Tampa Bay, Fl arguably has some of the best fishing saltwater fishing that exists in the state, which is why Tampa Bay fishing Charters are so prevalent and popular. If you can’t afford to hire a private guide and you’re looking to do some fishing, you’ll need some fishing knowledge and tactics to fish effectively. In this article I talk about effectively using a variety of live and artificial baits.
Typically the best bait to use is live bait. The obvious reasons for this are live bait’s natural presentation, movement, smell, and overall familiarity and attractiveness to predatory fish. There are certain circumstances and situations when artificial bait is a better selection, but we’ll discuss those later in this article. The best part about live bait is that you really don’t have to “work” it at all once you’ve cast it into the water. You let the “live” bait do all of the work for you. The biggest key to using live bait effectively is securing it on your hook in a manner that preserves the bait’s live and natural movement as long as possible.
Live shrimp is one of the best universal baits that you can use when fishing in the Tampa Bay area and very commonly used on inshore Tampa Bay fishing charters. Regardless of whether you’re fishing around structure or the grass flats, shrimp will catch you a wide variety of species including snook, trout, red fish, and snapper. “Live” shrimp obviously work better when they’re alive and on your hook! They aren’t the most hardy bait so below are a few ways to keep them alive and on your hook.
The “horn rig” is good to use when casting over short distances (20-25 ft) because the horn isn’t the sturdiest place to mount your hook, but allows for a lot of natural movement. The most important thing to remember when rigging your shrimp in this manner is to avoid putting the hook in its stomach (dark spot that’s located behind the shrimp’s eyes). You simply insert the hook under the horn located on the shrimps head and gently cast your bait out and let it do the work for you. Another variation of this rig is hooking the shrimp right under the chin. This particular way of hooking a shrimp won’t preserve its life as long as the “horn” method, but is a good way to hook your shrimp if you want to slowly retrieve it after you have cast it.
The last rig I’m going to discuss for shrimp is the “long distance cast rig”. The best place to hook your live shrimp when you’re doing a lot of casting and over long distance is its tail. The two best ways to do this is either anywhere through the side of the tail, or to remove the tail fin and hook it through the underside of its tail. You can even feed the hook through the shrimp’s tail to conceal the eye of the hook; however this will more than likely kill your bait, which usually isn’t the objective. For the most part when using shrimp, I tend to avoid casting the bait more than 3-4 times and casting it further than 25-30 ft. Casting any more times than this will usually end up killing your shrimp.
If the local bait shops or closed or out of shrimp and you’re any good with a cast net or have a sabiki rig handy, there’s a wide assortment of bait fish you can catch on your own. Some of these native live baits include green backs, shad, threadfin, and pin fish. These bait fish are usually plentiful in the summer months around structure such as bridges and under dock lights. When you’re on a budget, knowing how to catch your own live bait and definitely save you money. The biggest expense to most inshore anglers is bait so being able to catch your own and keep it alive is crucial.
Storage of your bait after you catch it is the first key to keeping it alive. You want to make sure your bait well is properly oxygenated as well and temperature controlled. You don’t want your water temp in the bait well to fluctuate more than 5 degrees in either direction. The best way to avoid this is to have circulating bait well. This constantly refreshes the water in the bait well keeping your bait’s vitals at their peak. Some bait wells and aerators can be expensive so if you can’t afford one of these you can always use a bait bucket and keep it hung off the side of your boat when you’re not moving so they get fresh water and oxygen.
Now that you’ve got your bait and you’re ready to fish you need to get your bait on your hook while creating the most natural presentation, also being sure not to kill it. The safest and most common way to hook your bait fish is either through the nostrils or top and bottom lip. You’ll also want to use this method of hooking your bait if you plan on trolling. If you’re going to be “still fishing” (fishing in the same spot while anchored), another effective way to hook your bait fish is through the meat of its back. This also allows for a lot of natural movement and long enough life to do some serious wiggling for you. As with any other live bait, you want to try and limit the number of times you’re casting it and the distances you’re trying to cast it. If your bait is missing all its scales looks like its almost dead, chances are it’s going to get passed up for something more lively.
