How do you fish with live bait on a pier?

Question

Need some help about live bait fishing on piers

Answer 1

Two ways I do it.  Sliding live bait rig - mainline with sliding sinker to swivel.  leader to either live bait hook or circle or octopus (they all work - I prefer the circles though).  Hook the bait either through the "nose" making sure to NOT go through the brain or you can hook it just above the dorsal.  Don't puncture the spine...very bad.  

The other way, which I actually prefer, is to set up a sliding float rig.  Mainline - float stop, bead, float, weight, bead, swivel, leader, (whichever hook you prefer).  you can adjust the float to different heights, therefore keeeping it off the bottom and out of the bottom feaders reach.  I catch halibut, striper, and sharks this way.  I prefer it because I tend to get more of the bigger, agressive fish and less other bottom dwelling creatures are able to mess with my bait.  (crabs, rays...etc)

Answer 2

depending on the bait . if you are using fish then don't kill it then that defeats the purpose . i like using bait hooks . if loosing the bait the problem that well fix it.  

http://www.basspro.com/webapp/wcs/stores...  go to that website to see the hook . now if hooking them is your problem hook them  through the mouth don't make it come out there head that will instantly kill them

Answer 3

Hook the bait behind the gills and above the spine so they can still swim and stay alive. If you hook them below the spine you'll most likely get their internal organs and it won't be live bait anymore

Answer 4

do this: use octopuss hooks small like 8's use a carolina rig with the weight being 1 oz for every three feet of wave face size. use 12 pound flourocarbon leader on 10 or even 8 pound test and make your leader no more than twenty two inches long. I suggest lo vis green for the main line. fish within four rows of pilings behind where the waves are breaking and fish back under the pier. Use the sabiki bait rigs in the smallest size you can buy( always break off the plastic balls on each hook and cut the feather looking stuff off at an angle headed back from the top back right at the length of the hook and I use oatmeal and bread all mushed up in a water mix and keep it in a milk gallon I wad up some of the pasty bread mix and drop it into the water and it trails down looking like a bird dropping and the bait run for it and I drop the bait gig into the center of it. keep a bucket of fresh salt water in the shade in fact a black bucket will keep the bait the right color as they are in the water a white bucket makes them lighten way up in color when in them. I always collar hook bait or nose hook smelt and grunion.

this is key !  *never set your rod down with a live bait.*

by the time your clicker announces you've been bit you have also been wraped around a piling. I fish slow and deliberate and bring the weight back allowing the fish to swim in cirlces over it along with moving with the current. kind of like plowing the field between the piling rows holding up the pier after you get real good at placing the bait in between the pilings you should expect a bite on each cast. if you don't?? Just move out to sea to the next row of pilings and keep moving until you find the depth the fish want to be in. if the waves are overhead to surfers come back another day if the pier isn't long enough to get out past the heavy surge.

the ocean is a desert and the pier? Well it is the oasis!

Answer 5

Get some sabki rigs. They are sold everywhere near the pier or at the pier itself. Catch some bait with them. Hook the bait with a large treble right between the eyes. There is a a tough cartilage and bone at that point and it will not effect the swimming action of the bait. Throw it out an allow the bait to swim. If he swims too deep pull him to the surface and watch. Keep your bail open on your spinning reel and when the big boy strikes,let him have free-line to about the count of ten then strike him on a loose drag.

Good luck.

Answer 6

your best bet is to get a cast net and catch local live bait. I cant really tell you at what depth to set it at. That is something that changes from day to day. I know what im about to tell you sounds sneaky but it is just simply doing your "homework". What you need to do is go to the pier you are going to be fishing at and watch the other anglers fishing with live bait ,but dont make it too obvious. Then you find out wich angler(s) is catching the most fish or the only fish and apply his methods to tommorow's fishing. Maybe try your own twist ot it. Hope this helps. Sorry i couldnt tell you much, every location is different...... very diffferent.  

Answer 7

I used to catch bonito off piers with live anchovies on a "slider" rig: You tie a surf fishing sinker to the end of your line and cast it out as far as you can. You have about a 3 foot leader with a hook at one end and a snap swivel at the other. Pin the bait on the hook (generally collar hooking for an anchovy), clip the snap swivel onto the main line, and hold the rod high to let the bait slide down to the water. This keeps the bait on the surface, 50 or more feet out from the pier (which is a must for bonito as they rarely come in near the pilings), with no injury from a hard cast splatting it on the water.

There's not much subtlety in hooking the fish -- when it bites either it hooks itself or not. When you hook a fish, the leader slides down to the sinker as you bring the fish in.

For bottom fish like halibut, I find it best to nose-hook the bait, so when it hits the water after a cast with a good-sized sinker, it won't get beaten up or torn off the hook.