What Bait Is Best for Sea Fishing? A Detailed Guide to Bait Selection Techniques for Saltwater Fishing

The sea is extremely rich in nutrients, especially containing large amounts of nutrient salts, which makes the mineral and vitamin content in sea fish higher. In terms of taste, sea fish also taste fresher than river fish. Therefore, many anglers enjoy sea fishing, so what bait should be used for sea fishing?

1. What bait should be used for sea fishing?

There are quite a few bait options for sea fishing, such as earthworms, small fish, small loaches, bloodworms, small shrimp and mussel meat, all of which are good fish baits.

2. Methods for sea fishing

1. Trolling

The targets are surface migratory fish, such as sailfish, tuna and mahi-mahi. Board a dedicated trolling boat or fishing vessel and trail artificial lures or live bait behind the stern at current convergence zones to entice predatory migratory fish to strike. The cost of trolling is considered relatively expensive, including boat charter fees and professional trolling rods and related tackle. This fishing method is also a relatively international style of fishing trip.

2. Boat fishing

Board a professional sea fishing boat and go out to sea, lowering the rig directly with a boat rod to fish. It can be divided into two methods: anchoring at a fixed point to fish, or drifting with the tide to explore and fish. The target fish are deep-sea bottom-dwelling fish and near-shore bottom-dwelling or migratory fish, such as red amberjack, grouper, chicken fish, fish of the Carangidae family, fish of the Sparidae family, ribbonfish and squid, etc. The equipment includes boat rods ranging from No. 80 to No. 500, from 6 feet to 15 feet, depending on the target fish, manual or electric boat fishing reels, braided line or galvanized wire main line for boat fishing, inverted rigs or spreader rigs for boat fishing, boat rod holders, batteries, etc.

3. Heavy rock fishing

Board a reef ferry to reach offshore outer reefs or fishing grounds along the coast of the main island with sufficient water depth, generally with smooth tidal flow and a vertical depth of at least 10 m at 30 m offshore. Use a dedicated heavy rock rod or a jointed rod of No. 80 or above, a main line of at least 80 lb, a leader of at least 100 lb, and a lead load of 8 liang or more. The target fish are bottom-dwelling grouper, red snapper, fish of the Lethrinidae family, and migratory fish such as crevalle jack and red amberjack, etc.

4. Bottom fishing

Compared with heavy rock fishing, the equipment for bottom fishing is one size smaller, and the required gear is not so much or so complicated. Generally, a No. 30, No. 50 to No. 80 distance casting rod or a rock rod of No. 6 or above is used for fishing, with a main line of No. 8 or above and below 60 lb, and a leader of 20 lb or above to below 80 lb. The fishing spots are usually rocky coasts or breakwaters, and the targets are small and medium-sized bottom-dwelling fish such as those of the Lethrinidae family, the Carangidae family and grouper, etc. The range of bottom fishing is relatively wide, and the size of the target fish is not fixed either, so you need to refer to the depth of the fishing ground and the characteristics of the terrain to set the target species in advance and match the most suitable rig, so as to avoid using a sledgehammer to crack a nut, using a No. 80 rod and No. 80 leader rig to catch a 1 jin small emperor fish. This fishing method is usually used for night fishing in summer, when the catch rate will be somewhat higher.

5. Floating rock fishing

It differs from bottom fishing in that the rig is suspended and does not touch the bottom. Floats used include Awa floats, Adali floats, upright floats, ping-pong floats, etc. The targets are floating fish such as black rockfish, white rockfish, drummer fish, yellow chicken fish, black sea bream, needlefish, white trevally, black trevally and rabbitfish, etc. At night, the main target is ribbonfish. The fishing methods are diverse and varied, and the fishing grounds are rocky coasts or breakwaters or even oyster racks. Generally, rock fishing rods at fishing grounds in Taiwan, China are about from No. 0 rod to No. 2 rod, while offshore fishing grounds use No. 3 or No. 4, the reel is chosen from about 1000 size to 3000 size, the main line generally uses No. 3 to No. 6 floating line, and the leader uses No. 1 to No. 5 carbon fiber line. In addition, purchase small accessories such as space beans, swivels, underwater floats and luminous beads. Floating rock fishing can be further subdivided into many fishing methods; generally, rocky shores, breakwaters, boat rock fishing and raft fishing all differ considerably, making it a fishing trip style with the most diverse fishing methods.

Because the range of activity of sea fish is affected by factors such as tides, sea winds and landforms, before going out to sea to fish, we need to understand the weather and then determine the location.