Contributing writer
Capt. Barry "Cuda" Nicholls
Today, I’ll talk about live bait. Live bait has some advantages over artificial. If you hook it right, it has very good movement, as well as flavor in the water.
You’re not having to fool the fish so much as present their meal for the taking. Here in SW Florida, for the backwater we generally fish shrimp, crabs, whitebait, (greenbacks, threadfins, sardines, etc.), finger mullet, lizardfish, needlefish, pinfish, grunts, and lots of others.
You will want to choose your leader size and hook size according to your targets and their environment.
Fluorocarbon or mono leader is more transparent in the water. The thinner sizes will get more bites, but may result in more break-offs.
Feel your way and increase or decrease according to your judgement.
I personally like 20 or 25 pound fluoro leader and set the drag light enough so a fish can run a bit instead of my line breaking.
2/0 or 3/0 circle hooks are my preference. Circle hooks result in a lip hooked fish rather than throat or gut hooked. Much easier to release, and less harm to the fish. Especially important since I like to do catch and release in the backwater.
Offshore we use the same baits, usually bigger, and squirrel fish, jacks, grunts, blue runners, and anything else that presents as active and bite size for the fish we are targeting that day.
Squid are great bait, and stay on the hook well when the bait thieves are making you crazy. Squid and shrimp are both magic candy to the fish, but squid only work offshore. I tried it in the backwater once and nothing would touch it. A bit odd since they’re the same fish in the backwater as offshore.
Cut bait is very effective both in the backwater and offshore. Lady fish and mullet are very popular.
I like to cut them into steaks about 2 inches long and insert the hook in one edge. Very effective, but usually requires a bit more patience.
How to hook your live bait:
Crabs: work the hook point into the left or right edge of the shell. This allows the crab to move around and even swim in a way that’s attractive to predators.
Shrimp: head, middle, or tail. For the head, or carapace, aim for where the shell pattern makes an X. Some people call it hooking under the horn. You can visually see the vital organs. Miss them and the shrimp will stay alive, active, and very attractive to our prey.
Hooked through the middle works, but it’s just less interesting. The tail is where I find it the most effective. I break off the fan (actually, I bite it off! Looks more salty! lol!) This gives me a great place to insert the hook, and also puts flavor into the water. I find this very effective.
Live lined, hanging under a popping cork, or sitting on the bottom, he can move around and stimulate predator appetites.
Whitebait: in through the mouth and up through the roof of the mouth works well. Also through the nostrils. That let’s them swim very naturally.
Through the back is great if they’re hanging suspended in the water.
Through the tail encourages them to swim away from you. That’s good when you’re trying to get them up under the mangroves.
Hooking them through the belly actually gets them to swim down if you need them to go deep.
Next column, I’ll talk about fishing artificial lures. That’s a really big subject!
I hope you find these tips useful!
Tight lines, and take care, Captain Barry
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Capt. Barry "Cuda" Nicholls
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