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Venice Inlet and the Gulf of Mexico
Capt. Dave Pinkham
August 13, 2002
Venice - Saltwater Fishing Report
Live Bait Can Get Fish Feeding!
If you haven't had the chance to get out and do some fishing over the last couple weeks, well then you're missing the boat! This past weekend we managed a half-day fishing trip on the Gulf with great success. The-fact-of-the-matter of what made the difference between an average run-of-the-mill day of fishing, and a great day of fishing was live bait. That's right! Live shiners which are also know to some folks as white bait or pilchards can and did make the difference for us over the weekend.
We started the day out by loading up the live bait well with some of these frisky shiners. We cast netted them up along the edge of the Intercoastal Waterway. I normally throw a ten-foot bait net, although for most people an eight-foot net is much easier to toss. Right now the bay is loaded up with schools of bait so you shouldn't have too much of a problem locating some. Keep an eye peeled for terns and pelicans diving on them, as well as actually seeing the bait flipping at the surface. Make sure you get the little critters in the bait well as quickly as possible. The healthier the bait, the better action it should provide on the hook, thereby exciting fish into feeding that otherwise could care less about eating.
Once we actually got out on the Gulf we trolled for awhile picking up several large Spanish mackerel, as well as losing one fish that made quite a hard run before dislodging the # 5 king spoon from it's mouth. With the morning slipping away and the trolling action slowing down we figured it was time to play our best hand. We anchored the boat over a reef with some good structure in 50' of water, and got ready to try some live bait fishing.
The way I figure it is that a boat at anchor with a bait-well full of live shiners is already chumming the water before a single bait is cast over the side. The reason for this is the fish wash. A good live bait well constantly brings in a fresh supply of sea water. As the bait swims around in the tank their slime or outer protective coating is continually being washed off into the water. As the overflow from the bait well returns overboard, along with it goes the remnants of this fish slime or wash, thus creating a natural chum-line. I've actually churned up the water in the bait-well with a hand net and moments later seen thousands of tiny pilchard scales shining in the water behind the boat as the fish wash is carried away.
From my understanding of fish behavior, most fish feed using a variety of senses. One of these senses is their keen ability to sniff out dinner. With a constant fish wash coming from the bait well it usually doesn't take long to attract some attention. I've seen days when we no sooner get the boat at anchor and we've got hungry fish sniffing around just underneath the boat. It's no wonder that the first bait in the water often will get swallowed no sooner than it hits the water. Anyway to make a long story short with plenty of shiners in the bait well, the fish went on a feed and we hooked up with quite a variety including kingfish, Spanish mackerel, little tunny, and barracuda.
If you're too busy to go fishing you're just too busy! Get out and go fishin cuz' it's good fer ya!
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