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Random Quote: That which does not kill me really pisses me off...
On one side of my house, I have the Indian River - brackish water teeming with all sorts of bait; everything from pinfish and mullet to shrimp and crabs. On the other is the Atlantic. Obviously 'saltier' and where I'll be fishing.
If I run over to the river and toss a net/pull a trap for _fill-in-the-blank_ will they survive in the livewell, or should I keep them in a separate container?
Lastly, which bait do you prefer on offshore trips?
Opposite end of the fishing world from you, but greenback mackerel are my bait of choice for the deep reefs. The sardines never live in the livewell, so we throw them in a bucket with ice. We also use live bonefish and sand bass for bait, mostly when we're grouper hunting.
Opposite end of the fishing world from you, but greenback mackerel are my bait of choice for the deep reefs. The sardines never live in the livewell, so we throw them in a bucket with ice. We also use live bonefish and sand bass for bait, mostly when we're grouper hunting.
Mullet and pinfish are like candy out of Port Canaveral. Get yourself a battery operated aerator to keep them going until you get the well going at the ramp.
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@UNCFISH -- One man's gamefish is another man's bait! Bonefish are a fantastic bait. Bright, shiny silver, hyperactive on the end of the leader, and tough as nails. We carefully hook 'em through the eye socket and they can take a good hit and still keep on swimming. We usually fish with spectra line and you can feel the bonefish actively swimming on the leader. When a grouper eyes 'em over, they start twitching like crazy and you know it's time to hang on for dear life. Hence, our favorite fishing line - "My boner's twitchin'!" We also catch them, rig them and troll them as bait for big bull dorado and marlin.
It's Mexico. Makes no nevermind that we use them for bait there, no regs or rules on them. When we're going after toads like the ones shown on my buddy Ric's boat below, live boners and big sand bass are the bait of choice! We also use whole sierra mackerels about 18" long.
@UNCFISH -- One man's gamefish is another man's bait! Bonefish are a fantastic bait. Bright, shiny silver, hyperactive on the end of the leader, and tough as nails. We carefully hook 'em through the eye socket and they can take a good hit and still keep on swimming. We usually fish with spectra line and you can feel the bonefish actively swimming on the leader. When a grouper eyes 'em over, they start twitching like crazy and you know it's time to hang on for dear life. Hence, our favorite fishing line - "My boner's twitchin'!" We also catch them, rig them and troll them as bait for big bull dorado and marlin.
It's Mexico. Makes no nevermind that we use them for bait there, no regs or rules on them. When we're going after toads like the ones shown on my buddy Ric's boat below, live boners and big sand bass are the bait of choice! We also use whole sierra mackerels about 18" long.
I have heard bonefish make good bait, but have never gotten around to try one in the open ocean. I know mullet are good.
Dulcecita lures how big is the cooler your boat? Holey crap.
I have two large in-deck fish boxes, but it's tough getting the biggies in them. In cooler weather, we just lay them out on the deck, cover them with beach towels, and keep 'em hosed down. They stay very fresh that way. In summer, I get a 100 lb. block of ice shaved and blown into my fishboxes at the icehouse before heading out (about $10). Ones that are too big for the box, we throw ice on and cover up with towels. Once we've got a couple on board, we make a short day of it and head back in. I have 3 huge Igloo Marine coolers in the back of my truck for ice and the filets. My buddy Ric often takes a whole gutted grouper back to his casita. They stuff it, lay it in a big V rack, and cook it over an open wood fire. Sorta like a pig roast, Mexican style! Everybody in the neighborhood stops by and has some fish tacos. Makes for great community relations!
Quote:
Originally Posted by uncfish
must be nice to be able to catch enough bonefish to use as live bait. some people try a lifetime to catch one!
Yeah, I've never understood that and have taken some heat from folks before that hold bonefish in some kind of holy esteem.
That whole poling or wading through miles of flats, tossing a little fly, in search of the elusive bonefish. I see it in the fishing mags all the time. Kinda gay to me, but to each their own trophy, I suppose. We pull out of the harbor and head to port just a bit in 30-40 ft. of water and drop sabiki rigs. Within a 1/2 hour, we've usually got a couple dozen of them in the bait tank. By the way, they hold up well in the bait tank and, at the end of the day, any that didn't get to meet Mr. Grouper are carefully released right back in the same area we catch them.
Quote:
Originally Posted by VanW
Sounds like triggerfish. They are great at that sort of thing.
Exactly. Same reason I gave up trying to fish any poured plastic baits in Mexico. The triggers shred them the second they hit the bottom. You spend more time rerigging Cocahoe minnows than you do catching fish! At least, on any of the shallow reefs. The triggers will gang up and peck a live mackerel to pieces within a minute or so. On the deeper reefs, no triggers, and live bait is the key to catching!
Last edited by Dulcecita Lures; 06-09-2010 at 09:41 AM.
Sounds like triggerfish. They are great at that sort of thing.
when i have caught triggerfish they had rather small mouths, these fish had bites ~1.5" across out of them. My guess was the snappers would grab the bait but the hook would not be in their mouth so that when the line comes tight they shake their head and take a hunk of my pinfish. next time i am down there I will be trying some 1.5 - 2" pinfish to see if my theory was right>
regardless, the OP should take pinfish if he has them, I think we agree on that.
What do you take in your livewell?
1975 Mako 20 (Sea Whore) 2008 Suzuki DF140
