What is the best fishing bait to use in salt water?

Question

I've heard "thread herring" is the best bait to use here in South Florida. Any suggestions?

Answer 1

I would listen to Dick & Ingun!

Although squid is an excellent bait for certain species of fish, it DOES NOT attract many "gamefish".
In SF if you only use deadbait/squid the average species of fish you will catch are: Whiting, Croaker, Drum, Sheephead, Sailors Choice, small Mangrove Snapper, Sailcats, Saltwater Cats, Toadfish, & various smaller "Pinfish".

Live Shrimp & Pogey/Menhaden or Finger Mullet is #1 for Spec Trout, Redfish, Flounder, Snook & most "gamefish".

Don't be confused with the tag "gamefish". Trout, Reds, Flounder, Snook, Snapper, Etc TASTE great! And most people hope to catch anything that has a "gamefish" tag.

You should also try fishing some artificial lures. You can cover more water and find "active, feeding, fish" quicker using lures than floating live or dead bait! The Berkley Comp makes great products for saltwater fishing.

Here's an example of how to rig-up your rods:

1 fishing rod would be outfitted with a floating popping cork "rig", which includes: 1/0 circle-hook,18-24" leader of Berkley "Vanish" in 12-14 LB test & a popping cork.

(Circle hooks are super-easy to use if your a "novice" fisherman because you don't have to learn the "striking position". You just reel quickly and the circle-hook (90% of the time) will automatically "stick" the fish in the side of the mouth!)

Rod 2 would be outfitted thus:
Med-Med Heavey spinning-rod spooled with 12 LB "Vanish". A 1/4-1/2 OZ Chartruese/green Jig tied on with some form of Berkely Grub-body/Mullet Body/Pogey Body attached. (Or Berkley's Swimming Shrimp lure!)

"Cast-out" your live Shrimp or Pogey/Finger Mullet rigged rod, and while your waiting for a "bite", be casting your "lure-rigged" rod.

If you only use squid or dead bait your odds on catching anything big/huge, (and TASTY!), is diminished by 70%! I don't know 1 pro guide or Charter Capt that uses dead bait all the time!

Hope this helps ya? Good Luck!


PS: Thread Herring is called "Menhaden", "Bunker" , or "Pogey" in fishing circles. And "YES" it is a great bait! You need a circular live-well to keep them alive for any extended period of time.

Answer 2

Best Bait For Saltwater Fishing

Answer 3

This Site Might Help You.

RE:
What is the best fishing bait to use in salt water?
I've heard "thread herring" is the best bait to use here in South Florida. Any suggestions?

Answer 4

Ah! One I can answer with absolute authority. I live in SW FL and do most of my fishing in the Port Charlotte, Punta Gorda area. If you are just fishing for fun, then squid is the way to go. (If you are "meat" fishing, this may not help, although I have caught many edible smaller (3-4 pounds) fish this way.

To start, you get the box of squid. You get plenty of squid lots cheaper than getting shrimp. Then you figure out how long you will be out fishing. I pick one squid for every 90 minutes. (This is an approximation. When the action gets hot and heavy, the squid goes faster.)

You defrost the squid on the way to your spot. You pull the head off and get the inards out. Then you split the squid into strips. This is the key part! You start wide at the top, where the head was, then end up with a small tip at the end. Then you put it on the hook a few times. (Wish I could show you this part, it's hard to explain.)

You hook the fat, wide, part up first, then you put the hook through it a few more times until you have just about a half inch of the small narrow part hanging off. The hook should be just about covered all the way up to the eye. It should look like lots of "S" shapes on the hook.

This does two things. It keeps fish that like to "mouth" the bait from feeling the hook. It also makes the bait move in a realistic fashion. Watch the first time you bait up this way. You will see the piece of squid moving in a spiral manner, and weaving back and forth. It makes for an almost impossible to resist bait for any fish that attacks a moving target.

Even if you just drop the bait, and don't cast and reel in, it still will move when the current is moving. My favorite rig for this is an "egg" sinker run just above the steel leader. This way you can get the bait to the bottom, but still let the line out. Plus the fish don't feel the tug of the sinker when it takes the bait!

If you are not fishing the bottom, I use a three way swivel with a three foot steel leader to the hook, and regular line at whatever lenght you deem appropriate for the sinker line. In fast a fast moving tide, you will still be near the bottom, but in a slow moving current, the squid will float up a bit as long as you are using a small hook. (I like the small eagle claw hooks. They hold the bait very well.)

Other thing about squid is, unlike shrimp, it's tough. You can use it over and over. You can get multiple catches on one piece of squid before it gets to ragged to use again.

Again, it all depends on what you are fishing for. I fish just for fun, but keep the every now and then legal size meat fish that I catch since the folks like fish. I just like to catch 'em and toss 'em back in. Let someone else have fun later.

Answer 5

Squid Bait

Answer 6

This Site Might Help You.

RE:
What is the best fishing bait to use in salt water?
I've heard "thread herring" is the best bait to use here in South Florida. Any suggestions?

Answer 7

now all they answers given are good but if u want a top quality bait and if u can get it u want to use pacific saury i use this it is a natural bait and it is nearly 40 percent more oily than herring and will give a nice long trail for the fish to follow just google pacific saury and get a pic maybe u no what i am talking about good luck tight llines oh and i have caught more than 130 species on this bait

Answer 8

It depends on what you're after. I was raised in Miami and began fishing at an early age. I've never used thread herring, although many charter boat captains swear by it for trolling. For live bait I use Finger Mullet, shrimp, shiners, pilchards, and pinfish. For cut bait I use strips of mullet, shrimp, squid, and chunks of Grunt.

Answer 9

I say any fish bait. The bigger fish you want to catch, the bigger bait you use.
I remember once we were at the docks and these guys came in with a catch of Dolphin (Not the Flipper kind). They were laying them out for people to see. I guessing they were about 18-24 inches long. My woman asked; "What kind of fish are those"? I said; "Bait Fish"!

Answer 10

Best baits I would pick!
Live shrimp!#1
Live finger mullet!
Bull minnow!
Fiddlers!
Mantis shrimp!
Blue crab!
Any of the saltwater minnows IE:sardine,herring....!