Favorite baits

Hello Everyone,
Thanks to all you great people for all the responses on the favorite knot thread.

Got a new one now. Would anyone like to share their favorite method and location of hooking their live baits and the hooks they use or lures for the fish in pursuit? You can respond on as many or little as you like.
Maybe just one particular fish? Much appreciated. Trying to learn as much as possible before my “next” trip down this fall. Tired of watching some of these people videoing “themselves” on YouTube.

Just an example: any order of content/story line is appreciated.

Fish Bait/Lure Hook and Location

King LY #4 treble/belly under the gills

Pompano Live Shrimp #1 circle/ head-tale

Spanish

Sheepshead

If you're coming in the fall and you want to catch good-eating fish to fry up, try whiting.

The key to CATCHING whiting is don't use either a hook or a shrimp-piece that is too big.

Rigging is (Carolina rig) an egg sinker above a small swivel, then about an 18 inch length of fluorocarbon leader (I use ten pound test). The (FRESH DEAD) shrimp piece needs to be no bigger than the last digit of your pinkie. You typically find whiting near the surf in the skinny water.

If you come in November, when the water cools a bit, there will likely be a consistent whiting bite. Try also fishing for large croakers. You can catch a few small ones mixed in with the whiting schools, but to catch the really big croakers, take the same rig I described for whiting (you can and probably should go with just a little bit bigger/stronger hook) and fish between the pilings at the very south end of the octi. You may have to try different locations, but croakers tend to school up underneath the octi. You'll catch some really nice ones and a few sailcats that'll put a good bend in your rod! When that bite dies down, you can head back to the skinny water for whiting, catch some big ones and have some real good fillets to fry-up!

I had great luck last Thanksgiving catching whiting on a bait finder rig with a small piece of food grade shrimp with a bit of fishbites. We were hooking up with a couple at a time at some points.

Hooking LYs (Scales sardines)...
https://scontent-dfw5-2.xx.fbcdn.net...cc&oe=5B7673DF

[QUOTE=Pier#r;128660]Hooking LYs (Scales sardines)...
https://scontent-dfw5-2.xx.fbcdn.net...cc&oe=5B7673DF
Wow! Thanks DT Pier#r.

eym_sirius, Thanks for taking the time to reply to this thread. You and Pier#r along with many others on this forum are great Ambassdors for the State of Alabama Gulf Shores fishing
experience!

So Pier#er et al, would I hook a croaker or other bait fish the same way? I've heard some say to fin them... Sorry I'm a livebait noob! My only success ever using was last year was a Bluefish on a live whiting LOL.

Thanks guys!

About the quickest way i know to kill a croaker bait is to hook it through the middle of the tail and pierce the backbone...
https://www.louisianasportsman.com/pics/p1431908438.jpg

Just be gentle hooking them in the back and avoid the backbone...
https://www.carolinasportsman.com/pics/p1399562503.jpg

But most folks hook them thru the 'nostrils' or better yet the 'lips'...
https://www.lafishblog.com/wp-conten...h-the-nose.jpg

Think about it. When a trout eats a croaker it will swim around with it and try to turn it headfirst to swallow.
So doesn't it make better sense to have the hook in the end that gets swallowed first ;-)

What if you aren't targeting trout with the croaker?

A bigger mouthed fish (like a bull red, ling or amberjack) it may not matter, but even kings like to eat them head first ;-)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Nimakdm

What if you aren't targeting trout with the croaker?

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For me, fishing with a croaker MEANS targeting trout/slot redfish. That's about all that I would use a croaker for.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by eym_sirius

For me, fishing with a croaker MEANS targeting trout/slot redfish. That's about all that I would use a croaker for.

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As sir David mentioned, some years back I took a 63 lb. cobe with a 9 inch croaker.