Fall fishing is here, and that means for saltwater fishermen it is time to gather bait and head to the coast. You can fish for anything specific or just fish in general, but it is best to know what fish like what baits in order to plan your trip.
When the speckled trout are hitting many anglers drop everything else, as they are a favored fish to pursue. Conventional wisdom says that the number one speckled trout bait is a frisky live shrimp suspended underneath a big float or popping cork.
The tactic is indeed deadly in the hands of those who know how to do it correctly. Current, winds and bait-stealers all factor into trout float fishing. The key is to find the depth the fish are feeding at and put the shrimp over the right spot long enough for them to find it.
Anglers seeking big red drum put cut mullet or menhaden at the top of their bait lists. If you are surf fishing using these cut baits will be your best choice. Smaller red drum, often called redfish or puppy drum, really like whole live fish like small finger mullet. They love to smack a live bait fished on or near the bottom in the surf, around bridges and docks, or over oyster shells.
Flounder are a top fall target for saltwater anglers, and the number one flounder bait is live minnows. Mud minnows, which can be bought in a store, work well but finger mullet or small menhaden (often called pogies regionally) work even better. For flounder your bait must be weighed down to the bottom. Even small pinfish or spot are great flounder bait, as flounder really like a slow moving target.
Panfish like croaker, spot, whiting (sea mullet) or pompano favor cut shrimp or cut bloodworms. Newer artificial bloodworms work very well and will save you money. Whether you are on a pier or surf fishing, many of these species hang out right in the whitewater or just beyond it. You don’t have to cast a mile to catch them.
Bluefish love juicy, bloody cut bait the best. Although blues will hit just about nay natural bait, fresh cut bait will attract them if they are there. If blues are in the water then red drum or other large gamefish will probably never see your bait, because they will pounce on it.
Some fish commonly caught in the fall require special bait. Sheepshead hand around structure and only respond to shellfish, with fiddler crabs and barnacles from an ocean piling being top offerings to the soft-biting sheepshead. Black drum are not quite as particular but will rarely hit fish alive or cut, and prefer shellfish themselves. Sand fleas you can dig on the beach will take a lot of fish, but are especially loved by pompano.
Most of these fish will hit artificial lures as well. Plugs like MirrOlures and other minnow-imitators will take speckled trout and you can cast them in the surf. Other soft baits like the Gulp brand and plastic or synthetic grubs on lead jigheads will catch trout, as well as redfish, in inshore situations.
Flounder will often take a grub or buckhead bounced very slowly along the bottom. Bluefish, as well as Spanish mackerel, are known to bite pencil-plugs like the Gotcha-brand, which are jerked at rapid speed through the water from piers or trolled by boats. Both bluefish and Spanish also like flashy lures of gold and silver, which speckled trout and flounder will often hammer as well.
