What kind of bait should be used for croaker, sea bass, and halibut?

Question

My dad and I are considering going to Mission Bay in San Diego, CA to do some fishing (we live about 30 min. from the beach). I know there's sea bass and halibut out there as well as croaker. What kind of bait should we use for these fish and other salt water fish?

Answer 1

Shrimp work the best for me.  They can, the shrimp, be taken off the hook fast without you knowing it, and sometimes in casting. So be ready to set the hook. This works great in FL.  And do not use a  excessive weight.

Answer 2

I fish in the northeast and we have sea bass, croakers and flounder. I like to use jigs & spinner-rigs for this type of fishing. We usually fish with small minnows like bullheads and spearing on both the jigs and spinner-rigs. I use a net to catch the bait. This lets me know what baitfish is in the area and my bait is fresh. You can also try the bait & tackle shops in the area you want to fish. They can tell you what's working, types of fish, alternate areas if the bite is off, and much more.

Try the free report at this website : www.flounderbytes.com. It's a great intro to the sport of fishing. Tight lines!!!

Answer 3

just swimbaits.....or you could use cut up shrimp for the croaker...and use the smaller croaker for the bass or halibut...or get some small smelt, anchovies, or sardine as bait....well to put is straight out...for bass and halibut...you just need a small fish as bait....cut up frozen anchovies work too....and squid would get you sharks and rays...

Answer 4

i have lived and fished in the san diego area for my entire life and the best all around bait is frozen squid (calamari)---the bass and halibut love it and if you take a boat do not bring a banana on board with you it is considered bad luck

Answer 5

I don't even have to read what the others wrote but for the record:

Mission bay goes off pre dawn and I use 12" red shad worms any brand with a 1/0 owners lead head. Everything in the water will hit it until the sun shines on it and then I switch to AA's Hot belly dorado I also use anchovie scent in the harbor and sardine on the ocean. The W S B will hit the faster moving baits and the Butts the slower but this time of year is late for both they have moved out of the bay to spawn by now and you anren't interested in just smalls are you? Up till June 15th some are around but the water temp rose in the bay early this year they'll be back after haloween though all through the winter. The spotted bay bass on 6 pound test will tire you out though so enjoy the fun but don't eat them (they glow in the dark)

Tight lines matey

Answer 6

For halibut, i usually do pretty good off the pier by bottom fishing with shrimp. If you go to fishing stores, you can buy pre-made rigs.

For croaker, my friends says he does pretty good surf fishing for croaker in the San Diego area.

tight lines!

Answer 7

for croaker, my best bait would be entire shrimps or mussel

sea bass love crab and squid (note: when bass hunt, they want to get the biggest bite they can out of one lunge, their mouths are bigger than their stomachs.

for huge halibut the best bait is live anchovie because a halibut will never eat anything dead otherwise use a swimbait

GOOD LUCK!