Saltwater bait?

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Deftik
Deftik's picture
Saltwater bait?
<p>I plan to roughfish the salt soon in jersey whats the best all around bait (the nightcrawler of the sea). I have very limited salt experience. Thanks!</p>
the pyromaniac
the pyromaniac's picture
Bloodworms, shrimp, and cut
Bloodworms, shrimp, and cut squid have all worked well for me in the past. Granted, my salt experience is limited to piers and the back porch of a house in North & South Carolina, but what works in the Carolinas should work on the Jersey shore.

 

 

 

Let there be fire!

Reekfish
Reekfish's picture
Josh and I have used a lot of

Josh and I have used a lot of shrimp and squid for smaller fish. Squid stays on the hook much better so that's a plus, but my impression is that shrimp may be slightly more well-liked. For larger fish we use large squid pieces, mullet, or best of all, fresh cut bait (make sure that's legal in that Jersey... not sure if it's legit everywhere).

 

For night fishing off piers, try using glow-in-the-dark jigheads with your squid or shrimp.

 

Good luck to you, sir! Hope you get a bunch of lifers! smiley

Ken
Shrimp gets much more bites

Shrimp gets much more bites for me...but doesn't necessarily stay on the hook well if you have lots of small bait thief.

 

A trick I learn from my Hawaiian friends is to salt the shrimp. This will firm up the flesh. To retain the scent, keep the liquid and save it, and soak the salted shrimp in the liquid before you use it.

 

The same can be done with squid to make them really tough and difficult to remove from the hook.

 

Bloodworm also get bit consistently in the northeast. It's like the nightcrawler of the sea there. I haven't try it head to head with shrimp...but I have yet to fish anywhere saltwater where shrimp did not get bit.

Reekfish
Reekfish's picture
@Ken,

@Ken,

 

Can you share a little more detail about salting shrimp? I'd like to try anything to keep the shrimp on the hook better. You're right- it does tend to get snatched easily by some fish.

  • How do you go about salting them, and how much salt do you use?
  • Do you notice whether this technique deters fish at all, or does it get accepted as well as unsalted shrimp?

Thanks for the tip! smiley

 

-Joy

SNOOK99
Don't forget to bring some

Don't forget to bring some lures with you.  Sometimes lures outfish live baits.  I always have success with spoons, Rapala x-raps (ghost color), Got-Cha in silver color and Zara Puppy in red and white, Rapala Skitter Walk in green and silver color.

Dr Flathead
Dr Flathead's picture
Believe it or not, crawlers

Believe it or not, crawlers work great in the ocean.  So do salad shrimp, you know the pre cooked ones.  Cheap too.

Ken
Hey Joy,

Hey Joy,

 

Take your shrimp and deshell all of them. Remember to always use natural sea salt. I'm not sure why regular table salt sometimes give a different result (ie...more or less salt required, the amount of water extracted...etc). Then you can do it one of two ways...

 

1) Lay out a few sheets of kitchen paper towels in a cookie sheet (or any flat container). Pour salt on the paper towels until a 1/4" layer is laid out. Then place your shrimp one by one on the layer of salt. Sprinkly more salt on the shrimp sparingly. After that, you can either leave them on the counter or in the fridge. The salt will start to pull moisture out of the shrimp. As the moisture comes out, the paper towel will soak up the liquid. You can use this method if you want the shrimp to dehydrate a bit more and get a firmer product...but doing it this way does not allow you to recover the drawn out liquid and save it for later. You can then freeze the shrimp for later use.

 

2) In a ziplock bag, put your shrimp in and sprinkle salt sparingly as you mix the shrimp. This is just to make sure all the shrimp has a small coating of salt. Then you can again give it time for the salt to draw out the moisture. Once you get a desired firmness, then you can either freeze the entire bag with shrimp inside the liquid, or you can strain out the shrimp over a bowl to save the liquid (where a lot of the scent is retained). If you strain them out, you can freeze the shrimp and the liquid separately. If you don't dry the shrimp too much, it is probably best to freeze the shrimp in the salt brine.

 

You can do the same with squid or other baitfish. Salting often turns the skin of baitfish firmer. In fact, my Hawaiian friends often save the skin of skipjack tuna and mahimahi, salt the skin, and use them as a scent trailer.

 

Hope this helps!

 

Ken

 

Oh, I forgot to say...I don't notice a difference between salted vs. unsalted shrimp. They get bit equally well. Just make sure you use fresh shrimp when you salt them. I find cocktail shrimp get bit much less...probably because there is less scent in them after the cooking process...although cocktail shrimp do stay on the hook better.

 

Another trick...I sometimes save the legs of the shrimp. If you have the eyesight and the patience to thread the legs singly on a small hook (#16 or smaller), these legs can be great for micro reef species. wink

Gunnar
Gunnar's picture
Mmmmm...jerky!

Mmmmm...jerky!

 

Redhorse ID cheatsheets, gars, suckers: moxostoma.com


2020: 10 days fishing 11 species 0 lifers. 2019: 34/45/13 2018: 39/40/5

Gunnar
Gunnar's picture
Mmmmm...jerky!

Mmmmm...jerky!

 

Redhorse ID cheatsheets, gars, suckers: moxostoma.com


2020: 10 days fishing 11 species 0 lifers. 2019: 34/45/13 2018: 39/40/5

pat_the_nat
pat_the_nat's picture
Jersey surf is all about the

Jersey surf is all about the bunker (menhaden) right now.  Buy FRESH never frozen, look for clear eyes and clean smell.  Bring some weighted snagging hooks or rig a big treble under an egg sinker.  Many times big schools of bunker come close enough to snag.  You can either snag one and chunk it on a different setup or 'snag-n-drop'.  Snag one, open bail or put reel in freespool, let the snagged bunker swim free until it's eaten.   Clams, squid, shrimp etc will get you skates, robins, and dogfish.

For lures- go big.  big pencil poppers, big swimmers, 7"-9"rubber shads.  

You're a brave man for venturing to the jersey shore after this weekend.  The snookies and situations are settling in for the summer.

PM me if you need quiet salty spots.  Or, fish after dark.  Its waaayyyy more productive in the summer.

shorefisherman
shorefisherman's picture
pretty tough to not get bites

pretty tough to not get bites on a fast retrieved gold or silver spoon with a wire leader

DavidG
DavidG's picture
calamari(squid)  is pretty

calamari(squid)  is pretty much the nightcrawler of the sea... everything will eat it.  It is also really easy to come by at most any bait store.   Dont get the preserved chunks soaked in formaldehyde though

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DavidG Blog:  http://www.boundless-pursuit.com

Deftik
Deftik's picture
Thanks everyone its really

I'll be def following everyone's advice!

TheHugbot
TheHugbot's picture
I've had huge needlefish on

I've had huge needlefish on nightcrawlers but I don't know if they would work for other species. other than that lures have worked well for me.