[smells like fish]

went out surfcasting at oreti beach today and was using squid.was feeling small thuds and slow weak pulls (like weed was passing by).Bait was gone every time so i started tying it on with cotton ,still getting taken.I was fishing a ledger rig at first and thought maybe it was crabs so went to a dropper rig to get the bait off the sea floor but same thing.

Any ideas?

[yellowfin]

By the wat you described it, it sounds like crays, have had similar things before when fishing from a wharf and it was crays , Although lice strip your hooks completely really fast you wont notice their bites, But could have also been crabs, were you near rocks or what?

[Miliwolf]

Could even be something like mullet/herring nibbling at the bait.

Paddle crabs when hungry enough would swim up to get a floating bait.

[smells like fish]

no oreti beach is rock free and really shallow ,it would be waist deep where my bait was.Ive only fished this beach a few times because of the shallow nature .Im sure it wasnt fish biting.

[Miliwolf]

Paddle crabs then…. most likely.

[smells like fish]

so theres not much that I can do then ?
Or should I have my dropper higher?

[Miliwolf]

If they are swimming off the bottom to get the bait these not much which can be done. But adding a float or three to your dropper can help get the bait further off the bottom which might slow them down.

If you use tougher baits such as a Kahawai fillet folded in half so the skin is on the outside, then wrap it shut with heaps of bait elastic can slow them down. Another option is to start using them for bait.

Can use cotton mesh bags, but crabs would rip them apart to.

[yellowfin]

Move along the beach abit can help, or fish it at night, Crabs are not around as much at night, although you can have a problem with lice, if fishing it at night use crabs for bait

[smells like fish]

thanks fellas

[Miliwolf]

Funnily I seem to catch more paddle crabs in my pot at night, but they do seem to be more aggressive on bait during the day. Maybe they seem into the shallows at night.

[yellowfin]

i never really seem to have any problem at night with them. the surf beaches i fish at night then all seem too dissapear, maybe thats cause the rig have all moved in

[Miliwolf]

Yeah, never notice them stealing bait after dark. But have caught impressive numbers in the net when its dark.

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