As I sit here to write this article I am finally getting all of my gear unpacked from my team’s long trip to Biloxi and the SKA Nationals. This year’s lengthy trip was only out done by the lengthier season that was. Needless to say, I am a little “fished out” for the next couple of weeks. But on a recent hunting trip I reflected on the season that was for the Reel Buzz fishing team. I thought of the fish that we caught and the fish that we lost. And I tried to remember a pattern that existed. And finally the answer came to me, it was the bait we were dragging behind our boat.
It sounds easy but having the biggest, freshest, liveliest bait is key to any team’s success. In North and South Carolina our primary bait source would be the Atlantic Menhaden or “pogie”, as it is more commonly referred to. This hearty bait is readily available and can be caught quickly and in large quantities, often with a single throw of a cast net. As a team we spend the same amount of time looking for bait as we do fishing for mackerel. We prefer the larger pogies, often referred to as "turbos", so it is necessary to spend time looking for the right pod of bait. These succulent baits can be found in areas that are relatively deep, 10’ or greater, with a steady tidal flow that provides a good supply of oxygen and plankton flowing into the mouths of these filter feeders. This includes areas such as the intra-coastal waterway, boat basins, river channels and along the beaches of the Carolinas. In general they tend to be on the move, but if you are able to find a school in a basin your team will find that the pogies will stay in this area for a longer amount of time.
Finding Them
This bait source generally begins to appear in local Carolina waters during the late spring. Fortunately pogies are creatures of habit, meaning that locating their hot spots can be as simple as looking to where they were last year. As you can imagine, a good pogie spot can be as valuable as a hot king mackerel area. Sometimes, however, the bait schools will not be in the same location as they were in the past. If this is the case there are three things you can do to locate this elusive baitfish. The first thing you can do is go to a local bait store or fishing pier. If you simply ask these anglers, who may spend more time on the water then you, you will gain a clearer picture to what the bait situation looks like in your local area. The second tactic you can adopt would be to listen to the radio. Listening for radio chatter can surprisingly be more helpful than one may anticipate. And finally, just keeping your eyes open can help your team catch more and better bait. Diving pelicans, flips, and mud can be a good indicators that a school of bait is nearby. If pogies are in the upper water column you will see pelicans diving or bait flipping on the surface. Throwing on a bait flip is always a wise decision. Otherwise you may see “muds”, if you are close to their school. These muds are created when the densely schooled pogies move over the silty bottom and stir it up, giving away their approximate location. But beware when you see a mud, because it does not necessarily mean there are pogies under it. Remember these muds are just an indicator that a school of baitfish is nearby, which means start watching the screen on your fish sounder.
When catching bait on the beach or elsewhere, ideally you will want to position your boat upwind or upcurrent and drift over the bait school. Experienced teams will know that pogies can be incredibly skittish and can spook easily. Too much boat traffic will cause an incredible amount of sound and will cause the school to scatter. We have found that by working the edge of the crowd, or waiting for them to leave, we can catch our bait within minutes.
Tools of the Trade
As for nets, the average depth that you will be throwing in will typically be between 10’ and 30’. A good all around net for catching pogies would have a 12 foot radius, ¾” bar mesh with 1.5 lbs of lead per foot. The larger mesh and extra lead allows the net to sink quickly to preventing the pogies from dodging the net as it sinks. While you can catch bait in smaller nets, we have found that a 12’ net is ideal. A 10' net is easier to throw than a 12', but the 12' has a greater margin of error in regards to opening it all the way. Often times this is the difference between spending an hour catching bait and spending 10 minutes catching it. We carry a 10’, a 12’ and a custom 14’ net to cover all scenarios. These nets sink fast and cover a large area in deep water. We usually have two guys throwing at the same time, one with the 12’ and one with the 14’. Having multiple net throwers speeds up the bait process that much more, which can be critical come tournament day. Once we get the pogies into the boat we try to dump them directly into the bait well and try not to touch them with our hands. Any unnecessary handling will shorten the lifespan of virtually any type of live bait. This is because the oils on our hands can remove the fish slime which is critical to prevention of infection and other problems that may weaken bait.
Most boats come with excellent live wells that work well if you don’t over stuff them. A common guideline for bait well capacity is 1 bait per gallon of the live well. Our team has an aftermarket 50 gallon round Chemtank under the leaning post that fills at the bottom with a clam shell and allows to water to circulate in the tank while draining at the top. Our 23T Contender also comes with a standard 40-gallon live well, which located in the transom. We will always shut the drain valves for the ride out. This allows the live wells to fill leaving no headspace which helps keep the bait from getting beat up by sloshing around in the wells while you're running. We will also add ice to the wells periodically if the water temperature is over 80 degrees. This helps keep the bait alive a little longer, which is always an issue for us during the hottest summer months. Try to avoid mixing different kinds of baits such as mullet or bluefish with pogies. If you have the means, keep them in separate wells. We have found that mixing baits overly stresses them, causing them to get red-nosed and die prematurely.
When fishing in the Carolinas, pogies are our bread-and-butter baits. If we are fishing an area and we know there is fresh bait close by, we will re-bait at least once during the day. On more than one occasion we have stopped fishing to re-bait, only to return and catch a big fish while other boats were not getting strikes. So once you figure out where the big ones are spend your time and patience catching bait. Use the biggest, freshest bait you can, change your baits frequently, never re-use previously hooked baits, and re-bait if you are able. These tips should help you improve your catch in the Carolinas. Now, if only I could chum up a big buck during this offseason! |