HAYABUSA - ET2857 LIVE BAIT HOOK PACK MADE IN JAPAN

Hayabusa ET2857 Live Bait Hook Pack — Made In Japan

Hayabusa list this one as Live Bait Ringed Black Nickel, product number ET28571, and it is the heavy end of their ET bait-hook range. A live-bait hook has a harder brief than a bottom hook: it must hang off a swimming fish without stopping it swimming, and survive whatever eats that fish. The answer here is a straight profile, a wide gap and an integrated ringed eye. The ring lets the hook pivot against the leader knot instead of being locked to it, so a nose-hooked baitfish or live prawn keeps working naturally, while the wide gap clears a thick bait and leaves the point standing proud. The wire is forged high-carbon steel, compressed through the bend so it resists opening under the load one hook takes from a big fish, and the black nickel plating adds corrosion resistance on top of a low-visibility finish. Eight sizes run #1 to #7/0 — a small livie on light tackle at one end, a whole scad or tamban on heavy gear at the other.

Key Features

• Live-bait pattern — straight profile, wide gap, built to carry a swimming bait
• Integrated ringed eye that lets hook and bait move freely for a natural presentation
• Forged high-carbon steel for tensile strength against large, hard-fighting fish
• Wide hook gap giving clearance around thick baits and clean point exposure
• Sharp penetrating point with a secure barb that holds bait and fish alike
• Black nickel finish: low visibility in the water plus added corrosion resistance
• Eight sizes, #1 to #7/0, at 2 to 6 hooks per pack
• Made to Hayabusa’s Japanese hook-production standards

How To Rig It

• Nose-hooked live baitfish — Pass the point up through both nostrils or both lips so the bait tracks straight. Cast underarm, never overhead, and let it swim on a semi-slack line.
• Bridled or back-hooked — Through the shoulder behind the head and above the lateral line for a bait that stays down and swims away from the boat.
• Live prawn on a float or free line — Pin the #1 to #2/0 sizes through the last tail segment or the horn above the eyes. Fish it around jetty lights, drains and river mouths on the run-out tide.
• Slider or dropper on reef — Running sinker to a swivel and a long fluorocarbon leader, or a livie on a short dropper above a snapper lead. Let the fish load the rod before lifting.

Target Species By Region

• Southeast Asia — Live tamban, selar or prawn for barramundi (siakap), mangrove jack, golden snapper (jenahak), red snapper (merah), grouper (kerapu), emperor (lencam) and queenfish around jetties, wrecks and reef edges; the small sizes still cover croaker (gelama), catfish (duri) and javelin grunter (kaci).
• North America — Live pilchard, mullet and blue runner for tarpon, snook, king mackerel, cobia, amberjack and grouper; live shrimp for redfish and speckled trout in the small sizes.
• Japan & East Asia — Suzuki no esa-zuri (スズキのエサ釣り), live-bait fishing for sea bass with iso-goby or small aji off river mouths and harbour walls, and nomase live-bait rigs for hirame and yellowtail.
• Australia, Middle East & Europe — Mulloway, snapper and Spanish mackerel on live yellowtail scad in Australia; hamour and sheri in the Gulf; bass, pollack and conger on live and whole baits in Europe.

Specifications

Sizing is Western: #1 is the smallest, then #1/0 upward to #7/0, the largest. Pack counts fall as the hooks get bigger, from six at #1 to two at #7/0. Material: high-carbon steel, forged, black nickel plated.

Choosing a size. Match the hook to the bait, not to the target — the gap should clear the bait’s body with the point standing proud. #1–#2/0 for prawn and small baitfish to a hand span; #3/0–#5/0 for a typical live scad or mullet; #6/0–#7/0 for large baits on heavy tackle. Where the bait is dead and elongated rather than swimming, the ET28171 O’Shaughnessy long shank presents it better.

Recommended Pairing

• #1–#2/0: 3–6 kg estuary and jetty tackle, 15–30 lb braid, 30–50 lb fluorocarbon leader
• #3/0–#5/0: 8–15 kg inshore and reef tackle, 40–60 lb braid, 60–100 lb leader
• #6/0–#7/0: 15–24 kg boat and heavy shore tackle, 80 lb-plus braid with a heavy mono or wire trace
• Use a short single-strand wire bite trace where mackerel, cutlassfish or barracuda are around; a rod with some tip cushion protects a lightly pinned live bait