What bait to use on Southwest Florida Fish

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Florida Westcoast Fishing Charters

The best way to figure out which bait to use for any game fish is to find out both what it eats and how it eats. Click on Florida Westcoast Charter for helpful info. It'll make for a more enjoyable day.

Fishing with the real thing. The real thing is natural bait.

There is no question that fooling fish with artificial lures is challenging and fun. But when catching fish is the primary objective, there is no more dependable way than fishing with the real thing. The real thing is natural bait.

This may include shrimp, baitfish, crabs, oysters, or any number of organisms that fish might eat. However, the best baits are usually those that are normally part of a game fish’s diet.

If Spanish mackerel are feeding on 3-inch glass minnows, it’s obvious what the best bait will be, but mackerel also eat live shrimp and any number of small baitfish. They usually won’t, however, eat a large crab or oyster fished on the bottom.

There are four basics to consider, no matter what fish is targeted or what kind of bait is used.

Matching Bait to Tackle First

Keep It Simple Second

Let It Slide Third

Fishing Knots

Here are some tips for tying knots of any kind

* Practice. Take a length of fishing line, a hook with the point cut off or buried into a cork, and practice. Practice until you can tie each knot correctly.

* Always wet your knots with saliva as you pull them tight. This prevents damage to the line and allows the knot to pull tight.

* Trim knots closely with a nail clipper. A goodknot, pulled tight, will not come loose. Close trimming prevents theknot from catching snags or weeds. Do not burn the tag end—heat damagesthe line and knot.

* When you're learning knots, the "tag end"(sometimes called the "working end") is the end of the line used to tiethe knot. The "standing end" is that part of the line coming from yourfishing reel.

* Line is cheap. Always leave a foot or more of the tag endfor tying knots so that you can tie them properly.

* Pull up all ends when tightening the knot. With some knots this will be only the standing end and tag end; with other knots it might be three or four ends.

* Once you find a rig that's working (a combination of weights, hooks, swivels or floats used for a particular type of fishing) don't lose it.

* Replace the line and retie your rigs at least every year.

Shrimp

Shrimp – Almost all saltwater game fish feed on shrimp at one time oranother, and shrimp are a staple in the diet of many of them. Shrimpcan be thought of as the “bread and butter” bait and can be rigged in anumber of ways.

They can be fished under acork near the surface, with a weight on thebottom, or anywhere in between – even threaded onto a jighead.

One important thing to remember about using live shrimp is to avoid hooking them through the small black spot in their head. This will instantly convert them to fresh dead shrimp, which is okay when you’re bottom fishing and the smell of fresh shrimp is more important than a natural appearance.

But if you’re fishing a shrimp under a float or freelining without a float or weight, a natural movement is preferable. It is desirable to have the shrimp right side up with its legs moving rather than upside down and motionless. Not all shrimp have to be alive to be good bait, but the fresher the better.

Some dedicated surf anglers who fish with pieces of shrimp actually buy them live and cut them into pieces or purchase food shrimp from the grocery store to ensure they’re as fresh as possible.

Small pieces of shrimp can be very effective for pompano, redfish and speckled trout, especially when used in the surf with multiple hooks.

Cut shrimp can also be effective around oyster bars, creek mouths, and passes, especially when ground bits of shrimp are used as chum to put scent into the water.

Baitfish

Baitfish – The many baitfish species comprise the second most popular bait for saltwater fishing. Small baitfish are everywhere and, given the opportunity, almost every game fish will eat one. Some game fish are partial to particular baits at certain times of the year.

For instance, redfish like to ambush finger mullet as they migrate out of the tidal creeks and rivers. Spanish mackerel slash through the schools of glass minnows that migrate along the coast. Tarpon, kingfish and lots of other game fish attack large schools of menhaden that gather in the spring and summer.

Given the sheer number of baitfish in salt water, the best choice will be those that are available and prevalent in the area being fished. If it can be bought or caught nearby, it’s a good bet that game fish will eat it.

Hooking them through the lips or eye sockets. This allows the fish to face into any current and keeps them alive longer.

Two good ways to rig for fishing on the bottom are the same as for shrimpand other bait. One involves a barrel or pyramid sinker that slidesabove a swivel to which a leader is tied with a hook at the end.

The other has the weight atthe bottom and the hook and leader rides12-to-18 inches above the weight. This works well to keep the baitfish from getting tangled in grass, rocks or debris on the bottom.

Live bait is always preferable over dead, but sometimes chumming can make the difference if live bait isn’t available. Some baits, such as glass minnows and threadfin herring, are difficult to keep alive for long. But as long as they are fresh, they can be cut or ground up into small pieces and tossed into the water. The scent will often create a feeding frenzy where the game fish will readily take a whole dead baitfish.

OtherBaitfish

Fishing a baitfish on the bottom with a weight usually means hooking Other Baitfish – Of all the baitfish available to anglers, two of the hardiest are the common pinfish and the gulf killifish or “bull minnow.”

Other Baitfish – Of all the baitfish available to anglers, two of the hardiest are the common pinfish and the gulf killifish or “bull minnow.”

While other minnows require elaborate livewells and constantly changed water, pinfish and bull minnows can live a surprisingly long time in a 5-gallon bucket of salt water.

Both of these fish are easy to catch and can be used effectively for cobia, kingfish, Spanish mackerel, speckled trout, redfish, jack crevalle, flounder, grouper, snapper and lots of others.

See, Pedro used a large shrimp to catch this dangerous predator of the deep. Be careful!

Onlydown side to fishing with natural bait

The only down side to fishing with natural bait is that it has to be caught or purchased before each outing, and it must always be maintained. This is time that anglers using artificial lures don’t have to spend and can use for fishing instead. But bait fishermen don’t have to spend endless amounts of time wondering if the color, size, shape, and action of their lure look like something a fish would eat.

There is no doubt, bait is the real deal, and bait fishermen can spend more time looking for fish.

RiggingTechniques

Rigging Techniques. The same basics apply to fishing with baitfish as shrimp or any other bait. Most live minnows are fished in one of three ways.

They are fished under a float, freelined or fished on the bottom with a weight.

Cut bait, oysters, squid, and similar baits are offered up the same way. Their appeal is provided by scent not sight. A blob of bait looks pretty much like another except for the scent, which fish are quick to distinguish.

Other baits such as fiddler and blue crabs are hooked through one corner of their shells. Sometimes the claws are removed, but this is usually more for the comfort of the angler than the fish. Crabs can be effectively fished under floats or freelined through passes and inlets for tarpon and redfish that readily slurp them up as if feeding from a conveyor belt in a cafeteria.

They can also be hooked underneath and just in front of the tail, which causes some baitfish to swim toward the bottom. Hooking through the nose or eyes is a better choice for areas where the bait is pulled through stronger current.

For short striking fish, such as kingfish, a second hook is attached to the first hook with a swivel and a short leader. This second hook is inserted near the anal vent. This covers the whole fish and helps ensure a hookup no matter where the bait is bitten. These same hooking techniques can also be used when freelining. Since no float is used and there is little or no weight, the bait should swim as naturally as possible.