trouble finding bait

[tmarchant87]

hi! I am new to the forum. I do most of my fishing out of st andrews but I am going to st marks tomorrow to put in at the the light house. I know in the past I have had difficulty finding live bait. I was wondering if any of you guys had any suggestions for finding any LY's to throw the cast net on. Any advice is appreciated.

[captkeyser]

Not too many LY's in the area, but you should be able to net all the finger mullet you want in the channel leaving the Light House boat ramp.

[bman]

Lots of glass minows and mullet but not a lot of lys

a sabiki will fill your box with pinfish in no time.

[tmarchant87]

thanks for the info guys. I will give it a try.

[Bullet]

We netted a surprising number of LY's a couple of weeks ago in the grass south of the lighthouse. We got more LY's than pins.

We chum them up then throw the castnet over the chum spread.

[leonreno]

What do you use for chum, and how long do you wait to throw the net? I've got a cast net I haven't used yet and was going to give it a try.

[silverking]

What do you use for chum, and how long do you wait to throw the net? I've got a cast net I haven't used yet and was going to give it a try.

Don't know what others are using, but the dry White Marsh Fish Chum pellets have worked well for me. No refrigeration needed, the bags are biodegradable and last a long time. You can see the bait when it's starts gathering in the slick. This is also a good option for chumming cobia and sharks within casting range of the boat.

http://www.basspro.com/White-Marsh-Fish ... /10204584/

Shields Marina in St. Marks is a dealer, too.

[leonreno]

That helps, I actually already have some of that chum, I'll give it a try.

[Bullet]

We use a mixture of jack mackeral & oat meal. The oat meal helps hold the jack mac meat together.

Anchor boat in 3 to 4 ft of water, over grass, then spread the chum mix. throw about a half dozen handfuls of the chum out. Then wait about 4 or 5 minutes. then throw another couple of handfuls out just before throwing the cast net over it.

You will certainly get some pinfish but the longer you chum, it seems the LY's will show up. but then again sometimes so will needle fish, an occassional catfish (yuk), glass minnows....

It is rare that we catch LY's right from the start of cast net throws but a couple of weekends ago, we caught a lot of them right from the start.

[swo81]

New here...what are LY's?

[Harmsway]

New here...what are LY's?

I believe LY is short for alewife, the scaled sardine within the saltwater shad; sometimes referred to as white bait.

Fishin' is the mission.

[Salty Gator]

I could be wrong, but I think a scaled sardine or white bait is a pilchard. An LY or bunker or pogy or menhaden gets a little larger. They are much less hardy than a pilchard. Pilchards will live all day in a good livewell, ly's will not. If you put too many in the well they will die even quicker. I really only use ly's for grouper bait or tarpon if I'm taking someone that likes to fish for them. Ill take a pinfish, mud minnow,pilchard or finger mullet over an LY any day of the week for reds and trout. Good luck

[rockyg]

I could be wrong, but I think a scaled sardine or white bait is a pilchard. An LY or bunker or pogy or menhaden gets a little larger. They are much less hardy than a pilchard. Pilchards will live all day in a good livewell, ly's will not. If you put too many in the well they will die even quicker. I really only use ly's for grouper bait or tarpon if I'm taking someone that likes to fish for them. Ill take a pinfish, mud minnow,pilchard or finger mullet over an LY any day of the week for reds and trout. Good luck

You are right on the money there SG. Pilchards are like Reese Cups to most gamefish.

IF I only knew how to throw a cast net, wasn't completely anal about keeping the boat clean, and frankly not that interested in watching a cork bob up and down........ I would use them all the time.

Alligator Harbor is usually full of LY's.

The good Pilchard spots are always a closely guarded secret.

[Harmsway]

Yeah, Salty Gator and this website have got it right.

http://www.theoutdoorlodge.com/fishing/ ... ishes.html

Fishin' is the mission.

[Bullet]

Yeah, Harmsway & Salty Gator are spot on. LY is what we have called the scaled sardine for a long while now. It is what we were told they were by our mentors. We have since learned better. Still make the mistake of calling them LY's.

We caught scaled sardines a couple of weeks ago, not LY's. They are good bait for big trout, reds will also eat them. Even though live pinfish are our bait of choice, we like to have a variety, if possible.

We do, however, prefer to fish with pogies, or menhaden but they are hard to locate. Have not found any in a couple of years. Would really like to net some of those again.