To rake or not to rake...

That is the question. Do the bait shops in the OB area usually carry live sand fleas (mid-Sept. if that makes a difference) or am I better off buying a rake and hauling it down with me? Are they expensive to buy at the bait shops if they do have them? Are they easy to find for a novice? I'll mainly be fishing the Four Seasons pier and really would like a nice haul of pompano to take home and fill the freezer. I'm told they love sand fleas and building the slurp gun proved to be pretty $$ once we bought all the drill bits and things others may already have on hand.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

You don't need a rake but they can be handy. I bought one many years ago and they are handy if you're trying to gather a huge number of fleas in a short amount of time. However, we live upstate in Bama and I got tired of packing the rake down every year or a couple times a year. I now just carry along a metal scoop like an ice scoop from those big ice machines and a small bucket or plastic coffee can with some holes drilled in the bottom. Once I find a pod, I just scoop up a big chunk of sand and drop it in the bucket...son rinses water through to drain the sand out the bottom. Some years we've just scooped em by hand. Since I mainly surf fish the pompano has been hit and miss over the years for me, depending on when we go, but the whiting and other surf fish sure hit em good.

Oh and they have rakes at most of the tackle shops as well as wal-mart. I think I paid 20.00 for mine 13 years ago. If I lived down there or closer by I would probably take my rake more often, but I'd rather have room in my vehicle for an extra rod, etc.

Thanks Fishgeek, the space is becoming an issue, and in order to get one that breaks down, you have to move up to a much higher dollar model. I like your idea of the ice scoop, and think I'll throw that on my next Walmart run list. I've never fished with sand fleas before, so this is all new to me. Appreciate the advice.

No problemo. Also, I don't remember seeing any live ones in the bait shops but that doesn't mean they don't have them. Locals would know. If you call that bait store near the canal (can't remember the name) they're usually pretty helpful. There have been times we've been down when we couldn't find any sand fleas at all, or found so few that it wasn't worth the time to look. Most of the time we have done good but that's mainly been down at the fort morgan end of beach, although we caught a bunch in the old gulf shores state resort before it got tore down. First thing I do when I go down there is go get some pompano jigs and artificials. I used some of those Gulp sand fleas last year and they worked ok, but nothing like the real thing. Remember I'm not a local just down there once or twice a year so all I can tell you is what worked for me. Definitely not an expert.

We usually go once sometimes twice a year, but have never done the saltwater fishing thing. This year, we're gonna change that. Even got a crab trap. I hope to fill the ice chest with seafood we've caught and eat that till the next trip down. We are kinda clueless though, which is why I'm enlisting Pier#r to come give us a hand.

Have some pompano jigs, and some basics in the new tackle box, but yes, figure J&M will be the second or third stop, after Lartigues for some crab stuffed potatoes and the stock up trip to Publix.

Yeah he seems to be the guy to know for sure. As long as there's no bad weather or heavy grass we've always been able to catch enough whiting and white trout to take care of supper every night if we put in the time every day. The boys weren't much for just farting around in the sun when they were younger so we hit it pretty hard most of the time. Now they're old enough to chase girls so that has definitely hurt our fishing time. I'm fighting back this year and am springing for an inshore charter one of the days to get their heads off the split-tails and back on the fish-tails where they belong!

LOL love it. Wish you luck. When is your trip?

Ha...gotta do something...these boys losing their minds over females. We're heading down mid-August this year, then prob again in early Oct before bow season. Y'all have fun...I hate beach-sitting, but I love salt water.

We don't do much beach sitting either, but love the smell and the sounds of the ocean around us. We can truely relax down there. We're heading down mid-Sept. and I'm counting the weeks right now.

Get you some of these. Easy, long lasting, and work pretty good. I've caught nice pompanos and whitings with them.:D

Thanks streakdome. Looked for them around here, but sadly only found the kind for catfish. May have to pick some up once I get there.

