All year long we fish with live bait, but from the Fall through Spring we do a lot of live bait fishing.  Part of many of our charter fishing trips is spent fishing for all kinds of 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 onthe species that we choose to target and time of year.  Herring, Pilchards, Goggle eye, and Blue Runners are best in the kite for Sails & Dolphin. Pilchards, pinfish, Pigfish, and mullet make great bottom fishing baits .  Fishing live bait on the surface in the riggers we use cigar minnow's, herring, pilchards, sardines, and many more. The best bait on the down rigger is a "Flipper or Bullet" both are a type of small bonita or tuna. Blue Runners are a close second.

Most of the bait we catch are caught by hook and line. We use 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. Freshly caught lively bait is always best.

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.          

Goggle Eye