catching bait

[Catcher'sMitt]

I was on another forum and someone asked about catching bait around his dock with a minnow trap. it started a little bit of good discussion on that dead site. Lets start the discussion on this great site.

So what are your tips and tricks for catching bait?

two things that help me are:

1. bright lights on the dock.
2. range cubes.

[eracjac61]

learning to throw a cast net would be a good investment in time. pogey balls (fish meal and flour balls) off the dock and then cast net over them....sure thing

[Jrchip1]

Lights work great sometimes. Nothing is guaranteed. SOmetimes just easing along a canal looking for Fingerling Mullet swimming around in pods and cast netting works, even though they figure that game out real quick. SOmetimes it's pogies that you may catch, which make good bait -ALIVE- but are a beach to keep alive.

[Catcher'sMitt]

Originally Posted by eracjac61

learning to throw a cast net would be a good investment in time. pogey balls (fish meal and flour balls) off the dock and then cast net over them....sure thing

thanks i will have to try the pogey balls!

[fishingonewild]

im having a hard time trying to remember wha a pogie looks like cux i prolly never catch those or i might have and never knew wha they were. so if anyone wud have a pic it wud help me kno wha they look like....

[silvercarp]

http://www.floridafishandhunt.com/ar...e/gulfmenh.jpg

[fishingonewild]

wha i meant istha i've been catching them by cast net ofc! there no way i cud fish for them by pole lol!!!

[fishfighter]

Originally Posted by silvercarp

http://www.floridafishandhunt.com/ar...e/gulfmenh.jpg

is a pogy the same thing that i have been calling a shad my whole live???

[Bluechip]

Originally Posted by fishfighter

is a pogy the same thing that i have been calling a shad my whole live???

Yep....I call them shad also..

[Catcher'sMitt]

Originally Posted by Bluechip

Yep....I call them shad also..

shad are freshwater. theadfin and gizzard. Menhaden are saltwater, pogy, pogey, pogies, maybe even porgy.

[fishfighter]

Thanks, and yes they are hard to keep alive, i think most of them die as soon as they touch the cast net

[eman]

Kinda long but this works! Written by Henry P.

Now you’ve got a net full of Pogies. What do you do now? The problem comes in keeping them alive. If just thrown in a livewell they will probably die within an hour. If cared for properly they can make it thru an entire weekend. YES Pogies can live for a weekend in captivity! The first thing you want to do is to put them in a 5 gallon bucket filled with water. Make sure to use a round bucket instead of a square mop bucket. Pogies will always swim in circles. If your live-well isn’t round it might be better to keep them in a bucket with a bubble box attached. If there are ANY corners to the bucket or live-well then the Pogies will continue to swim into the corners and eventually die.



After the Pogies have swam in the bucket for 5-10 mins you should notice the water looks like it has glitter in it and its extremely dirty. Once caught Pogies relieve themselves in the water out of both ends. Not only that but they shed their scales when scared or handled. That’s the glitter you will notice in the water. These scales that have been shed will clog up their gills and they will die. 10 minutes in the bucket and its time to change the water. I keep a second bucket handy and use a small net to dip them out of one bucket into another. The less you handle them the longer they will live. Give them another 10 minutes and check the water again. If its dirty or glittery repeat the same process. Usually it takes at least 3 times to get the water to stay clean depending on how many you have in the bucket. For the first hour check the water conditions every 10 minutes. After the first hour then check them every ½ hour. After the second hour they should be just fine for quite a while. Make sure to keep plenty of air going thru the water. They use up oxygen rather quickly especially if you have quite a few of them crammed into a bucket.

If you plan on keeping Pogies overnight in a bucket then make sure to store the bucket in a cool location overnight. Make sure to check on them right before you goto bed. If there are any dead ones remove them immediately because they will contaminate the water. Check on them again first thing in the morning also. Its also a good idea to change the water first thing in the morning too.


One of the biggest mistakes I see with Pogies is how people hook them. They are a rather delicate fish. I often see people hooking them like croakers thru the back or the tail. That will usually kill the bait within minutes. The best way to hook a Pogie is thru the “nose.” Take the hook and go into the fishs mouth and come up thru a piece of cartilage and out the top behind his “nose.”
One thing i can add to this is, if you have a live well that pumps in fresh water .Crank it up so that it flows good .this will help keep pogies alive longer.

