Gamakatsu Posted July 24, 2003 Report Share Posted July 24, 2003 I caught my largest tarpon (174#) by free lining a 4# bluefish, my largest shark by free lining a 5# jack crevalle and some of my largest snook on by free lining ladyfish. We regularly free lined baby tarpon and eagle rays (when it was legal) for sharks down in Florida. Other baits we used have included live mangrove and yellowtail snappers, Spanish mackerel, cero mackerel, bonefish, false albies, barracuda and more. No regrets on my part at all... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beachblitz Posted July 24, 2003 Report Share Posted July 24, 2003 Big bass in the river love live trout! More than herring! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jetty eddy Posted July 24, 2003 Report Share Posted July 24, 2003 Only caught 1 bass on a snapper that was neant for weakfish. We know the weaks love em. the smaller snappers 3-4" are great for fluke from the beach. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Lang Posted July 24, 2003 Report Share Posted July 24, 2003 I do not think there is anything wrong with it; I have done it with great success and its fun. One of the reasons I decided to do it was the fact that it was the middle of the summer and I knew there were bass around, but they would not hit plugs, and they were spraying the small snappers around in swirls larger than a big hoola-hoop. I arrived the next day with 2 rods, a lightweight conventional, and a snapper rod. I found the fish feeding again, caught a snapper, and switched it over to the light conventional with a circle hook. I caught nice bass during the early evening into the mid 20 lb. range where the days prior I went home with the skunk plugging. Moral of my story, I like to do whatever it takes to stick a hook in as many fish as I can. Do what you feel will make you successful, and have fun!! Mike L. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnP Posted July 24, 2003 Report Share Posted July 24, 2003 If someone is opposed to livelining, they should be opposed to all forms of bait. Does it matter if the fish was alive or killed first? And does it matter if its a fish that we value highly, like blackfish, flounder, a small blue or weakfish - or a fish that we dont value, for our own cultural reasons - a sea robin, a bergall, a blowfish, porgy or eel? As long as it is legal, I cant see how we can place our own individual fishing choice on some ranking scale and start to rank other fishing options beneath us - its just a question of why you fish in the first place and what floats your own boat. We got guys that will only fish plugs - for the challenge, but they hate fly fishing, we got guys that hate bridge fishing ledgal or not, we got guys that are afraid to wetsuit but turn around and say its not surf fishing. We got guys that say bridge fishing is illegal but then do illegal things themselves to gain access to other locations. I suspect if these guys spend as much time and creative energy worrying about their careers and not fishing BS, they could retire early to some island where they can establish their own fishing dogma and impart it on the natives. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
big country Posted July 24, 2003 Report Share Posted July 24, 2003 john, great response.. however, what can you live line on those fly rods of yours? a spearing? killie? LOL bc "The kids they dance and shake thier bones and the politicians throwing stones. singing ashes, ashes all fall down" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1MOCAST Posted July 24, 2003 Report Share Posted July 24, 2003 ABSOLUTLY O.K. in my book. They are easy to catch, easy to keep, and work very well. Whatever works(as long as it's legal) is my motto. "JUST ONE MORE CAST" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ishmael Posted July 24, 2003 Report Share Posted July 24, 2003 Would you live line a striper for a shark, or a small bass for a cow? I don't live line snappers, they are young gamefish not baitfish to me...there are plenty other schooling baits out there to go around. Up here, law says you can't use stripers for bait (or lobsters, neither!), but it doesn't say anything about blues. Folks liveline mackeral all the time, and no one blinks an eye. Ish Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C. Regalis Posted July 24, 2003 Report Share Posted July 24, 2003 Nothing at all wrong with live lining. so long as the specie you are live lining is of legal size, etc. I see no issue. The only problem with snapper is you only have 10 baits per person per day now.. LOL BC Yep. Now 15 in NJ though... "Life's too short to fish with ugly flies."Cynoscion Regalis Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SG1 Posted July 24, 2003 Report Share Posted July 24, 2003 An article last week in an Ocean County NJ paper stated that the division of fish and game might be closing a few key spots for collecting live herring, Deal lake in Deal, and Wreck pond in Spring Lake, including the flumes that connect them to the ocean. The reason stated was that there was too much pressure on the fish because of the constricted water way. The quote was: "like shooting fish in a barrel". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichSmith Posted July 24, 2003 Report Share Posted July 24, 2003 If ya think about it,fish eat any fish smaller then them and if one of'ems one your hook and then another bigger fish eats it-Whats the problem? I don't do it anymore but used to quite often. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gloucester2 Posted July 24, 2003 Report Share Posted July 24, 2003 Steve in Mass . . . tell em about the chicken Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gamakatsu Posted July 24, 2003 Report Share Posted July 24, 2003 Is it legal to use fish for bait that have a size limit on them? Generally the law requires that these fish are landed intact and if used for bait, this is obviously not going to be the case. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gloucester2 Posted July 24, 2003 Report Share Posted July 24, 2003 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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