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Targeting Baitfish With Captain Ron Hueston

 | By Seamus on 6/11/2013 11:40:39 AM | Views (125)

In the northern end of my region up around Boca Grande and Sanibel you’ll find good concentrations of baitfish on the beaches and grass flats. The majority of the baits will be pilchards, but as we get late into the summer you can chum the grass flats and catch pinfish.

Pilchards (scaled sardines) are one of our most prevalent baitfish, and they usually hold in less than eight feet of water over sand or grass bottom. You’ll see them dimpling the surface or spitting, and at times even flashing below or beside the boat. Most of the time the baits are shallow enough to castnet, using a ¼ inch stretch mesh net, but sometimes we’ll go to Sabiki Rigs if the fish are holding deep.

One of the nice things about pilchards is that they will respond to chum, particularly on the grass flats or around bridges. Everyone has their own chum recipe, but most of it is either canned cat food (Kozy Kitten is the popular brand) or Jack mackerel mixed with a little menhaden oil, sand and bread or oats. The Purina Tropical Fish Food powder with menhaden oil also works well.

Stake out your boat on the grass near a sandy pothole and start chumming. Throw a couple of golf ball sized pieces of chum out first, then just start flicking fingernail sized chunks regularly until you start seeing them show in the chum. Then load your net, toss out a golf ball of chum, let it settle and cast the net. 

Off the beaches in the entire region you’ll find threadfin herring, which are one of the premier baits in my region for inshore or offshore fishing. A lot of the time they’re just in open water, so look for diving birds or baitfish rippling or breezing on the surface. You’ll also find threadfins around the nearshore wrecks anywhere from four to eight miles out.

Most of the time they’ll be a little too deep to throw a castnet on them, but you can use a Sabiki rig and load up your livewell quickly. I like the Sabiki Rigs with green beads, although red and white also work well, and a #6 hook. Threadfins are usually larger than pilchards or sardines and will swallow a smaller hook. Use at least two ounces of lead on your Sabiki Rig to keep the hooked baits from tangling up in the rig.

We get a lot of Spanish sardines and cigar minnows 10 to 20 miles offshore around the structure. Most of the time you have to Sabiki these baits, and the sardines like the red Sabiki Rigs on #8 hooks and light fluorocarbon line to the rigs.

We’ll get a good mixture of pilchards and threadfins around the bridges and in the passes, particularly at night. You’ll need a 12 foot castnet with 5/16 stretch mesh so that it sinks quickly in the deep water.

As always, try to handle the baits as little as possible, because every time you touch the baits with your hands or a net you knock some of the protective slime and scales off of them. That weakens the baits and makes them die off quicker.

Another thing you want to avoid is over-crowding the livewell. It’s real easy to have a good throw of the castnet and catch too much bait, and put it all in the livewell. You’ll know if the baits are oxygen starved if you see them on the surface gasping for air. If you see that, dump some of your bait and use a bucket to get some fresh, highly oxygenated water into the well immediately.

You can watch the full episode and others on our website, www.chevyfloridainsiderfishingreport.com, and click on the Videos Tab. 

Captain Tips Read More

Catch Information

Species:
Pinfish
Pinfish

Scaled Sardine
Scaled Sardine

Spanish Sardine
Spanish Sardine

This Fishing Report was submitted on 6/11/2013 11:40:39 AM by Seamus and last updated on 6/11/2013 11:40:39 AM.


Location

83268 Overseas Highway
Islamorada, FL US


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