BigBendFishing.Net

You guys are gonna think I just fell off the turnip truck (or boat). But, can you take small perch or little redbellies that you catch/trap in fresh water and use them in salt water for bait? It would be a whole lot easier for me to catch up a bunch of freshwater bait fish and take them along with an airator when trailering the boat down to the coast.

I can't speak to the legality of using bream for grouper bait, but I hear it works pretty darn good.

I always thought it was illegal to use any regulated fish as bait but I dont know if the crossover from fresh to salt water changes anything. I know if you get caught using bream as bait for bass in freshwater it means a ticket. You could probably do pretty good with shiners for grouper though I am not sure how long they or the bream for that matter would stay alive on a hook in saltwater.

I took some left over shiners with me to the flats at Econfina. Kept them alive till I got there. When I hooked them and tossed them out....they died very quickly in the salt water. Didn't a thing hit the dead shiners. I counted it a lost experiment and haven't done it since.

68A-23.007 Use of Fish for Bait.
(1) No person shall use any species of black bass, peacock bass or any part thereof as bait. Whole pickerel or bream or portions
thereof may be used for bait purposes by persons catching the fish but in no case shall they be used as bait for trotlines, bush hooks
or in any manner other than on pole and line or rod and reel. Fish commonly called panfish produced by persons possessing a valid
certificate of registration from the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services may be sold and used for bait provided fish
are four inches or less in total length.
(2) No live goldfish or carp shall be transported into the state for bait purposes or possessed or used for bait for the purpose of
taking freshwater fish in any waters.
(3) Bait minnows may be taken as provided by Rule 68A-23.002.

Nathan

They stay alive just long enough for a grouper to inhale them.

seatrout99 wrote:They stay alive just long enough for a grouper to inhale them.

That's what I want to hear !!

Thanks for the rule Nathan,

I also thought it was illegal to use any regulated or sportfish for bait. My Bro In Law uses brim for catfish bait over in the Appalachicola and I almost said something to him about it. Nice to know for future reference. In high school me and my buddy caught alot of gar beneath the Talquin dam using brim.

They will not live in saltwater very long at all.