Bait fishing

[ronaultmtd]

Since there hasn’t been “recreational” fishing allowed, I thought I would post about a sure fire way to put food on the table- Bait fishing. It still requires some basic skills and fishing knowledge, but is more forgiving and “user friendly” than the immense volumes of strategies, methods and finesse required for using only artificial lures to fish with...The standard is a double bottom rig you purchase at WalMart, Target, etc. and attach snelled hooks to it...Not my favorite but used by the vast majority of fishermen to catch fish for the table. I prefer to tie my own bottom rigs using better terminal tackle in case the by-catch is much bigger than the target fish. White perch, spot and croakers tend to be the major target species using double bottom rigs. Now for Catfishing you are talking about a complete different fishery using larger tackle and different rigs although small catfish are routinely caught on double bottom rigs. I upscale everything when my target is catfish. I use conventional reels and medium heavy casting rods with 30-50 pound test braid- use FG knot to tie on 25# mono leader to a “carolina rig” or fishfinder rig 60# test clear Ande Mono to a 7/0 in line circle hook...normally a 1/2-3/4 Oz egg sinker is plenty of weight unless the current is ripping or you are using a small cork before the hook to keep the bait off the bottom( I use this rig when I drift instead of anchoring)...when there is no tide nor current I routinely drift bait fish to cover more water searching for the fish...usually there is enough wind or I use the Mirage drive to gently and slowly “drift”...bait used is depending upon the target species...blood worms, squid strips, shrimp, earth worms, cutup fish, cut fish chunks, dough bait, liver chunks...even cheese has successfully caught fish used as bait. My all time favorite catfish bait is pieces of menhaden- very hard to beat although on some days big gobs of night crawlers are the ticket for eating size blue catfish by a pretty wide margin.Next on the list is places to launch and fish- not familiar with areas north of Washington, DC- I am totally ignorant about fishing those areas. South of DC- Marshall Hall, Mattawoman Creek at Slavins launch are two of my “go to” spots for catfish...Patuxent River at Benedict is another...most any launch on creeks and rivers emptying into the Chesapeake Bay will produce catfish. Spot and croaker are mostly later in the warmer weather species. Catfish can be in the shallows and along the edges of deeper drop offs and channels...ambush predators, they like structure like points, submerged pilings, wrecks, old sunken boats and humps. Side scan Sonar is especially helpful finding catfish. Really big catfish are not recommended for consumption because of accumulation of heavy metals in their flesh.

[J.A. Veil]

Ron - Thanks for starting this thread. When I first got into saltwater fishing in the 1980s, much of my fishing involved dropping standard wire bottom rigs with bloodworms or squid and drifting over hard bottom. I spent a lot of time fishing at the long shallow bars coming off of Hacketts Pt., Tolly Pt, and Thomas Pt. I had tremendous success at Thomas Pt bar during 1994. I routinely caught 5 or 6 species in a trip, and my neighbor's son caught the largest flounder of the year registered with DNR there in 1994. After 1994, that spot did not produce much at all. In later years, I could usually find perch, spot, and croaker with my bottom rigs, but little else locally.

Fishing at the ocean was another matter. I enjoyed fishing near Wachapreague, VA and near the CBBT. I caught all sorts of species using squid, live minnows, or Gulp baits. But my fishing interests (following the idea of my evolving Fishing Comfort Zone) led me away from bottom fishing and more into casting or jigging artificials with light tackle.

I still used live minnows fished on 1/8-oz jigheads during the coldest winter months. That is a highly effective set up for pickerel, and I caught many that way.

Fast forward to 2019. In my retirement years, I have been traveling often to Florida to fish from kayaks. Most of those trips were with a guide in Tampa Bay who almost never used bait. I honed my light tackle skills with him and had a lot of fun. But in 2019, I branched out to fish in other spots near Miami and the Keys. The guides I used there used a combination of lures and live or dead bait. I caught some amazing fish on bait during 2019. These fish included barracuda, bonefish, lemon sharks, bonnethead sharks, blacktip sharks, king mackerel, snappers, peacock bass, and tarpon. Many of these fish were over 30 inches and pulled much harder than anything I catch at home.

I can say that my Fishing Comfort Zone has continued to evolve to bring some bait fishing back into my preferred methods. I don't plan to fish with bait often at home (I rarely eat the fish I catch around here and do not target catfish for the table). But when I am in Florida or other spots where bigger game is available, I will not hesitate to use bait.

[Jman]

Ron,
I need to try that float rig of yours. Catfishing on the susky is usually in 60-70’ of water where I go, so I don’t anchor up and I get snagged on stuff all the time. Also I saw that Anglers tackle shop in Annapolis was doing a contest to catch catfish using unusual baits. I think I heard someone use a marshmallow- pretty funny!

