Choosing Frozen Bait in West Palm Beach

Choosing which frozen bait to use depends on what kind of fishing you are planning on doing in West Palm Beach. For general trolling, use a Medium size ballyhoo. When inspecting your ballyhoo frozen bait, make sure you are choosing ones that have no broken bills, green slime or cloudy eyes. When choosing a bait for bottom fishing, you want to take into account what fish may be present as smaller fish will peck away at the frozen bait and can sometimes pull it from the hook. Everything eats squid and is tough on the hook as well. Open the squid box and look to see that they are all intact and there is no discoloring in the frozen ice as this may be due to re-freezing which can cause the frozen squid to not hold up on the hook. We like to use medium to small size bait squid when bottom fishing in West Palm Beach.

Catch Your Own Bait Near Palm Beach Inlet

There are many baits you can catch on your own near Palm Beach inlet, including, pilchards, pinfish, mullet, crabs, google eyes, blue runners, ballyhoo and Bonita. Use a sabiki rig in shallower water around buoys and bottom structure near Palm Beach Inlet. If you have a dock or access to the intracoastal near Palm Beach Inlet and want to catch your own bait, place a pinfish trap with some fish heads, chicken pieces or a can of cat food with some holes poked in it. If you are proficient with a cast net and want to catch your own bait, put a chum bag out behind the boat in about 40' of water and wait for the small bait fish to come to you.

Finding bait in West Palm to cast net

If you want to cast net for your bait in West Palm Beach, first you will want at least an 8' cast net with a mesh size of about 1/4"-1/2". For pilchards and mullet, you want to look in the intracoastal water about 10' or less that also provides some cover like docks and trees. Another overlooked area to use your cast net to catch bait is right off the beach in West Palm. Get in as tight as you can to shore without risking being caught by a wave that could push you into shore and throw your cast net as the bait schools run along the beach. Whether you are looking for live bait near structure or the beach, the key is to be ahead of where you believe the school will be running and make as few tosses as possible to not spook the bait school.

Using a Sabiki in West Palm Beach for Bait

Using a sabiki to catch bait in West Palm Beach is the most popular, easiest and definitely much cleaner. The number one golden rule when using a Sabiki in West Palm Beach for bait fish is to use a fluorocarbon sabiki rig. Our experts have tested mono vs fluoro sabikis on all types of bait fish and we can tell you that the fluoro rigs far outperform the mono ones. Attach the rig to a medium to medium heavy rod and lower the rig to the desired depth. Once there, use a small up and down motion with the rod to bring the small flies on the Sabiki rig to life. You will feel the bait when they bite. We always give it a few seconds before retrieving the sabiki once a bait fish is on to allow a few more to bite for a multiple hookup.