Making Bait...
 

Does anyone else find it hard to catch bait after greylight hours? I work Saturday mornings and have been trying to utilize the later sunsets courtesy of George Bush. Any time I can get on the water I do but I get frustrated when I am trying to get mid day bait. The pier always seems to be deserted during daylight which inevitably leaves me searching for bait around the kelp or trying to find a rouge school of bait passing by. I'd kinda like to hear some opinions on this matter. Thanks in advance...

Are you having trouble finding bait or getting the bait to bite the sabiki?

You can almost always get spanish in the kelp area. Once the sun rises you usually meter bait, or just listen and look for it. I also haven't been out for over a week :(, so I don't know what the current situation is. A lot of the bait that is puddling on the surface is dines, chovies, and smelt which are much more reluctant to hit the sabiki.

More along the lines of finding it. I know that I can usually get the top smelt to bite and I know that spanish are usually along the kelp edges. I was speaking more along the lines of greenies during daytime. Last summer I used primarily spanish and I my goal this year is to see if greenies will aid in uping my catch totals. I also know that some days bait is everywhere and sometimes it's scarce. I was kinda curious about other's experience with the pier post greylight..

I've been having success in the kelp, I haven't gone to the pier in a couple of weeks. If the current is not too strong a can of catfood dumped in the water helps as chum, if there is a lot of current the catfood is a waste. Also you can see bait balls on the FF in open water and drop a sabiki with a torpedo weight right into it, almost always works, even if they are 30' or 40' down or deeper. And I always carry a package of 5" gulp squid just in case, I might have to break out one of those every 8-10 trips. I've caught a couple calicos and a lingcod on a single gulp squid then put it back in the resealable package and used it again several weeks later for more success.

I usually drag a sabiki everywhere I go and cast to any bait I see on the surface. Even though bait (mostly smelt) was all over the surface yesterday, the maks were hard to get going. Bait is nice to have, but don't spend the entire day looking for it.

I've been meaning to try out catfood.. As far as the basic bait catching tactics go, I'm set. Just wasn't sure if the PM crews found it more difficult on days when the AM crews found it easy.

I know what you mean about spending all day about finding bait. I spend way too much time worrying about bait. I sometimes find myself with a adequate amount of bait but keep pluggin at it in order to LOAD up rather than head out and fish...

I hate having to choose between looking for bait, or running for the fishing grounds.

The rapalas have caught some fish this year for others as well as me. I am 2/3 of the way to the slam on my lucky CD-14:D . Now I just need to troll in some shallow water with it.

Bait is usually a little more tricky in the PM. It gets better the closer to sunset you are. In the PM I like to troll a plug and sabiki out deeper, hoping I run into greenies, before swinging over to the kelp.

What kind of sabikis have folks had the best success with? I've been using better ones lately, Owners and Mustad, #10 or #12. I had used the Big 5 bait rigs with yellow and red yarn ($.89), it seemed those caught primarily greenbacks but I haven't seen them with smaller hooks the past year. With the bigger hooks it's hard to get the bait off without damaging them sometimes. Someone mentioned pinching the barbs with pliers, that works great when the bait is plentiful, makes it easy to shake off the macks directly into your tank.

Hey Dave,

Just my 2 cents, I've been using the "Black Belt" brand sabikis. 30 lb. main. 20 lb. branch line. Strong enough to pull free of kelp, even on the troll. And brings my bait up fast with little fight. Pretty big #7 hooks, I seldom have a prob. getting a fish off. Usually I drop them in my "bathtub" (Prowler footwells) before I ever try and get them off hook. Oh... and the heavier line doesn't like to tangle.

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y16...g/temp1018.jpg


Todd

I buy cheapo ones in bulk on ebay for $1 each. 30lb #5-#8. Work fine until the barbs rust off, then I lose a lot of baits. But at that price, just replace.

I agree with not wasting too much time making bait. When bait is plentiful, Ive found that I usually get picked up on artificials more anyways, and the bait goes untouched. Some of my best days have been days I leave the pier with just two or three macs... all you need is one good hit. Those rapallas have been good to me this year so far as well....monday bait was everywhere, but I didnt get picked up until switching to a slow trolled broken tail r...l...

as to bait at the pier, after day break I find the bait moves out a little bit and to the north... not so concentrated at the light.

I had difficult making bait yesterday evening...I know what you mean. I finally stumpled on a mac school around 7:45 in around 65 ft, but I'm not sure how you could catch bait consistently.