Bait Fishing is a style of Fishing which uses a live or dead organism attached on a Fish Hook. You can use bait on bottom fishing, jigging or trolling.
As an example, if you do bottom fishing on a boat, you will need medium heavy, 10 to 15 kg carrying weight, fast or moderate action rod. As usual, rod should have less and wide guides if you use a spinning reel.
Make sure your fishing reel and rod fit together. When the Fishing Reel is attached to the Fishing Rod, it should balance properly on your finger, somewhere near the head of the handle of the Fishing Rod.
I suggest you to buy known rod and reel, anyway they do not have to be expensive. It is fine as long as you are comfortable in its usage and it meets your requirements.
The Fishing Line is probably the only piece of equipment that connects you to the fish. Buy Fishing Lines with highly regarded brands, again, it should be in line with reel and rod specs.
There are many baits you can use in Gulf, here are some examples:
| Live or dead | Boat Fishing | Shore Fishing | Easy to lose | Species | Suggested hook - Boat | Suggested hook - Shore | Leader | Note | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sardine | Both | Good | Good | Yes | Grouper, Barracuda, many others | 8 | 8 | Steel | Use whole or piece |
| Shrimp | Dead | Not Good | Best | Yes | Any | - | 12 or 14 | No | Piece |
| Cuttle Fish | Dead | Good | Not Bad | No | Any | 10 | 14 to 8 | No | Piece |
| Squid | Dead | Best | Not Good | No | Any | 10 or 8 | - | No | Piece |
| Ballyhoo | Both | Good | Good, Ocean side | No | Cobia, King Fish, Queen Fish, Shark and many big species | Circle Hook | Circle Hook | Steel | Whole |
| Scad or Mackarel | Live | Good | Not Good | No | Cobia, Grouper, Barracuda, King Fish, Tuna, Queen Fish, Shark and many big species | Circle Hook | Circle Hook | Steel | Whole |
| Chicken Breast | Dead | Not Bad | Good | No | Faskar, any sea bream and some others | 10 or 8 | 12 or 14 | No | Piece |
| Flour Bait | - | - | Good | Yes | Mullet, Rabbit Fish, some others | - | 12 or 14 | No | Piece |
Also please watch the video below if you wonder how to rig a whole ballyhoo as an example.
