Baitfish and neon lights?

[westgate]

Hey all, new to the forum. Obviously my first post depicts an issue I've been having.

So I fish in saint Pete nearly every night. I live on my sailboat and fish in the marina, however I don't really fish from it when I'm sailing as I'm busy with other things.

So I have this green fish light that gets a lot of activity after dusk. Hundreds of baitfish and some larger predatory fish hang around aswell. The issue is I'm having trouble getting the bait fish out of the water and my frozen shrimp just don't compare. I've been trying to cast net them, but it's nearly impossible to get a good cast with my net from the back of the boat. Have not caught a single fish this way. My only hope for live bait at this point is catching pinfish with a tiny hook and bit of shrimp, then swapping them to another pole, but this takes too long and only works at certain times. I intend to make a pinfish trap tomorrow, but would still like to catch whatever is around this light.

Anyways, sorry for the digression. My question is: what can I use to catch baitfish off the stern of my boat that is not a cast net?


Thanks! Look forward to being a member of the community here.

[fishboy]

Try a tiny hooked sabiki rig. just jig it up and down and you will get some bait fish. the baitfish will be more lively than bait fish you catch in your cast-net too!

[westgate]

Try a tiny hooked sabiki rig. just jig it up and down and you will get some bait fish. the baitfish will be more lively than bait fish you catch in your cast-net too!

That's smart! I hadn't thought of that. I should probably leave the hooks bare and just the motion will be enough to get them to bite because they're feeding already. Correct?

Edit: right, they're artificial, I forgot. Really have never used artificial baits with any success but I'll pick one up from mastrys and give it a shot tomorrow!

[Chevy Juan]

Try it bare first and see if they will bite. Most of the times the jigging motion plus the attracting factor of the bead above the hook plus any shine layer the sabiki rig has will trigger them to go for it. Be patient and remember what kind of motion is getting you hookupss.

If its tough, you can add small pieces of squid or shrimp to the hooks and that will also be beneficial in getting you baitfish.

[fishboy]

yeah just make sure there are no catfish around if you tip it.

[westgate]

Unfortunately there are tonnes of catfish where I am. So much so that I can't use a bottom rig. I'll try it with bare hooks tonight and report back.

[Zebco]

On a boat at night, it is better to not jig your sabikis. Just put them on top and stick your rod in the holder. If you want to be able to get them in your cast net, then you should hang a chum bag with small holes and some chum dangling on the top behind the boat and they'll swarm on top and make it easier to throw the net. Wont even need a light on if they start up in the chum.