Chapter 5 - Natural Baits And How To Use Them

Although each year more and more salt-water anglers are using artificial lures, the great majority still depend on natural baits for their fishing. Indeed, many salt-water fish will not take artificial lures, except on rare occasions, and must be tempted with live bait. This is especially true with respect to bottom fishing, which is the most popular form of salt-water angling, where many so-called game fish will often ignore artificial lures and can be taken only on natural bait. Even fish which strike on artificial lures readily have certain periods and conditions when they prefer live bait.

It is true that fishing with artificial lures is sporting and a lot of fun and that it requires quite a bit of skill, but fishing with bait can also furnish fine sport and requires considerable knowledge, for you must know what baits to use, how to obtain them, how to keep them and how to hook them. The angler who knows his salt-water baits and how to use them generally catches more fish than the man who lacks this knowledge.

The bait fisherman should also remember that for best results his bait should be as lively and fresh as possible.

Another important thing to remember while bait fishing is to use the sharpest and strongest hooks possible. Hooks which are dull or which straighten out or snap off when a large fish takes hold account for the loss of many fish each season.

Salt-water bait fishing can be done with almost any type of rod and reel. For bottom fishing, the most popular rod is the one- or two-piece boat rod, but big-game, surf-casting, bait-casting, spinning and even fly-casting tackle can all be used with natural baits. The terminal rig used in bait fishing is important and this subject is covered in the previous chapter on using the right rig.

While most of the baits covered here can be bought from tackle stores, bait dealers or fish markets, many anglers prefer to obtain their own. The angler who gathers his own bait should check with his state and local laws.

Many states and areas have laws governing the taking of such baits as sea worms, clams, crabs and bait fish.

A cast net like this is useful for catching mullet and other bait fish.

Sea worms are a favorite bait with salt-water anglers since most fish take them and they are easy to obtain or buy and handy to keep and carry. The most popular sea worms are the "clamworms," also called "sandworms," along the Atlantic Coast and "mussel worms" along the Pacific Coast. Those commonly used belong to the genus Nereis, and there are several species on both coasts. One of those along the Pacific Coast reaches more than 3 ft. in length, but most clamworms average from 5 to 12 in. in length.

Clamworms are found in shelly sand and mud flats, among mussels and barnacles or piles and under stones. At night they leave their burrows and hiding places and can be picked up on tidal flats or scooped up in shallow water. At other times they can be obtained by digging deep with a clam hoe or fork on tidal flats at low tide.

Another popular sea worm is the bloodworm, also known as the "beak thrower," "four-jawed worm" and "proboscis worm." A number of species of bloodworms are found in the mud flats along both the Atlantic and Pacific coasts. They can be dug up with the same tools used for obtaining other sea worms. Like clamworms, they can be found near the low-water mark, but they usually lie deeper in the mud than clamworms.

Sea worms can be kept in damp rockweed in a cool cellar or icebox for several days. Occasionally, they should be sprinkled lightly with salt water, and any dead worms should be discarded each day.

Sea worms are used for striped bass, weakfish, croakers, flounders, porgies, tautog or blackfish and many other fish.

For large fish one, two or three whole worms on a hook are usually used. For trolling, one or more worms are hooked behind the spinner so as to leave the ends trailing through the water and fluttering attractively. A gang hook can be used to catch fish which strike short. And for small fish with tiny mouths, pieces of worm 1 or 2 in. in length are best.

There are many other kinds of sea worms, such as ribbon worms or tapeworms and lugworms, which can be used for bait. In fact, almost any sea worm of good size will be taken by salt-water fish. Even earthworms like night crawlers and garden worms are used at times to catch salt-water fish such as flounders.

Another popular bait with salt-water anglers are clams. These bivalve mollusks are numerous along both the Atlantic and Pacific Coasts, where they live in the mud and sand of beaches, inlets, bays and the ocean. There are many species and almost all of them make good bait. One of the most widely used on the Atlantic Coast is the big surf clam, also known as the sea clam and skimmer clam. Another common and popular clam is the ordinary hardshell clam found in restaurants and fish markets and often referred to as quahog, round clam and littleneck. Still another clam is the soft-shell, also known as the long-necked clam, steamer clam and sand clam. It is found in sandy mud flats along the Atlantic and parts of the Pacific. There are also many other clams, such as the pismo clam, gaper clam, goeduck clam and the razor or jackknife clam, which can be used for bait when available.

Most clams can be bought from bait dealers and fish markets or they can be obtained along beaches or in bays, where they bury themselves in the sand or mud. You can wade in shallow water, look for them or feel them with your bare feet and then dig them out. On exposed flats at low tide you can also dig many clams with a clam hoe or fork.

