Rigging Bardi Grubs

You can collect your own bardi grubs by looking for them in the ground under the exposed roots of red gum and grey box trees. As for me I prefer to buy them from my local freshwater tackle shop as it is much quicker and easier.

When pinning the hook inside the bardi grub I will use either a turn-down or turned-up eye hook and make sure that I pull the eye inside the bardi grub. By doing this the skin of the grub closes around the bend in the eye helping it to stay on the hook without having to do a half-hitch around the tail. Make sure that the hook point and barb are always outside the body of the grub.

Hook size should be appropriate to the size of the bait and the fish species that you are targeting at the time. As an example, for trout I would use a Size 6 to a Size 1 and for Murray cod I would use a Size 1/0 to 4/0 hook. When placing the hook on the outside of the bardi grub I prefer to use a straight eyed hook to help avoid line twists.

Bardi grubs are very simple to rig on a hook and can be used while targeting Murray cod and even bass, using a number of different rigs, such as the paternoster, running ball sinker down onto the hook, a running sinker down onto a swivel and a leader of about a metre, suspended under a bubble or stemmed float, a small spit shot or just unweighted. You can check these rigs out in Gary Brown’s essential Saltwater bait rigs.

Technique 1

How many times have you been using a bardi or witchetty grub and you get a bite, strike, and just come back with the body. This is where you need to select a hook size and length so that when you have passed the hook through the body of the grub, the bend of the hook will pass out through the body so that the hook point and barb are just near the back of the head. Making sure that you don’t kill the bait. To help hold it on you will need to tie 2 to 3 half-hitches around the tail

Technique 2

Place the hook through the tail of the bardi or witchetty grub and then just cast it into a snag. Any bass, perch, trout, or freshwater fish that eats grubs won’t be able to resist it. If there is a bit of current you may want to put a small running sinker or a piece of spit shot to help get it down.

Technique 3

Pull up to a set of drowned trees and lower the bardi or witchetty grub to the bottom. Once there raise it off the bottom about a metre and start to bob the grub up and down. Much like dunking a tea bag.

Suggested Combos

Okuma Barbarian Spin Rods - BN-S-702NT, X-Light, 7'0" Nibble Tip, 2-4kg rod, matched with an Okuma JAW-30 spin reel and spooled with 6lb Platypus Pulse Mono or Pulse X4 Braid, for either out of a boat or off the shore.

Okuma Barbarian Spin Rods - BN-S-1162NT, Med/Light, 11'6" Nibble Tip, 2-6kg rod, matched with an Okuma Epixor XT 20, 30 or 40 size reel, spooled with 6lb Platypus Pulse Mono or Pulse X4 Braid.

Okuma LRF Gen2 Spin Rods - LRF2-S-742L, Light, 7'4", 2-5kg is great for when you are getting those very sensitive bites. Matched with either an Okuma Epixor XT 20, 30 or 40 size reel.

Try an Okuma Ceymar baitcast combo if you prefer fishing baitcast tackle.