Bait That Works in our Waters

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· Shrimp is your “universal” bait here locally. 

· Everything eats shrimp. 

· Redfish, Flounder, Trout, Mangrove Snappers, Snook, Black Drum, Bluefish, and the list goes on. This is why shrimp is considered the “universal” bait here. 

· Live shrimp requires air to be added constantly to the water and cooler temps of water to stay alive. This is very important!

· Dead shrimp can work as well and sometimes better than live shrimp – don’t throw away a dead shrimp, break it in half and fish on.

· Mud Minnows are a “seasonal” bait fish, meaning you can’t find them all year round. 

· Spring and Fall seems to be when they are found lately

· Used alive hooked through the upper lip

· Mud Minnows are like candy to Flounder, Redfish, Snapper, and Trout

· They are extremely hardy, meaning you can have them in a bucket without air for a lot longer than shrimp or mullet

· Mullet for bait is better small, finger length size. 

· Mullet can grow bigger, like any other fish.

· “Finger Mullet” is a good bait for Redfish, Trout, Snapper, Snook, and other nice game fish

· Mullet need a lot of air in the water and cooler temps of water, similar to shrimp

· Can be used dead or alive

· Sand Fleas can be found on our beaches, but typically the beach area with coquina shell in the sand.

· Sand Fleas are actually mole crabs, but since they live in the sand on the beach, they got the name sand flea

· Sand Fleas are great to catch whiting, pompano, redfish, black drum and other fish that can be caught off the beach

· Can be used dead or alive

· Squid is another all a round (universal) bait

· Typically comes frozen in whole condition, can be obtained in strips or chunks

· Numerous fish will eat squid, like Flounder, Mangrove Snapper and many offshore bottom species

· Blue Crab is a great bait for Redfish, Black Drum, Sheepshead, and Pompano

· You can get them live or frozen (Live is better)

· Depending on size used whole or cut in halves or quarters

· For Sheepshead and Pompano the knuckles are used

· Clams are another good surf fishing bait

· Used for Whiting and Pompano

· It can also be used for Sheepshead and Drum

· You can get them live, fresh, frozen or salted (salt cured)

     · Fiddler Crabs are small little crabs, generally found on the shores of the marsh areas in Florida

· Fiddler Crabs are the most favorite food for Sheepshead, but other fish will go after them, such as Black Drum

· Used alive

There are 2 ways to hook live shrimp; 

1) shallow under the horn on its head (see pic), If used under a float (cork) 

2) through the tail from the bottom out the topside (the part you don’t eat at a restaurant)

Note: The goal is to allow them to behave naturally

A good way to hook a Mud Minnow is through one of its lips (top or bottom)

Hook a “finger” Mullet through the lip “nose” area when you want the bait to swim towards the pole or boat (such as when fishing in a current or trolling)

Hook a “finger” Mullet through the tail” area when you want the bait to swim away the pole or boat

Hooking a Sand Flea is done from the under side and up through its shell. 

When you turn a sand flea onto its back, you will see a V shape (often called the hatch), you can flip the hatch down and poke your hook through its shell under the “hatch”

· Squid will be used similar to clam when it is cut in to chunks

· you can cut the squid in to boat shaped strips and use it with a bucktail jighead (Skirted jighead) for flounder and other fish.

· For the larger crabs you will want to remove the legs and split them in halves or quarters, place the hook through a leg opening and bring it out through the bottom of the shell

· to use as knuckles, remove the legs, cut the crab in half, then separate the halves between each leg joint. Place your hook through the leg joint from outside to in.

 Blue crabs used live and whole, Hook them as shown in the  picture 

Claims are a muscle so you can hook the clam meat anywhere that will stay on your hook

If you are casting hard you may need to tie the clam on using magic thread.

Salted clams are tougher , therefore harder to throw off the hook 

Fiddler Crabs are easy to hook, simply go through it’s side as shown in the picture