Clams will stay alive for several days if kept in a cool spot or on ice. For longer periods, they should be submerged in salt water in a box. Clams, of course, must be shucked or removed from their hard shells. This can be done by inserting a knife blade between the two shells and cutting the muscles which hold them together. But to save time, work, and a possible injury to the hands most anglers crack the shells by just hitting them against a hard object.
For big fish such as striped bass and cod the insides of one or more large clams are draped on a hook. The siphon or neck of most clams makes a good tough bait if the dark skin is removed to reveal the light meat. For small fish such as blackfish or tautog, porgies, flounders and others with small mouths, tiny pieces of clam are best.

Mussels, which are found in the ocean, bays and other salt waters, can also be used as bait. They can easily be gathered from jetties, pilings and rocks at low tide. Mussels are a soft bait and do not stay on the hook too well, but they can be tied down with thread. Some anglers steam, boil or dry out mussels a bit to toughen them. They are also used as chum to attract salt-water fish and can either be crushed and thrown overboard a little at a time or placed in a chum pot or wire cage and lowered into the water.

Then there are many other mollusks, such as conchs, sea snails, abalone, whelks and periwinkles, which are used as bait. In fact, almost any salt-water shellfish, if large enough to make a practical bait, can be used.

Crabs are eaten by many salt-water fish and make good bait in any of the various stages that they occur. Crabs shed their hard covering at regular intervals as they grow, and most fish prefer to eat them when they are in the soft, helpless stage. Just before they shed their hard covering, they are known as shedder or peeler crabs. After they shed their shells they are known as soft-shell crabs, and when their new shell starts to harden but still caves in when pressed, they are called paper-backs or leather-backs. Finally the shell hardens completely and they become hard crabs again. While crabs can be used as bait in all their stages, those which are in the soft-shell or shedder stages are best.

Among the crabs popular for bait are the blue crab which is the one found in restaurants and fish markets along the Atlantic 'and Gulf coasts. Other crabs used for bait are lady crabs, also called calico crabs, fiddler crabs, hermit crabs and green crabs.

Crabs can be bought in fish markets and from bait dealers. They can also be caught by hand with long-handled nets, on lines baited with meat or fish and in various types of traps. For short periods of time, crabs may be kept in damp seaweed on ice, while for longer periods they should be put in wire cages and submerged in salt water.

Crabs will catch striped bass, channel bass, weakfish, blackfish or tautog, sheep’s head, bonefish and many other salt-water fish. Whole large crabs are best for big fish. Small whole crabs or sections of large crabs are best for smaller fish. Hard crabs can be hooked through the body, between the legs or in the hole left when the large claws are removed. Hermit crabs can be removed from their shell homes and threaded on the hook with the point and barb reaching into the soft tail-section. Soft-shell crabs and shedder crabs are often lashed on the hook with fine thread.

If you can resist eating them, the common lobster and the spiny lobster can be used for bait. The tail sections are used after the hard covering has been removed. Shrimps and prawns are numerous in species and numbers in practically all salt waters. All shrimp make good bait, from edible or jumbo shrimps to tiny sand shrimps, grass shrimps or common prawns. They can often be purchased at fish markets or bait dealers. Or you can search for the smaller varieties in bays and tidal creeks among the eelgrass, where they can be caught in fine-meshed dip nets or seines.

A tandem hook such as this can be used to hook dead bait fish.

Shrimp can be kept in a wire cage submerged in the water or in damp sawdust or seaweed on ice. Large shrimps are usually removed from their shells and the meat from the tail threaded on the hook. Smaller shrimps are used whole and are hooked through the body or tail segments. Shrimp will take striped bass, weakfish, flounders, tautog or black-fish, bonefish, snappers and many other salt-water fish. Small shrimps are also good as chum when thrown overboard a few at a time and will attract fish such as weakfish and striped bass. Sand bugs or sand fleas, which are found in the sand where ocean waves break on the beaches, can be dug out of the stand or caught in special traps and used for striped bass, blackfish and pompano.

But of all the baits used for salt-water game fish, bait fish as a group are no doubt the most productive. These small fish usually average from 3 to 12 in. in length and include many species. Silvery mullets are near the top of the list with respect to both popularity and productivity. Two species—the striped mullet and the white mullet—are most commonly used. Menhaden or mossbunker is also highly favored because of its abundance and oily flesh, which attracts most salt-water fish. It is especially popular as chum when ground or chopped up and used to attract bluefish, tuna and mackerel.

