fishing for bait

After watching Spike's video, I thought I'd head out to the local kelp beds near Capitola and try  to "make bait".  I anchored into the kelp and dropped my sabiki rig, jigged for a while and no bites.  Do any of you guys catch your own bait here in the monterey bay?  If so, what are you using and what areas are you most likely to find bait fish?  Thanks for the info.  Also, haven't seen any postings on the results of opening salmon day.
Rich

While we're on the subject of bait. Does anyone know of shiner/minnow trap that works? A Charter Boat captain told me that's the best way to get free bait - drop the trap next (near) to the bait receiver, and pick up the next morning. Shiners will feed on all the excess food that falls through the net.
He told me that one time his trap was so full of shiners, he couldn't pull it up. Said that it only took 5 minutes for the shiners to find his trap.

Making bait up here is a little different than it is in socal.  You'll mainly be catching anchovies sardines or jacksmelt with the occasional mackeral or squid.  I'm not sure what the bait situation is like right now but you shouldn't have a problem locating bait school with a depthfinder.  I think most of the reports are showing bait out at 100'-200' right now.  As the season progresses big bait schools aren't hard to find close to shore, just follow the birds or watch for boils on the surface.  The Santa Cruz pier is usually a hotbed for baitfish, Capitola too.  I'm pretty sure shiner perch can be had right now fairly easily with a sabiki baited with shrimp near any pilings, piers or jetty's.  

I normally toss a cast net for shiner perch but if you're gonna use a trap I've heard the clear ones work best for minnows, pretty sure that would hold true for shiners as well.

Also, don't bother anchoring.  Just move around slowly and "troll"  or paddle around looking for signs on the surface then drop.   The schools move around so you'll find you need to chase them. If you want smelt try casting way out and retrieve in the top 6-10 feet of the water column.

Were you in the yellow malibu? I was the guy in the yellow WS freedom with a woman in the blue scupper pro that was working the edges of the kelp.

Brian G,

Nope, that wasn't me.  I was in a green prowler on Sat mid day.  I launched from right next to the Capitola pier...little to no wave entry.  How is it launching from New Brighton?  What do you use to catch bait fish?
Rich

Some Saboki rigs work better than others and different materials and colors are better at times. I believe red is a good color. You really need to see a lot of bait before you will have good success. The real fun is trying to dehook the buggers with 7 sharp hooks dangling around, some with fish wiggling.

I cut my rigs in half and make two.  Some times I just drag one a short ways behind the boat, hoping to get lucky while I fish another pole. If you are in a bay or harbor there are usually places where bait hangs around. On thing for sure is if you don't have bait you can't find bait! Murphy's law.

Some bait fish aren't very hardy so I also carry a bait bucket you can drag along side the boat. This is very handy later in the year when you are trying to do the troll stop thing as it slows you down and the game warden sees you paddling a lot , even though you are  going really slow at times. This way you can use straight barbless hooks instead of circle hooks.

You can also chum for bait.  Punch a bunch of holes in a can of catfood and dangle it over the side.  Fish the slick with sabikis.

If you're fishing for jacksmelt (my favorite), tip the hooks with a piece of squid.  I too have found (like jnthn) that the jacksmelt like a little movement.  I usually have a bait rig out when fishing.   A sure fire way for me to get a jacksmelt is when I'm about to move locations.  Drop your sabiki down 30 feet and reel your lines in.  The jackies will follow your rigs up.   Then start your move.  As your sabiki line comes up as you start to move, it will get bit.  If not leave it in the water and "troll" to where you are going.

-Allen

I have the best luck with jacksmelt when I put a swimbait on the end of the sabiki (more for weight, but you never know...) and cast it across an open area between clumps of kelp and retrieve it jerkilly near the surface.  This lets you find the school in short order.

Some Saboki rigs work better than others and different materials and colors are better at times. quote]

Thats a very good point.   The p-line sabiki's are super long and tangle pretty easy.  Others won't last longer than a single use or have terrible hooks.  One other thing, torpedo sinkers have worked best for me.  I think the other common shapes wobble too much and the fish don't hook themselves on the drop.

As an added bonus, be sure to add a lil swimbait at the bottom for any real fish lurking around. The sabiki flies will look like lil baitfish, fleeing a bigger baitfish and maybe, just maybe, triggering a bite from a BIG fish.

What are the regulations when using sabikis or fishing for bait?  I thought that hook restrictions are in place when a salmon, RCG, or lingcod are on board or if you catch 1 of those on the sabiki.

-Allen

I'd trim it down to 3 hooks in the bay, but on the ocean you probably won't have any problems.  Usually you're fishing for bait before you fish for larger stuff anyway.  Personally, I find sabikis are a hazard on the kayak, nets, line, me, all get caught on the things, so I only use them to catch bait to fish for halibut.  Most other fish will bite well enough on artificials or frozen bait that it isn't worth the time to try jigging some up.  

Salmon especially bite best at the crack of dawn, it'd be foolhardy to waste your first half hour on the water chasing bait instead of dinner.

Anyone try Carl Newell's Tanglefree Pocket Leader Pack?

http://www.charkbait.com/cs/csrn.htm

I wouldn't mind trying this.  If anyone wants to get a group order together we could share the shipping fee.

promethean_spark, I brought up the multihook question with regards to fishing a swimbait on the end.  Be careful with what you have on board before casting that rig out.  I think a warden having a bad day could interpret that such that your day becomes bad too.

I usually don't waste any time fishing for bait either.  I do it opportunistically WHILE fishing.

jnthn ... ah, memories of my childhood with that Pocket Leader Pack.  I never could get the right lengthed leaders to fit those things cleanly.  I've graduated to wine corks.  

-Allen