New to live lining for rock fish...help

[Christopher Ritchie]

Hi,
I'm new live lining for rock fish, its my goal to catch one this season at the bay bridge. Not sure what I need to get for hooks and set up. What size bait fish? Any help with suggestions would much appreciated
Thanks
Chris

[ronaultmtd]

Pretty basic rig- depending on current an egg sinker of the size necessary to get the live bait down on a fish finder rig- I like a 6/0-7/0 circle hook on three feet of 40# mono with a nose hooked spot about six inches long or a big peannut bunker- sometimes a backfin hooked spot has the best action- getting the bait is the hardest part of the fishing trip

[WiishinIWasFishin]

I always find keeping the spot alive is difficult too. I would recommend a large bait bucket with an oxygen supply.

[ronaultmtd]

I have a commercially manufactured live well with a self contained 6 volt battery, bilge pump, etc. that keeps a dozen spot frisky as fresh caught-not cheap but neither is a fishing trip- my KFS Ultimate Bait Tank live well is from www.bigwatersedge.com/

[WiishinIWasFishin]

Who marked the live well?

[bignose]

We live line a good bit on the charter boat. I prefer this to chumming and trolling. Spot are like Crack Cocaine to the Rock.
We buy 4-6" Spot, although many guys catch them first. It is not time effective for us to catch our own. We figure on 10-15 Spot per angler per day. They need lots of aeration or frequent water changes, and try to avoid livewells with corners.
We'll use a medium action spinning rod and 17 lb. test colored mono for our clients (easier to untangle from the inevitable cross ups) . I use 10 lb. braid on my personal reels.
As rounaltmtd said, we use a 5/0-7/0 hook, but even a circle hook will occasionally result in a deeply hooked fish. This is not a "catch and release" technique. Since we are keeping the legal fish, we don't use a true circle hook. It is a bit harsh on the smaller fish.
I have tried both the nose hook and the back hook set up. I have found that the back hooking is less stressful on the Spot. They seem to hold up longer that way, don't ask me why. So we hook the spot just ahead of the dorsal fin, about 1/4 inch below the top. Make sure that the hook point is clear.
We'll add about 2-3 feet of 20 lb. mono leader tied to a ball bearing swivel attached to the main line.
We use a plastic sinker slide above the swivel, which allows us to change weight under the varying current conditions. We'll use the minimum amount of weight needed to get the bait down to where the fish are, depending upon the current.

Technique wise: we allow the spot to drift down. They will begin to wiggle strenuously as the rock approach them. You'll feel a thump (which is why I` use braid), then count to five and raise the rod tip.

BTW: once the bluefish begin to invade, we don't use this as much. Blues will chop your spot in half.

[ronaultmtd]

Not to mention the Blues will chop up all your Gulp in a New York minute, too- you have to switch to the cheap curly tail grub bodies-

[bignose]

A couple of solutions to the "bluefish problem".
One: change to Z-Man lures on a jig head. Marty's in Edgewater has them. This plastic is much more resistant to being cut to ribbons. We don't do this with our customers, due to skill level.
Two: go to a heavier weight and try to get you bait down through the blues faster. Often, the bigger rock will lurk underneath the marauding blues to feed on the scraps as they descend. We sometimes go to a heavier leader for this depending on the size of the blues. If they were truly large, we'd consider going to wire leaders. Rock are not leader shy.
Blues are fun to catch, but they have such a bad reputation as being inedible, that many of our customers don't want them.
Three: find another area to fish.

[Christopher Ritchie]

This is incredibly helpful thank you so much for all your insight.I'm heading out Monday, and will use these helpful suggestions.
Thanks
Chris!