Baittube painting and the hammerhead
 

Summary: Are there any local brightly colored poisonous fish that hammerheads won't attack?

I'm still new to kayak fishing, but got sick of not being able to keep more than one + cut bait so I made a bait tube out of ABS.

Last monday I took it out for the first time and it worked fine, only three green macs but two of them stayed happy. The large one was enemic, I think it's because the black ABS gets hot in the sun so I want to paint it white or something to keep it cooler and help me see it against the dark blue water.

Thing is, I ran into the hammerhead monday, he didn't bother my kayak but was playing with my bait tube (still had one fish when he showed up). I panicked and emptied that fish out so that he would go away for fear that he would yank hard on the baittube that I didn't think I could disconnect from my kayak fast enough, thought he could roll me out of my kayak if he's as strong as I think he is, no fishing pole or drag to help if I connect it to an eyelet.

He left after I gave up my mac, but I'm concerned about painting the tube now. There's a myth that sharks are more willing to attack white and yellow colored objects. I was curious if there's like a blue ringed octopus or something that I could mimic in color when I paint my tube, something that is still brightly colored but looks poisonous or toxic.

Heat isn't the only reason I want to paint, my drilling holes in the tube was a rough job (limited time) and too many sharp plastic burs remain that I'm having trouble sanding/filing down, I thought the paint might soften their edges as well, so that I don't rough up the fish as much.

Hammerhead was found in +150ft water north north west of the corner La jolla kelp, in case that interests anyone.

PS I didn't tell the media, there's no footage, the shark was nowhere near the beach, he didn't even bite the tube (at least he left no marks), ect

The shark is most likely attracted to the erratic pulses emitted by the distressed bait in your tube, as well as their scent, more than anything else. Once the shark is interested it's probably not going to care what color the tube is.

I made up an inexpensive bait tank. Tupperware from walmart, 6v pump, batteries plus 6 volt battery. Go round on the bait tank if you can.

Anything that floats next to kayak, or in the water should have stretch rope attached to it.


That way you will have time to disconnect or cut the line.

Unibit step drill bits in ½” size work great for plastic and leaves clean edge for minimum sanding.


Most paint won't last long, unless you use an expensive marine grade.

Studies have shown hammerheads to not be cannibalistic, therefor I would paint the bait tube in hammerhead pattern.

Is scent really that strong of a trigger? Could I really just take a wooden log smear it with some fish smell goup and catch fish?

Maybe I should consider buying some of that scent jelly after all, if I can find some for under $15 a tube ...

Yep, Already on the list of modifications to use.

I have a small uni but I'm not sure it would help. Maybe the pipe segment I bought was just too fresh but this ABS is waaaaay softer than the PVC I'm used it, it doesn't want to cut it wants to bend. Been leaving it in the sun with hopes that it dries out a bit before I take another swing at filing it down some more.

You're probably right but I'm not too concerned, I'll probably end up buying too much paint so I can just add more as needed. This isn't a car, it's a $15 DIY special, and I'm already redesigning a version 2.0 in my head anyway, so this might end up being experimental for the most part anyway.

I was hoping for something lighter than light brown, but It's worth considering if I can find a color close enough, good idea.

Great. You just trained a hammerhead to bump our bait tubes to get a free snack.

This tool may help too. Depending on the hole size.

http://www.amazon.com/General-Tools-...ds=pipe+reamer

I'd hit it with a quick torch and soften the edges.

I'd go with the scent, sound, and electro out put of a struggling bait as the shark attractors. The only toxic fish we have locally is the sculpin (California scorpion fish). They're bottom dwellers and criptic camo. Doubt the HH would cross paths with a sculpin. Many toxic Fish are brightly colored, often with contrasting stripes. And many creatures avoid those colors. Maybe a color pattern similar to a sea snake? Sharks have small brains and most of that brain is dedicated to scent detection and body control. Sharks learning to look at humans for food is unlikely. Boats and fishing boats in particular produce shark attracting stimuli. Mike

paint it like a barber pole, yellow and black stripes, it might look like a water snake and it will be easy to find if it comes off the boat.

What do you paint a PVC tube with anyway?

Oh reamer, had trouble looking up the tool without the name, much obliged.

I'll give melting a shot as well.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pelamis_platura this guy? Might try this if I can get a yellow color similar enough.

I dropped the skulpin from consideration since the pattern is pretty chaotic, not sure I could reproduce something that detailed myself.

I wasn't sure if there was anything I could do about scent on the tube, like carrying a pack of something foul to dump on his head or something to shoo him away like a squid would use ink. Putting smell on the tube might bother the bait and might linger on my hands/fingers, tainting lures, seems like a bad idea.

I don't know, I just assumed I could buy a can of spray designed for "plastic", saw some in homedepot years ago. I've never used it before, though.

Google says "solvent" or acrylic based paints work fine on ABS, but there's a brand or two that specializes for plastic, and primer allows for wider options.

No idea what lasts longest in salt water with sun exposure, haven't found a consensus there yet.

Use 20# mono as a breakaway in case something gets ahold of the tube.

How do you suppose the shark finds you in the first place? Do you think it's using it's excellent eyesight to spot you in that big ocean? :rolleyes:

No sorry, I was thinking of a different question/topic, is smell strong enough to override what the object looks like and/or how it moves, since the question in my head was Is there a paint I can use to make the tube visibly unappealing to a shark?

I was being incredulous, smell may have attracted the shark, but I didn't think it would be strong enough to make the shark bite something it didn't recognize as food. It seemed silly to think that the smell would influence the shark so much that it would attack a log of wood if it smelled like mackerel.

The question in my head was is there a visual appearance that would disuade the shark from attacking the tube regardless of other factors (smell, movement, ect) because I didn't think the other factors could be nullified. I can't stop the fish from moving, it would put him at risk of getting stuck bellyup and/or without movement for putting water in his gills. I didn't think I would find a way to mask the smell with anything, I haven't found a wolfs scent, or the fishing equivalent anywhere yet to put on the tube to cover the bait's smell and blood.

If it wasn't for the smell being such a strong attractant, I might look at finding a way to do something to the fishes' electrical field to mess up the sharks electroreception, but I get the impression it's mostly used at night in the dark, and the smell would probably override it anyway...