Lures vs live/dead bait

Started by fin, April 26, 2006, 12:29:22 CET

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fin

We all know that every year lures are simulating more and more movements of real fish including color, shape and even avg size. But the real question is this, if i would put both in the water at the same time with fish around specific for the type of bait which will the fish bite. Lure or bait?

I have always been a very avid follower of the development of lures especially rapalas and these days i am following closely williamson lures, but will they ever become better than the bait.

Sure when you compare costs, lures are the ones to choose, however when you compare catches, which fish are btiting more on the real thing and which are not?

When it comes to our big game offshore fishing, you troll any lure and the bites are plenty but when you chum tuna go crazy, however when we troll a dead bait behind i cannot say that bites are that plenty. However cast a dead bait post chumming and you are close to sure that you will have a strike!

Any thoughts anyone i am curious to see any feed back on this?

YOURS FIN

Lets put MALTA on the map with our fishing knowledge.

Fishmagician

Fin, Here in the cooler Pacific waters off southern California we mix the lures and live bait. San Diego is the home of the live bait fleet. Both the commercial head boats and the private boats use a lot of live bait that they purchase for a live bait dealer (a big business). The live bait is primarily sardines, or anchovies. We carry it in live bait tanks on the boat, many use transome bait tanks. When we want mackerel, we collect it ourselves especially for stripped marlin, yellow tail and tuna.

Once the fish are located by trolling lures, or being sighed on the surface, the tactics change to lightly chuming and switching to live bait on the hook. This can turn iinto fast and furious fishing on light tackle. We also locate tuna, and Pacific Yellow Tail, (a member of the jack family) holding under and around the drifting kelp paddies. These guys are very aggresive, and they'll take the lures in the water or the live bait.

My experience has shown that there's a place for both live and dead bait, cut bait (or chunk) and lures in every fishman's game plan. Knowing which live bait for the particular situation is also a big part of the daily game plan. Squid can sometimes outperform the sardines, especially when we're chasing the big yellow tail. Or white sea bass...dead or alive this bait, usually in the 7" size, is reall killer. Squid doesn't live long in the holding tanks, so it's hard to find, and we have to catch that ourselves..

The better anglers that I come in contact with are NOT too set in their ways, and they have a wide assortment of options, that makes them very versatile, and successful fisherman. Knowing when and how to employ both baits and lures is an education in itself, and we never stop learning out there. They don't put all their eggs in one basket.

What size bait do you find there in Malta's waters? Are they there all year long?
Best of Luck in this years fishing season.

Capt. Mike Fisher

fin

Mackerel and squids are in abundance around our waters and mainly utilised for swords and tuna in general.

Squids tend to be found pretty much round the year as for mackerel they tend to be seasonal. Most mackerel for tuna commercial fishing for example is imported from spain.

YOURS FIN
Lets put MALTA on the map with our fishing knowledge.

Fishmagician

Depending on the size of the squid I know the tuna will eat it. We find the albacore, yellowfin, and blue fin full of the smaller squid as they move into our waters from Mexico. The larger tuna, yellowfin, or blue fin will eat the mackerel, trolled or fished from we call a fly line. A fly line rig is just tying you hook into the running mono line off of the reel without wieght or while using a sliding sinker.

When we use squid for the tuna, we find, live smaller sizez do well on the flylined rigs. When using the larger squid for trolling tuna, or bill fish they're rigged individually to hold up to trolling. Sword fish rigging is veried and doesn't have to be complicated, just neat and a hook hook is important, it has to be strong.

We find the smaller macs great for inshore fishing, yellow tail, amberjacks and even halibut, we like those around 4-7 inches. We also cast them at stripped marlin when they are sunning or feeding on top. We catch the macs using a small sabiki rig,and canned cat food in oil is a great chum, or an old tuna fillet from the freezer. We keep the chum very fine, and it will draw the macs to the boat. When you bring your prized bait over the side, try not to handle them, just drop them into a live bait holder with good circulation. You've now got a million dollor bait.

Capt. Mike Fisher

fin

It seems that live bait is definitely a must, however how much worse is a dead bait when compared to live bait, as understandably one must have a bait well in the boat to allow to fish with live bait. This year skip and i are definitely going to use much more dead bait as opposed to lures, primarily mackerel and squids.

YOURS FIN
Lets put MALTA on the map with our fishing knowledge.

skip

Quote from: Fishmagician on May 06, 2006, 01:07:09 CET
Depending on the size of the squid I know the tuna will eat it. We find the albacore, yellowfin, and blue fin full of the smaller squid as they move into our waters from Mexico. The larger tuna, yellowfin, or blue fin will eat the mackerel, trolled or fished from we call a fly line. A fly line rig is just tying you hook into the running mono line off of the reel without wieght or while using a sliding sinker.

When we use squid for the tuna, we find, live smaller sizez do well on the flylined rigs. When using the larger squid for trolling tuna, or bill fish they're rigged individually to hold up to trolling. Sword fish rigging is veried and doesn't have to be complicated, just neat and a hook hook is important, it has to be strong.

We find the smaller macs great for inshore fishing, yellow tail, amberjacks and even halibut, we like those around 4-7 inches. We also cast them at stripped marlin when they are sunning or feeding on top. We catch the macs using a small sabiki rig,and canned cat food in oil is a great chum, or an old tuna fillet from the freezer. We keep the chum very fine, and it will draw the macs to the boat. When you bring your prized bait over the side, try not to handle them, just drop them into a live bait holder with good circulation. You've now got a million dollor bait.

Capt. Mike Fisher

Mike,

Thanks for the info. Seems we ought to set up some flyline rigs and get hold of a Sabiki rig for the bait. Interesting about the cat food we'll have to look into that! I have quite a bit of old tuna/albacore in the freezer so I guess the only thing I'm missing is a chum machine. I've seen some online but $250 is pretty steep. Not sure what home brew alternatives could be used?

Perhaps SimonG might be interested in creating some 12V portable live baitwell's with aerators as he runs a company that makes Aquariums.

Skip

fin

Ill post shortly some interesting articles from sportfishing magazine on how to rig mackerel with pics too,

FIN
Lets put MALTA on the map with our fishing knowledge.

Simon G

Hi Guys
sorry to pop in so late
in my opinion both are effective

live bait is best in shallow water , close to shore, or slow trolling /drifting
as the predetors use mainly sight, smell and vibration.

as for open water, deep water and fast trolling (anything over 3 knots) lures perform better.
maxxon 420 with 30hp tohatsu
profesional aquarist and under water photographer
semi profesional spearfisherman

Squiggy2

Hey Guys,

I hope this post doesn't get yanked, as I do not intend it do be a solicitation, but rather a donation to maybe two or three commercial fisherman or charter fisherman. I'm reading with interest your squid bait discussion. The company I'm involved with manufactures a unique squid jig. I'd like to GIVE you a jig or possibly more for FREE to see what you think, get some feedback.

Please let me know if you are interested.

Squig

skip

Squig,

Welcome to the forum, and don't worry about your post being yanked. I'm sure you will have some interested parties wanting to take you up on your offer. Perhaps you can post some more info about the jig in question, SimonG may be able to advise if he knows any commercial fisherman who go out for them.

Skip

Fishmagician

Is this a jig for catching squid, or other game fish.
Capt. Mike Fisher

skip

Mike,

Its a squid jig from what I understand