be attached toward the tail by passing it just under the skin of the fish or by attaching it to the tail peduncle (stump) using an elastic band. This way there is virtually no physical damage done to the fish.

Now, while that solves the issue of keeping a bait alive, there are other things to take into account.

Part of the reason for this is because life out there is a competition. In order to have a chance at survival, the bait has to stay ahead of the predators and, all too often, the bait will be found on one part of the Bank while the concentration of wahoo or tuna are over on the other side of the same Bank. Therefore, you need to be able to get the live baits to where the fish are hence the need to be able to keep fish alive on the rig. Keeping live fish anywhere beyond in a live well is a whole other issue best saved for later.

When the bait have been taken to where the quarry is, another issue arises. Wahoo, in particular, have keen eyesight and are well capable to taking a huge chunk out of the bait without being hooked by either of the hooks. Frustrating for sure and there is a solution, albeit one that the IGFA frowns upon, so any fish resulting from this tactic cannot be considered for records of any sort.

This consists of a third hook attached to the normal two-hook rig. This third hook is not attached to the bait but trails behind the bait. As a snagging rig it can be very effective at hooking a predator outside of its mouth and often allowing it to be caught. While commercial fishing this is a good insurance policy that will prevent a lot of stolen live baits. No good for sport but good for catching fish.

Looking ahead, the action is only going to improve. Thus far, the hauls of wahoo and tuna have been respectable even though the wahoo have been a bit on the small side. This should change as the migratory pattern should bring some larger fish into this area shortly. Once that happens, then we will see some really Tight Lines.