I bought some Fishbites on the internet before driving down, because one thing I hate having to scramble to the store to get when I arrive is bait. The Fishbites stuff doesn't seem to go bad at all unless you get water in the package and let it soak. I think I bought white and pink varieties on Amazon. Make sure that you have something to cut it with, because it's really tough. I keep a small pair of scissors for line cutting in my tackle box, and that worked great.

This last trip in mid-June, I would catch sand fleas by hand or with a little dip net (not as good as a rake, since it doesn't get down in the sand much, but it's still somewhat effective at grabbing them right where the waves roll at the beach). I bought a 2-hook "pompano rig" at J&M tackle, and baited each hook with a piece of Fishbites and whatever bait I could catch. Sometimes sand fleas, sometimes whatever minnows were unlucky enough to land in my net. Using a 2 ounce pyramid sinker and casting out around the first sandbar (not on top of it, but on the front or back side).

I never caught a single pompano, but we did catch a couple of catfish, a ladyfish, and a pretty nice redfish (a little over 4 lbs by my scale). The catfish were on squid & fishbites, the ladyfish was on a minnow, and the redfish was on sand flea & fishbites.

J&M has a good selection of Fishbites, not every style, but a good enough selection. I've had good luck with the Orange and Chartreuse shrimp caught Pompano, Whiting, hardtail, and ladyfish, no catfish yet, thankfully, got skunked twice with the pink squid. I just picked up the orange crab from J&M last week and will try it soon. Feels like product testing!:)

Pink Shrimp is what I caught the spadefish on. Havent had time to test it on whiting yet.

I keep the pink and green Shrimp in my box, they've been so successful that I haven't even bothered to try the Squid or Crab.

We used the Orange ( crab ) in May. Bumpers (?), ladyfish, catfish, whiting, and two pomps! They were really terrific out at Ft. Morgan to catch whiting. Most of the Pompano were caught at High Tide,(+-3hrs.), on top of the first bar, using live sand fleas. I personally landed three 15 in. Pomps in one morning, the very best I have ever done; they were all caught with live 'fleas. Buy a rake, it won't eat much room, and last many trips.

I have used a small plastic buck with holes drilled in it and it works pretty well.
Good luck

Bass Pro has a large selection of fishbites ranging from $4-$6 a pack, go by the one in Daphne if its on your way.

If you can't get the spades to bite try clear gummy bears...no joke, they resemble the little jellies they chow down on and it's worked for me more than once.

Here's my take on the rake vs. no rake question: Before I lived here I wanted every second I spent on the sand to be productive time with bait in the water. That meant that I wanted to spend as little time as possible to catch the bait I would need for that day and do so efficiently s I could get them on a hook and get them in the water. Can you catch fleas with a colander or some other kind of improvised scoop? Yes. Are you going to do it very efficiently? Probably not. So my rake that I bought years ago from Fish-N-Mate made the trip in the car with me every couple of months to the Gulf because I didn't wanna waste my beach time getting soaked and sifting out sand fleas with my hands and a homemade contraption. The handle unbolts from the rake head and does not take up enough room to be obtrusive and it's worth its weight in gold during the colder months.

So my vote is to buy a rake and pack it with you. I like the Fishbites products but have struck out with the Gulp fleas twice so they now stay at home in my office.

I've had great luck with the white and Fishbites for Flounder, I stick them on a jig, either them or cut bait

I may grab a pack of the orange shrimp, from all the reports I have heard, that color seems to work best in the surf.

Thanks Crosshairy, I think a trip to J&M will be one of the first things we do. Been looking online, but the dang Fishbites are as much to ship as they cost. Don't really have anywhere local that carries much saltwater stuff, so might just bite the bullet and pay the shipping. Like you, I want to have some and don't want to spend time once down there, running around to find them.

Seems most like the orange shrimp, so that's what I'm going to pick up.

Thanks for the advice Dutch. I will probably pick one up when we get there, then wag it back and forth with us when we come down.