Obviously, a ready supply of effective bait is essential to all live bait fishermen. In some cases, bait can be had from local bait shops and your quest ends there. For most of us however, making bait becomes much more of an art and those who can perfect it, can reap the benefits.

  The first thing to establish, is which variety of bait will best suit your needs and conditions. When considering this, factor in which baits your quarry prefer with what’s in ready supply, along with their particular hardiness in the bait well. For instance, in Louisiana, finger mullet and juvenile pogies are in ready supply around the marinas. When transplanted to the salty blue water however, the baits turn red with stress and have very little action. This forces anglers on a daily quest to find small blue runners to use. They make hardy live well occupants and lively baits once deployed. Note also that besides first hand information and advice from respected fishermen, the best way to gain information on feeding habits is to hang around the cleaning station and keep your ears open and inspect the belly contents of the daily catch.

  So once you have determined which varieties of bait will be useful, your next obstacle will be to figure out how to capture them. Of course if you are lucky, you may simply be able to purchase your supply at will. The rest of us, are stuck “making bait”.

  Structure always represents the quintessential locale when  searching for baitfish. Buoys, weed lines, hard bottom, inlets, piers, and jetties are all obvious local bait hangouts. Realize that all baitfish centralize around structure that they can use for forage and shelter. Most areas that support lower rings in the food chain will at one time or another also support schools of baitfish. Offshore… weed lines, floatsam and current rips are all prime locations to try and acquire bait.

  Now that you’ve determined a few strategic places to hunt for some bait, its time to figure out how to capture some of them. Basically, you’re looking at two primary methods. The cast net is often the easiest way to fill your live well, especially when the bait is packed into tight schools by water conditions or feeding predators. Important factors to keep in mind when attempting this method are firstly the boat. Usually cast netting is at least a two person job. One man as skipper and one as the thrower. Consider during your approach both wind direction and current as well as the particular bait’s reaction to the sound of your motors and the presence of your boat. Realize that feeding baitfish will be much more skittish and hard to approach than a bait ball of pogies being corralled by hungry tunas and dolphin.

  The wind is important for obvious reasons since anyone who has thrown a cast net knows how much easier and effective it is to be throwing with the wind at your back or at least from the side. Current and wind are also important since you want to avoid running over the net after the throw and many times the bait is close to some type of structure, requiring that you maneuver the boat in for the throw…and then out again just after to avoid spooking the bait too much or colliding with the structure. This being said, as skipper, its always best to take it slow and watch the maneuvers of other boats when possible to formulate your own strategy and contingency plan to maximize the effectiveness and efficiency of each pass. 

  The other primary method used to make bait is the sabiki rig. A generic term used to classify packaged bait rigs. They come in many sizes, colors and styles and may be hand tied or store bought. The first thing to consider, is the size of bait you are planning to catch. Obviously, like all other types of fishing, here you must try to match the size of your tackle with your quarry. Big bucktail-looking sabikis work great for large blue runners, small jacks, pinfish, bonita, mackerel and others while they don’t work so well on greenies, threads, and baby hard tails. You should try to carry a few different colors and styles since you never know what they will want or what you may run into. Also, you have to expect to retire a couple rigs during each bait making session due to misfortune etc..

  The general rule of thumb when using sabikis is to use the least amount of weight possible that will still sink your rig to where the bait is. Sometimes, a little extra weight is necessary to get enough action to draw strikes. Light rods make the best choice. Six foot, fast-medium action rods in the 8-17 # class are the preferred rods here at Frenzy for catching all but the largest of baits.

  The action you use may be the most important factor to success. Especially when after smaller baits, use a rapid vertical twitching action with your wrist to snap the end of the rod up and down as fast as possible…while just moving the crank of the reel enough to keep tension. This is where the stiff, light rods shine. If too much of your twitching action is lost in a flexible rod tip, your efforts will be less effective. What you are trying to achieve is make the small hooks at the business end of your rig, resemble tiny shrimp or other small prey swimming erratically like they do naturally. If you can achieve this…success will be yours.

  Other good tricks to try if you are struggling, are baiting the small hooks with tiny slivers of squid. The tentacles often work well to sweeten your offering and improve your chances. This works especially well when targeting bottom dwelling bait fish for a bottom fishing trip (like pinfish, squirrelfish and small grunts). Chum may also be used to localize baitfish enough to throw a net over them or to fool them into feeding on your sabiki rigs. 

  More to consider is the handling and after care you must do to ensure that your prized livies stay friskey all day so they are as effective as possible and your efforts were not wasted in vain. A de-hooker is a great tool since it keeps someone from having to handle the baitfish which removes their slimy coating and stresses them out. If you do have to handle the baits, be gentle and try to touch them as little as possible. Also try to avoid dribbling them on the deck of the boat as that never increases their lifespan.