Four Great Baits For Florida's Fall Season
Photo by David A. Brown |
By CAPT. BILL MILLER
When fall brings shorter days and lower water temperatures, inshore fish like snook, trout, redfish, flounder and others know that winter is just around the corner. These signals tell predators that they need to feed up to prepare for the cold season.
For fishermen, there are plenty of artificial lures that will tempt the gamefish, but a handful of natural baits are hard to beat. Learn how to use these baits and you'll catch plenty of fall fish.
Scaled Sardines (aka "whitebait"): This is the top inshore bait and you can gather a day's supply by cast netting along the surf line on the gulf beaches or along the shoreline of passes like Pass-A-Grille, John’s Pass, Clearwater and Longboat Key. The Sunshine Skyway Bridge, Ft. Desoto piers and area grass flats also produce. Chumming with various mixtures of fish meal, canned sardines or even ground cat food will attract whitebait schools. Dropping gold hook "sabiki" rigs around channel markers and bridges might take a little longer, but it's a good option if castnetting isn't your thing.
Fish whitebaits on a 1/0-2/0 circle hook set through the nose cartilage or behind the pectoral fins and present them under a cork or free-lined. They're hardy baits, but you'll need a good live well to keep them active.
Threadfin Herring (aka "greenbacks"): Also commonly caught with castnets or sabikis, greenbacks inhabit the same places as whitebaits, but they don't respond to chumming. Sometimes they run with whitebait and end up in a chum line, but they won't independently respond.
Hook greenbacks through the nose or pectoral fin, same as a whitebait, but I find that corked or free-lined, hooking them through the back, just ahead of the dorsal fin, keeps them alive longer. Threadfins are not as strong as whitebait, so keep them in a high-flow live well and avoid overcrowding.
Live Shrimp: Available at bait shops, shrimp are the most accessible bait and just about everything in the sea eats them. Match your hook to shrimp size and run the point under the horn – avoid touching the black spot (brain). Another option is the last tail joint, hooking bottom-to-top.
For general, open flats use, I prefer fishing shrimp under a cork to keep it off the bottom where the bait stealers live. They will find it under the cork, but the shrimp seems to last a little longer suspended. When fishing around structure, I like to use a light jighead and hook the shrimp through the center of the head, bottom-to-top, avoiding the brain.
Shrimp don't require a fancy bait well. A flow-through bait bucket hung over the side or a 5-gallon bucket with a battery-operated aerator works fine. Another option is "Homosassa Style": Put live shrimp in a zippered storage bag and lay the bag on ice. The chill slows the shrimp's metabolism and keeps them dormant until you hook and revive them in the warmer water.
Pinfish: Gather pins with a castnet, sabiki rigs or by hook-and-lining with cut shrimp or squid (the latter's toughness makes it harder to steal from a hook). For flats fishing, the ideal pinfish is about 4 inches. This natural forage appeals to reds, trout and snook.
When prepping pinfish for bait use, I use an old trick Capt. Bobby Buswell taught me. He used to say: “Give them a haircut.” Cut off the sharp dorsal fins with scissors. Doing this will increase your bites.
Over the flats, pinfish work best under a cork because the float keeps them from hiding in the grass. Typically, I like to hook pinfish just in front of the dorsal fin.
When I'm fishing back toward shallow structure, hook them from the bottom side just behind the anal fin. This hook placement will make them swim away from the boat and into the structure. Bigger pinfish can be cut into 2 or 3 pieces and used very effectively as dead bait on the bottom.
Fall is a good time of year to find big numbers of fish in aggressive feeding moods. So gather up a load of the natural bait the bay area offers and enjoy your share of this seasonal fishing.
For weekly fishing reports, hot tips, catch photos and lots of angling resources, visit www.billmiller.com. For fishing charters in the Tampa Bay area, call (813) 363-9927.
