Bait

[rwoods81]

Newbie here, so excuse the stupid question. I read in a lot of these threads about guys catching their own bait, greenies, spanish etc. Can someone please explain to this new salty how you go about catching your own bait. Are there certain areas to look? Is it a different rig?

Mahalo

[jsunmkly]

I am not sure exactly where but you will have to find those bait fish with your fish finder.
Then you will use sabiki rig (store bought with small hook and artificial lure attached, usually comes in 6) to catch those bait fish.

[salty pirate]

your own bait. Ill give you my preferred bait in order live Squid, sardine, pacific "greenback" mackerel and spanish mackerel.

Catching live squid is for another day so the rig you need is a sabiki. I like the hayabusa sabiki in size 8. it is best to cut them in half and pinch the barbs, add a 1-3 oz weight and your ready to catch bait.

Look for bait in and along the kelp line. also watch for a disturbance on the surface usually it is bait, cast into it. Bait like to school with their own kind so if you don't find what you want keep looking. Sometimes the seals will lead you to the bait. A fish finder will help find schools below the surface and help keep that sabiki out of the kelp.

Good luck,
Eli

[User name]

If I'm having trouble making bait I usually add tiny pieces of shrimp to the sabiki with the barb still showing.

[jorluivil]

Originally Posted by User name

If I'm having trouble making bait I usually add tiny pieces of shrimp to the sabiki with the barb still showing.

You don't have to do that, just paddle/pedal around until you meter balls of bait................keep it simple

Depending on your sonar smaller schools of greenbacks will usually appear as a dark ball on your screen, with Spanish macs the screen will be a little more pixelated and and they usually travel in larger schools.........at least that's what I've seen. As far as squid goes.....those are a little trickier to identify, on my screen they tend to look like broken up pieces of kelp.

[Silbaugh4liberty]

I finally got a sibiki rod!!! Soooo worth it!! I hated getting that sibiki tangled or hooked on something in my kayak. So clean, and makes things much simpler!! Not saying you have to get one, but it's definitely worth the investment (about $65 for the rod).