Now that we’ve covered most of the live baits you’ll want to use when fishing on your own or when you’re on a Tampa Bay fishing charter, I’m going to discuss several reasons and conditions better suited for using artificial bait. Sometimes the fish simply don’t want live bait. It’s also a lot more convenient to use artificial bait because a lot of them are reusable for extended periods of time and you can cast them over and over again without damaging them. Sometimes you’ll come up on a school of fish in feeding frenzy mode that will eat just about anything you throw at them so why not have your favorite artificial on a spare pole ready to go if you come across this situation. There are also certain times and conditions when using artificial bait makes a lot more sense. Below I have listed some of these specific circumstances and why artificials are beneficial to use in them.
In dirty murky water, fish rely more on their sense of smell and vibration than their sense of sight. When conditions like this are in the forecast fish tend to have to be a lot less picky because as their sight is limited, so are their opportunities for a meal. For a lot of the same reasons artificial bait is effective in dirty water, it is also effective at night. Fish are less observant of predators and threats at night so an artificial lure will usually be more effective in the evening than it will during day light. If you’re after a big fish that you think you need to use an artificial lure to catch, night time is the best time to give it a try. Below I’m going to cover some of the most popular artificial lures used for catching native Tampa Bay species and how to go about using them.
As you can imagine there are a lot of different types of artificial bait and knowing how to effectively use them is crucial to your success. “Spoons” are great artificial lures and are relatively easy to use because they are usually made of shiny metal of some kind, they have decent weight to them and are really easy to cast where you want them. Their movement through the water and streaking shine they create as they’re retrieved are what appeals to predators. I find a slow steady retrieve is effective when using this lure, but I’ve also witnessed them being worked in a hard jerking motion when being used to catch Spanish mackerel off fishing piers such as at Ft. Desoto Park.
A variation of sorts to the spoon is the “spinner” lure. The spinner gets its name from the blade that is attached to the rod shaped body and spins around it as it’s retrieved. At the end of the body you’ll find a treble hook, which is normally disguised by a skirt made of course hair-like material of some sort. Spinners are a primary example of an artificial lure that works well in dirty murky water because of all the noise and movement it makes making it easy to locate in these conditions. When using this type of lure, I tend to use a slow retrieve and let the movement of the blade do the work much like when using a spoon.
Another common artificial lure used are jigs. Like spoons, they’re weighted and easy to cast where you want them. There’s a wide assortment of fittings (the plastic or rubber portion that makes up the body of the artificial lure) and jig heads (the weighted head portion of the lure that contains the hook), which give you relatively infinite combinations. When using this type of lure, you want to also use a slow retrieve while giving it a nice tug upwards towards the surface of the water to make the lure come off the bottom and slowly descend back down. This natural motion mimics the movement of common bait that fish feed on in Florida.
Plugs are the final artificial bait I’m going to discuss. They generally are plastic and come in all different shapes, sizes and colors. Some plugs come in one solid piece and others are hinged somewhere connecting two moving pieces. Some have different types of rattles or noise makers used to make sounds that get a fish’s attention. The basic concept of the plug is to mimic the look of a fish or some other form of bait that the species you’re after are feeding on. There are plugs that float on top of the water as well as float a few feet below the water’s surface. This is a type of artificial lure that you want to retrieve in a jerking motion, which mimics the swimming pattern of an injured fish or one that’s trying to escape a predator. A lot of plugs have a scoop or lip of some sort, which causes the lure to dive as you jerk it during your retrieve. If you follow these tips when using live bait and artificial lures while you’re on your next Tampa Bay fishing charter or doing some fishing on your own, you should have pretty good success. You can find more tips like these on FishNCheap.com, the best fishing social network on the internet.