Help catching bait fish

I was fishing on the Santa Cruz wharf (non-yak) and there is currently a massive cloud of bait fish surrounding the whole thing. Everyone on the pier was throwing sabikis but the fish couldn't run away fast enough. Even the guy with the cast net was having trouble bringing any up. All morning, it seemed like the only action came from snags.

Around ~230pm things changed a little (halfway from low to high tide). More anchovies were coming up on the sabiki but weirdly enough it was still mostly snags. Still, water clarity was good enough to see thousands of fish straight up ignoring my offerings.

What's the right thing to do here tactically? If you were in a kayak, would you just go somewhere else to find a new bait school? Do you snag and pray? Throw something else in front of the bait?

Presumably there are halibut and stripers hunting around nearby for an easy meal although I didn't see any brought up. What would you do to target them under such a big cloud of bait?

Spoons...drop down rig live bait.

I've rarely ever encountered baitfish that didn't hit a sabiki of the proper size. Anchovies can be the most problematic to hook though.
I would go down to the smallest sabiki I could use?

Sometimes too much bait in the water cools a bite down, as the predators are already stuffed and not interested in anything other than the liveliest of baitfish, and that can be tough to source on a pier or kayak, as landing the little fish usually beats them up some.

Tip your sabiki hooks with a little piece of squid.

Was trying to get bait a few days ago and couldn’t get any. Decided to cut my sabiki dressing down so that it was just enough flash to cover to the bend of the hook. Instantly started loading up on bait.

Sometimes it is the color that matters. Sometimes it is the size.

Tip your sabiki hooks with a little piece of squid.

+1 - a little scent goes a long way.

When I do use squid, I like to thaw a box out and vacuum seal and re-freeze one or two pieces into little trip-sized portions that are easier to deal with OTW since I know I'll just be using tiny strips.

I've also recently found that stubborn chovies can sometimes be enticed with little strips of gulp baits. I've started keeping the Plano Liqua Bait Storage Bottle in my hatch and tipping sabikis with leftover bits of sandworms, which is easier and less messy than hauling around frozen squid. They can be tricky to rig on the smallest sibikis, but once you do, they tend to stay on.

I picked that up from Luke @ saltstrong:

Tip your sabiki hooks with a little piece of squid.

squid, shrimp, cut bait, or scent.

in my experience, some sabikis fish better than others.  i don't know why that is. the japanese ones with the tiny hooks are the best.

Sometimes you just have to drop your sabiki down and let it sit still instead of jigging or casting and retrieving.

And like others said, try a very small sabiki tipped with squid or shrimp.


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