During the Fall through Spring we do a lot of live bait fishing.  Part of many of our charter fishing trips is spent fishing for bait. If we can buy bait we will always will, but it is not always available.  Bait that we buy is not always as good as the bait we catch.  Freshly caught bait is very lively and will produce more strikes, especially from Sailfish.

We use a wide variety of bait depending on target species and time of year.  Herring, Pilchards, and Blue Runners are best in the kite for Sails & Dolphin.  While pinfish, Pigfish, and mullet are great bottom fishing baits.  Fishing live bait in the riggers we use cigar minnow's, herring, pilchards, sardines, and many more.

Most of the bait we catch are caught by hook and line using sabiki rigs (multiple hooks in line with little feathers) or a small hook with a little bait.  We use chum to attract many of the local bait fish of Miami, although it is not effective for all. 

We search shallow reefs, buoys, markers, structure, shallow, ledges, and inlets to find our bait.  We fish every day, so when the bait is around we usually know where to find it. A half an hour of bait fishing is fun and can make for a great day of fishing.  I have spent two hours of a four hour trip to catch just the right bait and in the two hours left in the trip caught three Sailfish.  The time spent bait fishing is always well worth the time.          

Thread Herring "Greene"