Other members of the varied and prolific herring family, such as the common herring, Pacific herring, sardines, pilchards and alewives, are widely used. Anchovies make good bait, especially in the Pacific Ocean, where they are used as chum and bait for barracuda, yellowtail, albacore and halibut. Minnows of the sea along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts include the many species of spearing or silversides. They travel in large schools and are effective for striped bass, weakfish, bluefish, summer flounder or fluke, silver hake and other fish. The hardy killifish or mummichog, found in bays and inlets, lives a long time on the hook. It is favored for summer flounder, small bluefish and sea bass. Sand eels or launces are also numerous and popular baits. The common eel is occasionally used alive or cut up into chunks for bottom fishing. But it is more commonly used for striped bass, rigged whole with two hooks so as to give it a motion like an artificial lure. Eel skin s, when attached to eel skin  lures, are also used for striped bass, bluefish, weakfish and other fish.

Dead bait fish can be hooked by the methods shown here.

Bait fish can be bought in fish markets and tackle stores, and from bait dealers and commercial fishermen. They can also be caught with seines, cast nets, funnel-type traps and drop or umbrella nets. Most bait fish are rather delicate and to keep them alive for any length of time you must put them in live boxes submerged in water. But some of them, like the common eels and the killifish, are quite hardy and can be kept alive for hours in damp seaweed placed in a cool spot.

The methods commonly used in baiting the bait fish are shown in the illustration on page 69. Large bait fish should be scaled and filleted, so that the two slabs of flesh can then be cut into any size or shape desired. Big bait fish can also be cut crosswise into steaks.

There are many other fish which are used as bait. These include common mackerel, Spanish mackerel, halfbeak and its relative, the ballyhoo or balao, flying fish, bonito, dolphin, albacore, barracuda, bonefish, grunt, catfish, butterfish and whiting or silver hake. Most of these are used offshore for salt-water fish such as sailfish, swordfish, the tunas and marlins.

These fish are rigged in various ways depending on the fish sought, the methods and tackle used and the area being fished. For still-fishing or drifting, the bait is usually hooked through the back or lips. In trolling, to give the bait a natural wriggling movement the backbone is either broken in several places or removed. The hook can be hidden entirely inside the bait or it can protrude from the belly, side or back. The hooks should be sewn in and if the fish has been slit open the belly cavity should also be sewn up. The mouth and gills can be sewn up to keep the water out and prevent the bait from revolving when trolled.

Live, delicate bait fish such as herring, anchovies and sardines can be hooked as shown above.

Many of these same fish are also used for strip bait, which are trolled through the water in offshore fishing. Here the shiny sides or white belly of the fish are cut into long, narrow, thin strips anywhere from 8 to 14 in. in length-wide in the middle and tapering to points at each end. The edges of strip bait are usually thinned down. Next a wire leader is attached to the hook, forming a safety-pin catch. Then the strip is slit in two spots, one near the center of the bait and the other near the head. The hook is run through the slit near the center of the bait and the safety-pin catch is fastened to the other hole. Strip bait can also be cut into any shape desired and used on single or double hooks.

If you have chartered a boat, whole bait or strip bait will be prepared for you by the mate. It pays to follow the advice of the captain or mate since they are familiar with the way of the fish in their waters and are usually more expert at rigging baits than most anglers.

Although squids and octopuses are considered mollusks like clams, oysters and mussels, their habits and uses as bait are different from other shellfish. There are many species of squids found along both the Pacific and Atlantic coasts from tiny 1-inchers to giant 50-footers. But almost all of them can be used as bait for salt-water fish.

Squids can be bought at fish markets, from bait dealers and from commercial fishermen. When they come close to shore they can often be caught with a dip net or by hand, especially at night under lights. You can also try snagging them with a treble hook baited with a small bait fish.

Squids are difficult to keep alive, but they can be frozen whole or cleaned and cut into strips and salted down in jars. Fresh squids are used whole for swordfish, marlin and striped bass, while the head, tentacles or strips from the body can be used for striped bass, bluefish, weakfish, channel bass, cod, summer flounder and other salt-water fish.

The squid's cousin, the octopus, also can be used to catch salt-water fish in the waters where it is found. They can be caught in shallow pools at low tide with gaff hooks or spears. You can also turn over rocks and look for them among coral reefs in tropical waters. It makes a tough bait and the tentacles can be cut to any size.

Finally, almost anything that crawls or swims and is large enough to make a practical bait can be tried for salt-water fish. It pays to experiment and try several kinds of bait when you go fishing. The angler who brings along a variety of baits stands less chance of being skunked. In the vast ocean' with its innumerable varieties of fish that come and go with the tides, you never know what kind of fish to expect and what kind of food or bait is present. By carrying several kinds of bait you are better prepared to meet these changing conditions.

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