Just starting in the world of Bills.
Over the last 3 trips out i have seen 3 sails just cruisin around so i'm thinkin why not have a go at them.
I'm using 2 TLD 25, one with 50lb mono and the other with 80lb braid and a tld 15 with 50lb braid. Fishing out of a Quiny 620 CC, i was planning to run pakula witchdoctor teaser off the starboard and a pakula dojo way out back.
A couple of meters behind the teaser in the middle a 6" skirt and gar, and on the port a dojo or skirt and gar out back.
What do you guys think and what do you run?
I see a lot of you guys over in darwin are using smaller boats like i have and chasing billys so i would like to know what you think.
If you read through some of the existing Billie posts you will pick up some good info, for me there are no hard, fast & set rules. I adapt the spread to suit what ever boat I am fishing in at the time & more importantly the conditions I am fishing in at the time. Good conditions & switched on crew allow more gear to be run, less experienced crew or ordinary conditions & I would run less gear. If the fish are active I would run minimum teasers & concentrate on converting chances presented, not much activity increase teasers to try & entice fish up to get a chance at a fish, there are just so many options you have to do a bit of trial & error for your boat/gear & then work on honing the skills. For me prior preparation, maintaining what ever gear you do have so the drags are smooth, terminal tackle up to the job & shaaaaaaaaarp hooks are big factors to improve your results, timing, tides & moon phases will be areas you will have to work out in your area. Personally I prefer baits for Sails, there are also plenty of small to medium sized Blacks in those waters to also target. Read everything you can, we all have different opinions, take the parts that work for you, keep an open mind & try different options if things aren't working out.
On the Sails you saw cruising, if they weren't turning onto your trolled baits/lures I would look at the options of being able to flick pitch baits to them, usually a good quality spin outfit will be the better option for the cruising Sails, TLD's aren't casting reels, small swimming baits like mullet, Finny Scad are usually a good for this purpose, they have to be pre rigged & ready to go, the Sails aren't going to hang around waiting for to long.
The Gove Game Fishing club have plenty of people that are experienced in chasing Billies in your area, even if your not into Fishing Clubs, most of the members are pretty happy to help people out or point them in the right direction, that would be one of my first points of call if I were you. On the boat size, if I thought I could take the Bismarck (Scanoe) out to the grounds quick enough & remain calm enough I would love to pin a Billie out of the canoe, maybe one day I will, good luck, cheers Balls.
Cheers Balls, yeah i'm suckin as much info as i can. Funny you said about flickin baits at cruizers, i ordered a daiwa saltist 6500 spinner for that job last week
I think i got the large saily i seen last week turn, i lost sight with it and then a Knight slug i had on that side had a 2sec run.
Now just wish this dam wind would go away!!
Hey mat i run 2 sets of teasers, both have a big wilimson bird teaser up front then 4 to 8 large squid behind them. All this is on wire with the biggest snaps i can get my hands on, half way down the squid i put another snap for when the wind picks up and you have to watchout for tangels. Both these are towed on heavy continiary wire, with the wire run through broom handles at a 90 degree angle to the boat. At this point i should mention that im switching n pitching gars to the fish(hence putting the teasers in the clear water). Normaly ill have 1 small gar skipping 3 or 4 ft behind the deckies teasers then ill have something bigger sitting in the shotgun. With 2 other rods ready to go sitting in the bait board with gars on them. Next time your looking for spin gear have a look at finor ahabs they have released a new model n it looks the goods.
