Inshore fishing this month offers a variety of saltwater fish, and anglers can focus on one species or try for a mixed bag of fishing bounty. You can catch your own live bait in a variety of ways, and of course, the local tackle shop is a standby for shrimp, mud minnows and fiddlers.
The question is — “Will different baits help you catch different species of fish, or will one bait work for all?”
The finger mullet is the most versatile live bait for catching a variety of saltwater species. You can’t buy them live at most tackle shops, meaning that you will have to make like an “old salt” and cast your net to gather them.
Chasing finger mullet is usually as simple as going into a feeder creek and looking for the telltale V-signature water disturbance. Lead the formation a bit with your cast net, and you should have some fresh bait.
The size of finger mullet can vary, but I like them about four inches — long and skinny — providing a lot of “action” when attached to your hook and line. After netting, finger mullet will require some care, and you must provide them aeration. Many boats come with livewells that will perform this task, but experience has shown me that all you need is a bucket and lid complete with an aerator that runs off of a battery.
When targeting redfish, try positioning a finger mullet on the bottom using a bottom rig with one hook and a half-ounce weight. After trout? Use the same rig, but position it near structure and keep it up in the water column by using a float. Flounder absolutely cannot resist the twitch-and-pause motion of a finger mullet being dragged across the bottom, in front of their flat faces.
Ladyfish hound finger mullet; bluefish shred them, and Spanish mackerel slash at them with much ferocity. Don’t worry if a Spanish only takes half of the bait and misses the hook, just keep that fresh half-bait dangling in the same location, and they will be back to finish the job.
Frozen finger mullet and larger mullet can make excellent cut baits; if you have leftover bait at the end of the day, you can always store them in the freezer. I have even tasted mullet before — only once — when attending a SCDNR cooking demonstration, and honestly, it wasn’t that bad. But more importantly, only saltwater fish with specialty diets like a sheepshead or a spadefish might pass on a finger mullet. Not much else will.
Another bait that appeals to a variety of saltwater fish is menhaden, which school up in a big way once the water temperatures rise. One cast of your cast net and you can have a “mess” of bait that will last the entire day. Then again, if the bait pod sounds when you cast, you can come up with a big goose egg, making it essential to have a net with fine mesh and good weights. A livewell is necessary for menhaden, a bait that can foul the water with excrement very quickly, creating a need for clean water to be added every so often.
Shrimp are sometimes harder to find on your own, but luckily, they are the No. 1 staple sold at tackle shops, so most folks use that option. Shrimp are also well known for drawing a strike from several savory species, and besides that, they are very tasty.
My favorite all-purpose live bait is the mud minnow. They can be caught in a cast net, but the No. 1 method for corralling them is a minnow trap. I think the trap was invented by the same people who brought us the Chinese finger puppet — because once the minnows swim in, they can’t swim out.
Tackle shops also sell plenty of mud minnows, and since they are SO hearty, all you really need to keep them alive all day is some fresh saltwater — the cooler the better. You can put mud minnows in a 5-gallon bucket and tote them down the pier, along the beach, or put them in the boat. They come in three sizes: big (this is a relative term), medium and small. I like to fish with a big mud minnow for all sorts of fish, but it seems that a medium size mummichug works just as well, and sometimes even a small one does the trick.
You’d be surprised what will chase down and throttle a mud minnow, and being inexpensive and easy to keep alive makes them a great, all-around bait. The “bump-and-run” method of fishing a mud minnow for flounder has fooled many a flattie, especially when attached to a fluke-killer rig complete with a gold spinning spoon. If you pull the bait away from the flounder because you mistake the bite for a bump along the bottom, simply examine your mud minnow for teeth marks, then cast back to the same area for another bump-and-run mission.
Of course, it never hurts to have some other options on board, and artificial baits are always part of the saltwater discussion. For a large bait, try the Berkley 6-inch power mullet in the “green mackerel” color. For the next size down, try the Berkley 3-inch Beetle Spin mullet in “root beer.” DOA shrimp in the “stark naked” color are popular, along with the Billy Bay Halo shrimp.
Something that belongs in every tackle box is a bucktail jig, and I like the Blakemore half-ounce Road Runner model. Also, don’t forget to carry some Clark and Hopkins spoons.
For casting and retrieving, try Got-Cha Trout Killer plastics in lime green with a gold metal flake, Gulp! 5-inch swimming shads in the smelt color or the Gulp! 4-inch sinking minnows in the new penny shade. Try attaching them to the quarter-ounce Salt-Runner jig heads with a gold spoon, or the Daichi Buttdragger hook with the 1/8-ounce pinchweight. Last, check out the 3-inch Calcutta Flashfoil Split-tail lure in the rainbow color.
With artificials, don’t spend all your money on one type of lure. Go with a variety, so when the summer inshore species are all available at once, you will be able to bait and switch your lures — trying for the mixed bag of fish that keeps saltwater anglers coming back for more.
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