Hawkesbury bait fisherman Hunters Fishing Adventure has put the live-bait-versus-dead-bait argument under a stopwatch with a three-rod side-by-side test, and the result was emphatic—a 1.10 m, fifteen-kilo mulloway smashed his snail-rigged live yellowtail while chunk-bait yellowtail kept the bag full of school-sized fish topped by an 85 cm jewfish.
The channel's premise was a head-to-head test: three rods, three baits, one tide. A whole live yaker (yellowtail scad) on a snail rig went out the back as the trophy presentation. A half-yaker butterflied on six-ot hooks ran as the middle option. And a simple chunk of fresh yellowtail covered the schoolies. All three rods sat in holders, drag set to give a running fish room, with the angler waiting for a screaming reel.
The live yaker delivered first. Within minutes of the second cast, the live-bait rod buckled over and started peeling line.
"That was a big fish, guys. That was a big fish," the angler said as he loaded into the rod. "Live bait. Oh, let's have a look at him."
The fish dragged him toward the boat traffic before he could get the head turned, and a passing tinnie pulled up uncomfortably close mid-fight. The hookup ended with a metre-class jew on the deck.
"Over a metre. Over a metre, guys," he said as the fish came alongside the gunwale. "Wow. It's a big one, guys. It's a big fish, guys."
"Live bait takes the lead, guys," the angler said. "I knew that's what I would get with that live bait. I knew I'd attract the bigger fish."
The chunk bait then did what chunk bait does. Several smaller school mulloway fed through the day, with one bite producing the second biggest fish of the session—an 85 cm jew on a simple chunk of yellowtail.
"Another beautiful one, guys. Beautiful fish. Get a quick measurement," he said. "Second keeper for the day. Good size fish on the dot. Eighty-five."
The butterfly half-yaker, sitting between the two extremes, picked up a 45 cm flathead and a juvenile mulloway. A 59 cm tailor—an unusually big fish for the river that the angler said was emblematic of the current Hawkesbury tailor run—took a small chunk of yellowtail and ended up in the kill tank for the catch-and-cook.
"There is an absolute monster tailor this year," he said. "It is a big season. Everyone is getting massive tailor everywhere."
The day's bycatch included a blue spot eagle ray that fooled the angler into thinking it was another big jew until it surfaced.
The takeaway from the test was straightforward enough that the angler restated it before sunset.
"If you want the big fish, guys, go to live bait. If you want a lot of fish, go the chunk baits," he said. "It just depends what you're chasing, whether you want that trophy fish or you want to catch a lot of fish during the day. I like to go a bit of both. I don't mind catching a lot of fish, but I like to have that big bait out too, just in case."
"You don't want too much slack line on that snail setup," he said. "You want to custom make your snail setup to the size of your yakers. Otherwise, it looks a bit messy."
The Hawkesbury session also doubled as a winter weather warning. After two weeks of flood water through the catchment, the run-off was heavy and the riverbank temperature dropped sharply once the sun got behind the mountains. The angler called it a session before dark—not because the bite died, but because the cold beat him.