# Live bait in the surf



## Blazerz65 (Mar 22, 2013)

Has anyone every used like live lady's or hardtail in the surf for bait? Or just any kind of love bait in general. I've done it off the jetties but can never get any bait near the surf worth throwing out. What were your results if you ever did?


----------



## panhandleslim (Jan 11, 2013)

I guess the issue is keeping the bait from getting tangled in your terminal tackle or making it's way back to the beach. 

In islands where you have wind coming from your back, you can just balloon the bait out with a little weight to keep it below the balloon, no problem. Here, our spring and summer winds prevail from the south and our beach is to the north. Maybe you could pull it off in the bay in a place exposed to the right wind.

In Hawaii, they Marlin fish from the rocks using an inflated garbage bag as a sail to get the live bait out. Here, it's just not practical.


----------



## Blazerz65 (Mar 22, 2013)

Pan- I tried it once a couple years ago and had some success. I used a 5 ounce pyramid with a hardtail and caught a small black tip. This was only when I actully had a bait capable, since then I have not tried it but my try it again sometime this week.


----------



## Blazerz65 (Mar 22, 2013)

Also how do you guys get your mullet without going to the bait shop? I can never get them on the beach


----------



## sniperpeeps (Mar 5, 2011)

Biggest redfish I ever caught in my life was on a live whiting on a Carolina rig in the surf.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## johnf (Jan 20, 2012)

What if you used a sputnic weight?


----------



## GaryJ (Mar 23, 2015)

*Live bait*

I have used smaller live bait caught in the surf with my bait net. Caught reds.


----------



## DANTheJDMan (Feb 5, 2015)

BubbaLuch said:


> Has anyone every used like live lady's or hardtail in the surf for bait? Or just any kind of love bait in general. I've done it off the jetties but can never get any bait near the surf worth throwing out. What were your results if you ever did?


 
You may not believe me but a hard head on a float is like Cobia candy. 

Also a small ray with the barb cut off for safety.

You get the right outsuck (break in the bar) (rip tide) and the bait will go out with the current.


----------



## Combat Pay (Mar 7, 2011)

I have caught plenty of fish using small live baits about 2 feet under a popping cork in the surf. I usually use a finger mullet or pin fish. 

Biggest trout I have ever caught came to this rig. I just let the fish drag the float around all they want. If they come in too shallow I just reel them in and toss em back out. I have also had good luck wading out and tossing them on the other side of the first bar. Only problem then is getting bit off by small sharks. 

There is nothing more fun than watching that cork go into spasms when a predator starts tracking the bait. Then the sudden stop and then the cork just starts steaming away. I do love it...

Dave


----------



## coastie83 (Apr 20, 2014)

panhandleslim said:


> I guess the issue is keeping the bait from getting tangled in your terminal tackle or making it's way back to the beach.
> 
> In islands where you have wind coming from your back, you can just balloon the bait out with a little weight to keep it below the balloon, no problem. Here, our spring and summer winds prevail from the south and our beach is to the north. Maybe you could pull it off in the bay in a place exposed to the right wind.
> 
> In Hawaii, they Marlin fish from the rocks using an inflated garbage bag as a sail to get the live bait out. Here, it's just not practical.


You used to live in Hawaii? I lived on Oahu for a while, at the time I was really into spear fishing so missed out on some other fishing techniques. Would have liked to see that


----------



## coastie83 (Apr 20, 2014)

DANTheJDMan said:


> BubbaLuch said:
> 
> 
> > Has anyone every used like live lady's or hardtail in the surf for bait? Or just any kind of love bait in general. I've done it off the jetties but can never get any bait near the surf worth throwing out. What were your results if you ever did?
> ...


The new Florida Sportsman has a feature article about hardheads and cobia.


----------



## panhandleslim (Jan 11, 2013)

coastie83 said:


> You used to live in Hawaii? I lived on Oahu for a while, at the time I was really into spear fishing so missed out on some other fishing techniques. Would have liked to see that


Never lived in Hawaii but I've got a couple of friends in Kona that I used to go over and fish with a month at a time. I've seen some wild fishing methods. Handlining 150 lb. yellowfins from a 16 ft. skiff. Things like that. My first exposure to kite fishing was on a little island between Bali and Lombok called Gili Air. You would have twenty guys wading out with the wind at their back, using two poles each. One was the kite pole and the other the bait pole. No reels. Just manually wrapping the line around a small cleat on the pole. It's quite a sight to see twenty of em lined up catching small tuna.


----------