[rugbyfish]

Ron, that was an excellent write up. I’d like to add that in my recent trips targeting eating-sized blue catfish in Potomac tributaries, I’ve done very well using double hook bottom rigs that I make myself. Basically, I use 80lb mono and tie two dropper loops about 10” apart, with a loop knot at the bottom for the weight, and a small barrel swivel at the top. Fished side by side with fish finder rigs, I didn’t see any difference in catch rate between the two. Also for those of us for whom fresh menhaden can be hard to come by, chicken liver and raw chicken breast have done the trick for me. I usually cut the chicken up and throw it in a freezer bag along with the chicken livers overnight. Seems like they’ll eat just about anything.

[ronaultmtd]

If you ever get two 48 inch fifty pound plus catfish on your double bottom rig....seems like in the last few years the 33-36 inch fish are more and more common for me along with a 40(+) inch long fish ever once in a while to keep my yak really slimed up nasty...That is primarily why I only fish a single hook rig for catfish...there are too many big fish mixed in...granted the majority are 24-30 inch fish, but the 3 footers are around...and so are the four footers...The cork rig I use for drifting is pegged on the 60# Ande mono about six inches above the snelled 7/0 hook...I like about 18-20 inch bite rig with a 300# barrel swivel tied on with a Albright knot...I use a 3/4 Oz egg sinker to keep the cork and bait just hopping along near the bottom...if the current is too strong, I anchor up...the fish don’t seem to notice the cork with both Carolina rigs and the corks getting hit equally well...Having no menhaden isn’t the end of the world- Any kind of cut fish chunks seem to work- white perch, bluegills, crappie, mud Shad, and live extra-large bull minnows are killer bait, but DNR might consider those “Striper candy” so I would be careful until after May first...cut up bullhead catfish work, too..just make sure the spines are removed.

[rugbyfish]

I never considered the double header of massive fish, but that’s certainly worth thinking about. I do a lot of my cat fishing out of Bushwood, where I’ve never caught one over 30”. That’s interesting that you’ve had success drifting. I’ve never had much luck with drifting for catfish, so I normally anchor up. For other fish like perch and croaker, I almost exclusively drift. I had a lot of success last summer drifting fishbites on small double hook rigs over oyster bars for big white perch.

[Redfish12]

Nice write up Ron. I too got my start to saltwater fishing with top and bottom rigs. We used to fish the oyster bars near the 301 bridge on the Potomac for “horse” croaker. I’m not sure what happened but the Potomac used to have an amazing croaker fishery. People say it is the netters down south that catch croaker and spot as by-catch. I wish they would stop, croaker were a blast to catch.

I used to look forward to croaker fishing every year and we would make a couple trips to PLO for croaker with a chance of keeper flounder. Those have also disappeared in recent years within the mid bay it seems.

In the spirit of yesterday’s discussions. Here’s a dig in the photobank from the last time PLO was dependable for me (2011) and a croaker trip. For those that still paddle here’s an example of when to use a drift sock...

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[CaptCHawk]

Nice write up Ron. I too got my start to saltwater fishing with top and bottom rigs. We used to fish the oyster bars near the 301 bridge on the Potomac for “horse” croaker. I’m not sure what happened but the Potomac used to have an amazing croaker fishery. People say it is the netters down south that catch croaker and spot as by-catch. I wish they would stop, croaker were a blast to catch.

I used to look forward to croaker fishing every year and we would make a couple trips to PLO for croaker with a chance of keeper flounder. Those have also disappeared in recent years within the mid bay it seems.

In the spirit of yesterday’s discussions. Here’s a dig in the photobank from the last time PLO was dependable for me (2011) and a croaker trip. For those that still paddle here’s an example of when to use a drift sock...

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I think those 30 - 40# catfish do more damage than the nets. They frequent the same spots that the croakers liked. There were lots of smalls last year, maybe they'll grow up and come back this summer. In years past the first croaker of the year were caught near Bushwood around April 15.

[moc]

Like many of you, I started out with a top and bottom rig, with the hooks tipped with bloodworms or squid or an occasional cut bait. It was a blast catching those large horsehead croakers. I would routinely catch croakers ranging from 17 inches to 22 inches. Too fished Bushwood and the Eastern Bay and the Choptank for those big croakers. Now I do not know when I last caught a croaker in the that size range. Over the last few year I have seen only "micro croaker....small ones" in the wild. But I have seen my old 17 to 19 inch croakers selling in the international grocery store last year and this year. They were labled as Atlantic Croaker, but it was nice to see them. I guess they came from the netters? Or commercial fishing boats catching them off of the Atlantic coast? Anyway it was nice to see them again.

[rugbyfish]

Croaker are one of my favorite fish to catch and eat. I targeted them a few times last year and only ended up with one keeper sized fish and several very small ones. I’d love to know why they disappeared, and I’m hoping they return one day soon.

[ronaultmtd]

Croakers are a good fight on the right tackle and are not bad eating fresh caught and bled...But nasty tasing things if frozen...we use small croakers on Gulf Coast Red Snapper trips for live bait...bait shops sell them by the dozen just like minnows..