Since I can’t always get down there during optimal tide times (low tides), sometimes I am forced to look for bait during high tides. I seldom have much luck during such tides. Is there a secret to finding bait during high tide?
What do ya’ll do for bait during the Winter, does everyone switch to artificials?
Also, yesterday during our hunt for bait, all we saw was needle fish. Are these worth catching, will anything bite on them?
Thanks
Motor along grass lines in shallow coves and banks during the high tide and be ready to cast at the first sign of bait. I freeze shrimp and mullet in anticipation of the colder months when live bait is scarce. Fresh thawed shrimp under a float was deadly last winter fishing docks in the Stono.
Iain Pelto
Sea Hunt Triton 160 w/ 90 ETEC “JB3”
Native Manta Ray 14
What hairball said.
If I really can’t find any I sometimes will just start blind casting into tiny feeder creek mouths or onto shallow mud flats(mostly shrimp). You may want to scout out at low tide next time your out to find a few places that are oyster free to save in the memory bank for later…
I’ve never been able to catch the needle fish in a cast net and therefore couldn’t tell you if anything eats them.
Good advice guys. I will start keeping any bait I end up with at the end of the day to freeze for later use. Needle fish we can catch and they can be a pain to get out of the net with all of their little needle teeth.
baiting season is a good time to put small whole shrimps up for the winter. when heading, we keep a bowl to the side for “bait shrimps”.
Mountain Dew or Crab Juice. Eeww…sheesh…I’ll take a crab juice.
Bait is everywhere.
big dog
Look for the areas that have wind and tide pushing bait into pockets. Cast.
big dog
You can buy blue crabs at any market or sea food shop around here. There is even one in summerville. Sometimes you can get em live but not all the time. They are greet bait cracked for sheepshead, reds, sharks, etc. And it’s about my lure season again. I don’t even worry about bait really in the winter. Just throw a z-man paddle tail on a jig head, bounce it off the bottom and boom! I have caught some of my biggest fish on lures.
“In every species of fish I’ve angled for, it is the ones that have got away that thrill me the most, the ones that keep fresh in my memory. So I say it is good to lose fish. If we didn’t, much of the thrill of angling would be gone.” Ray Bergman