At this Western Australian reef, cameras baited with 200 g and 2 kg recorded similar relative fish numbers and numbers of species. Adding bait attracted more fish and species than using none. That is the useful surprise: a little can do real work before a bigger bucket adds much. The researchers filmed fish near cameras, while anglers ultimately care about bites.
What the 200-gram result actually says
Researchers filmed a temperate reef in Western Australia using cameras supplied with crushed pilchards. They compared no bait with 200 g, 1,000 g and 2,000 g. The scientists baited cameras to observe fish; spreading berley (Australian groundbait, also called chum) near an angler’s hook is a different setup. Baited cameras recorded more fish and more species than unbaited ones. Between the three baited amounts, there were few differences in the main measurements. One moray eel species, however, appeared significantly more often with 2 kg than with 200 g. The overall result hid an exception for an individual species. The broadly similar results across the three baited amounts concerned relative fish numbers and species counts, not every detail of the fish on camera. The fish also came closer to the baited cameras.
There is an important clue in the setting. The cameras recorded few species high in the food chain. The researchers noted that predators could eat through it faster elsewhere, making a larger supply useful. The 200 g result belongs to this camera survey. Your fishing spot gets its own experiment.
Weight is only one part of the story. A separate 2013 camera study at three reefs in southeastern Australia tested pilchards, abalone viscera and crushed sea urchins. Urchin bait performed particularly poorly. Pilchards and abalone viscera showed no clear difference, but pilchards gave more consistent results. Bait choice changed how many species were recorded much more than it changed relative fish counts; the reef itself mattered too. Before bringing ten times more bait, think about what you are offering and where.
The smell matters, but so does the hook
Fish use dissolved food scents to locate a meal. In separate longline trials, mackerel bait soaked in seawater lost attracting compounds and caught fewer fish than fresh bait. Smell gets attention; sight, movement and the hook bait still help turn that attention into a bite.
If fish are not passing through your area, changing the presentation alone may accomplish little. But if you put out enough free food to satisfy every visitor, your hook is competing with a buffet. Start by distinguishing attraction from getting a bite.
A smarter question than “How many kilos?”
Watch the target species, current, and how quickly bait disappears. Check local rules before putting any berley in the water. Start with an amount whose effect you can observe and change one variable at a time. Your wallet will appreciate the data almost as much as you do.
At this reef, cameras saw much the same fish community with 200 g as with 2 kg. But the camera records an arrival, not a bite. Your hook still has to convince an individual fish to eat.
Research behind this article
- Hardinge et al. (2013): https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jembe.2013.09.018
- Wraith et al. (2013), bait types and reef locations: https://doi.org/10.3354/meps10137
- Whitmarsh et al. (2017), review of underwater-camera survey methods: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11160-016-9450-1
- Løkkeborg & Johannessen (1992): https://doi.org/10.1016/0165-7836(92)90070-A
- Løkkeborg et al. (2014): https://doi.org/10.1007/s11160-014-9360-z
- Fisheries Agency of Japan: recreational fishing rules and groundbait: https://www.jfa.maff.go.jp/j/yugyo/y_kisei/kisoku/todo_huken/index.html