[Beach Bum]

I made a bait keeper using a 30 qt. Igloo that fits nicely in the rear of my boat. I bought a cheap bilge pump that pulls fresh water from the outside through the transom and sprays it inside with a drain 2 inches below the spray head so it doesn't overflow. I cut a small hole through the lid and put in a Bait Saver aerator (doesn't heat the water) and just leave it running all day. I change the water easily by flicking on a switch a few times after first putting the bait in, then once an hour afterwards and I never have bait die on me. You can keep shrimp, pogies, shiners, mullet, etc. live and frisky all day on even the hottest days.

[Beach Bum]

Originally Posted by Beach Bum

I made a bait keeper using a 30 qt. Igloo that fits nicely in the rear of my boat. I bought a cheap bilge pump that pulls fresh water from the outside through the transom and sprays it inside with a drain 2 inches below the spray head so it doesn't overflow. I cut a small hole through the lid and put in a Bait Saver aerator (doesn't heat the water) and just leave it running all day. I change the water easily by flicking on a switch a few times after first putting the bait in, then once an hour afterwards and I never have bait die on me. You can keep shrimp, pogies, shiners, mullet, etc. live and frisky all day on even the hottest days.

By the way, square or rectangular aerators (like this one) work just fine if the water is kept fresh and aerated. I've even kept extra fish live in it.

[Duck Butter]

Sometimes you can have too much bait and like the article said, the bait typically relieves themselve so all that will kill them quick. For shiners in freshwater I always change the water to the body of water I am fishing and place a frozen water bottle or at the very least a ziploc full of ice to cool the water down they will live much longer. If you put ice directly in there, the chlorine in the ice will sometimes kill them. Change the water out frequently and don't puy too many in one container

[Beach Bum]

Originally Posted by Duck Butter

Sometimes you can have too much bait and like the article said, the bait typically relieves themselve so all that will kill them quick. For shiners in freshwater I always change the water to the body of water I am fishing and place a frozen water bottle or at the very least a ziploc full of ice to cool the water down they will live much longer. If you put ice directly in there, the chlorine in the ice will sometimes kill them. Change the water out frequently and don't puy too many in one container

There are also additives you can buy that remove chlorine and ammonia and add oxygen to the water, but I've never needed or tried them. If you can't change your water easily, these might help.

[Catcher'sMitt]

The main thing with keeping bait alive in your baitwell is not to over fill it with bait. That seems to be my Achilles heel, especially with pogeys. The seat livewell in my old skeeter is a fresh water pump on a timer. It does really well if I don't over load it and get the dead ones out. My back livewell really keeps them alive well because it floods the space with freshwater. but it is not on a timer and if you forget to turn it on often enough they die. but if you leave it on and let it overflow and go out the scuppers you can keep several hundred alive. I have been thinking about drilling another overflow drain to keep it from flowing out the lid..........or maybe a timer. lol

I am going to try the water changing trick, that Eman put up, this weekend to see if i can get away with having a few more in the seat livewell.

I have always hooked pogeys through the eyes and they hold up a little while if the current isn't too strong. I will test the through the nose and see if they last longer.

Croakers, that are self caught, need a water change or two. Seems like when you put them in they do the elimination thing also and will die quickly if you don't freshen their water. I think the ones you buy at a baitshop have already went through the shock thing and don't require the water change if you have a freshwater pump. At least I haven't had a problem with "store bought" croakers, croaking on me.

[sparkyc4]

The dead one's make good chum.

[coastalobsession]

Go buy your self a cast net and 1lb of dead shrimp.

1. Wet the cast net. (Alot easier to throw wet)
2. Get about 5 shrimp and tear them into small peices.
3. Throw the shrimp in a area that holds bait.
4. Wait about 3 seconds and cast the net into the area that you threw the shrimp.
5. Empty your mullet/piggy perch/croaker in your bucket.
6. Repeat

[marshrunner757]

Originally Posted by coastalobsession

Go buy your self a cast net and 1lb of dead shrimp.

1. Wet the cast net. (Alot easier to throw wet)
2. Get about 5 shrimp and tear them into small peices.
3. Throw the shrimp in a area that holds bait.
4. Wait about 3 seconds and cast the net into the area that you threw the shrimp.
5. Empty your mullet/piggy perch/croaker in your bucket.
6. Repeat

Now this is a great idea!!! Why haven't I thought of this??? Thanks!