North Australian FISH FINDER TM forums

Hey guys I've been reading a bit on this forum and it doesn't seem like many people use billy lures up here in the NT, I'm from over in gove and I trie to do as much bill fishing as I can, but have only really ever used baits ( mainly from the worry of losing $150 lures to mackies).
Well anyways I'm just wondering if any people have tried lures? Do you change your spread for lures.
Skirt colours what's the go? And any opinions people have on them cheers

Kp

Purple MBT tulip got the most interest for me whilst fishing in WA.
However the the fact that the sails about of darwin(especially dundee) are so small means towing lures exclusively will see quite a few missed fish.

I have a fleet of MBT lures... Love them... Great value and they work...

Mini psyco is the best tuna lure in Australia ... IMHO

if fishing Gove waters just use a skip gar and the pink skirts that go over them.
cheap as.
will catch marlin, sailfish and mackeral.
just rig them with the flexible wire type trace and will be on the money.
lived in gove for 22 years. have caught the lot useing this setup. on 15KG mono.

Thanks guys , what size lures do you recommend?
Barramick I've fished baits like that ever since I started bill fishing and I've caught lots of sailies on it. I'm just keen to see how they go,and hopefully catch my first marlin on one seeing as though I haven't had much luck on baits.

just not many marlin around gove.
plenty more sailfish.

try blackssnacks lures the short snack and long snack in 170mm long gos not to bad at groote taken sails and blacks on them or a mold craft little super chugger on the nose of your gars

Kp,
Are you raising Blacks and having them fade away? Blacks have a disinct liking for swim baits and Bubbler heads like the Wine cork trick or mold craft little super chugger. They don't like sticking their heads out of the water after skip baits.(Unlike Sails!) Not saying they won't, they just prefer not to. In less than perfect conditions the swim bait is the go whilst in calmer conditions the Bubbler heads can attract some awesome bites. Lures do work to bring up fish but unless you are really switched on to the way to rig and fish them the conversion rates can be appalling especially on Sails. The only guy claiming better conversion rates on lures is Peter Pakula , so he should, he invents and sells the things. (no disrespect here, the guy is a guru.) In a Sail dominant fishery this is no good to you, not to mention the Macks. If you do decide to go with lures include a small length of Multi strand before the hook to prevent bite offs but it won't save your skirts or the lure from head strikes. Another alternative is to Switchbait if you really want to use lures. Use the lures to raise them and then pitch a bait to them to get better conversions.

Mate the best advice I can give you is to go with what works and don't over think it when it comes to the gear. Spend that energy and money figuring out the fish by being on the water. I'm no expert but I do catch fish by going with what I know and mixing in a little innovation through observation on occasion.

Here is some rigging info for you:

http://fishingterritory.com/blogs/tragi ... bait-bits/

These days I am fishing Cape Bowling Green in QLD a Black dominant fishery. The X on the Head rig has accounted for 5 of the last 6 Blacks boated with the 6th going to the Wine Cork rig. The skip bait has seen no action in that time if this is an indication. Hope this helps.
Cheers,
John.

Thanks John
We seem to mainly raise sails, we haven't had that many blacks come up, I've had a few chances with them, I had one that grabed a swimming queenie he came straight to the boat saw us and let go of the bait and swum off, had a 80-90 kg one that came right up to the back of the transom when we were chasing another fish, fed him a garie he swallowed it and I fought him for 3 or so hours on 8 kg when the line snapped. But apart from that only had them follow then disappear. Will definitely try the swimming gars I normally only skip them.

I might try and sneak out on the weekend if the weather calms up a bit

Kp,
If it's predominately a bigger fish when a Black does show up the Swimming Queenie or a skipping school/spottie Mack would be a good option to have out on the short corner opposite your teaser on heavier 15-24kg tackle. In the meantime it will serve well as a teaser for the smaller fish and sails. There is nothing worse than having a big fish show in the spread with nothing to feed it without getting blown away on light gear. Having a bait already in the water ready to drop down his throat will maximse your chances. I took to doing it out at North Gutter after seeing too many good fish feeding on Tuna and Macks with no interest in a smaller bait. Of course I moved straight after so I never got to test the theory but it made sense as it's always too late after you see a good one.

Yeah I know what you mean with needing a bigger bait some times, last year we were trying out pushers for the first time when we had strike and the fish dropped it, we thought it couldve been a Billie but we didn't see it . about 2 mins later we caught a 2-3kg queenie so we've gone and let it go and as its swimming off it's been monstered by a decent size black

We were only running medium size lures so I'm thinking maybe it wanted something that little bitt bigger Than what we had out.
Thanks deepblack for the help I checked out your light tackle blog there's a lot of good info in there, well done
How's cape bowling green, you managing to get a few over there. Fishing Cairns or T-ville for blacks is one of the many places I would like to go fishing in the future.

Cairns is next on the bucket list mate, followed by Port Stephens, Southwest Rocks and Exmouth. I did Broome solo two years ago and it was an unbelievable experience. The bait balls are crazy, do it if you can. Cape Bowling Green is going off this season, the weather is the only problem at the moment. The little Blacks over here at the moment have really taught me lots about dealing with fast bites. Just a great fishery back at its' peak, I'm loving every minute of it.

After being anti braid for Billies because of the lack of stretch whilst I still stand by the fact that mono is still better in terms of conversion rates and a must for the the heavier line classes (topshotting excepted) I decided to use my 5000 stella spooled with 20lb braid on a 7' flick stick last trip and the feedback during the fight blew me away. Its' an unusual experience having a massive belly in the line but still feeling every headshake as you try to get rid of the belly.
Cheers,
John.

i read an article once on 1000lb black marlin and there main diet is still sardines and that has been proven bye a few that have been caught and killed when gutted they were full of sardines and a few squid also peter pakula mentioned this at a speech he gave at billfish comp up here he also showed us a lure that has accounted for alot off big black marling and it wasnt an overly large lure he seemed to think it is more colour from memory and he would have alot more idea than most i reckon
i personally think there just oportunistic and if they see a big easy feed they will have that instead!!!

So I guess iam going to keep fishing gars, small mullet, little tuna for marlin and sails just gotta keep on persevering.

I'll let you guys know how i go on the weekend looks like I got some good tides and weather.
cheers

mbtlures are great value and catch fish you can get 5 - 6 of them for about the price of 1 of the others.
they have not let us down yet .