Article by Capt. Mark Sampson
We were fishing a few miles offshore when our chum line was suddenly invaded by a school of six-inch mackerel. They were fast little guys that would surge right up to the chum bucket, steal a few bites of chum and then quickly dart away only to rush back a few seconds later for another attack. Figuring they would make great live-baits for cobia, sharks or any other big critter that might show up that day, we decided to throw a few of the mackerel in our livewell until needed. Of course, before doing so we had to catch them first, a process that I originally expected was going to be a cinch considering we had a couple “Sabiki” bait rigs aboard that I thought would solicit immediate bites from the mackerel that were feeding so franticly behind our boat.
I felt so confident that we’d have live bait aboard in just a few moments that I asked my mate to get a rod ready to fish the bait from before I’d even dropped the Sabiki in the water. This was going to be a sure thing – I thought. But as it so often goes, just as soon as you think you’ve got yourself a slam dunk the results just don’t pan out the way you expected.
I dropped the bait rig among the mackerel in the chum line and they kept right on feeding in, over and around my tiny baited hooks without touching a single one! We tried jigging, putting tiny bits of bait on the hooks, letting the rig float free with the current, holding the hooks right at the surface and letting them sink down and out of sight, but nothing was working and still the mackerel kept feeding furiously behind the boat. They were just little baitfish and it really didn’t matter if we caught any or not, but as a “fisherman” I like to think that I can “catch fish” when I need to and those little mackerel had me perplexed. I just had to figure out the secret to catching them!
As fishermen we often find ourselves in situations where we can see our quarry, but for one reason or the other the fish just won’t take us up on our offer of a “free lunch” because it seems that no matter what we troll, cast or drift past their nose they simply won’t open their maws and take a bite. Frustrating? You bet! Particularly when the fish is a species or of such grand proportions that hooking it would be a special milestone in our fishing careers. But dealing with the challenges of rejection is as much a part of fishing as anything else.
Anyone who has ever tried to catch one knows that cobia are notorious for being finicky feeders, but they're just one of many species that will sometimes acquire lockjaw at the worst time for fishermen. In fact, at one time or another even some of the more voracious feeders such as dolphin, bluefish and sharks will refuse to bite what anglers are trying to feed them, but where there’s a will there is usually a way.
When a fish won’t bite, one of the quickest and most logical things an angler can do is freshen up their bait. After its been soaking a while every bait loses some of its scent-appeal, so even if the same “type” of bait is put back on the hook, changing to something that is a little (or a lot) fresher can trigger a bite. Another way to get a bait to release a little more aroma is to put some slices in it or just squeeze or smash it up a bit. Anglers might also find that using larger, smaller or different shape baits will make a difference. Of course when anglers have the option, changing to a different type of bait altogether is always a logical move.
If all the different bait variations have been tried and the fish still won’t bite, it’s usually time for anglers to start changing up their terminal tackle because there could very well be something going on there that the fish simply don’t like the looks of. It’s likely that fishermen will have to start “lightening-up” on their rigs by using smaller hooks, lighter leaders, fluorocarbon leaders or use no leaders at all. While these alternatives could mean that once the fish bites there could be less chance of successfully landing it, sometimes it’s the only way to get the bite.
Often, when fish have been lured in and are feeding on chum or chunks, they’ll become so committed to the free offerings floating away from the boat that they won’t touch anything else. Such times might require that anglers try to imitate what the fish are feeding on as closely as possible. Here again, small hooks and light leaders will likely be required, as will a presentation that has the bait descending the water column at the same rate as the chum or chunks. The bait also needs to be the same as what’s floating away from the boat. If that happens to be chum and if they wish to successfully pull off the scam, then fishermen might have to figure out a way to get those tiny little bits of ground-up bait on a hook!
Sometimes anglers will encounter fish that absolutely will not touch anything that isn’t alive. Of course, this can be frustrating to fishermen who are not so equipped, but it also underscores the advantage of carrying live bait along or at least having the ability to catch live bait whenever possible. Keeping Sabiki rigs, tiny hooks, snag hooks and a cast net aboard to “make bait” when opportunities present themselves can pay off big time when anglers are able to turn the tables on fish that refuse to take anything but live offerings. Live baits can come in the form of live bluefish or mackerel from one’s own chum line, jacks from beneath an offshore buoy, menhaden snagged from a school or caught in a net in a back bay canal or croaker, spot and any other small fish taken while bottom fishing.
Sometimes finicky fish can only be caught using some off-the-wall technique that presents a bait or lure in a unique fashion. Kite fishing, for example, allows anglers to present a live or dead bait right on the surface with line and leader above the water and, therefore, out of the line of sight of the fish. This technique will take just about any kind of fish that swims and is one of the best to use on fish that won’t be fooled by conventional methods. Deep jigging, trolling with planer boards and using “way-back” baits are examples of how very specialized techniques sometimes prove to be so successful in catching fish that they eventually become a standard practice for many fishermen.
Of course, anglers will sometimes encounter fish that, for some unknown reason, will simply resist everything and anything they troll, cast, float or jig past their scaly noses. We just have to face the fact that at times some fish are just uncatchable, but fishermen will never know that for sure until they’ve tried every trick in their tackle box. I was beginning to think that the mackerel in our chum line would never make it to our livewell until I tied a tiny hook directly to the 10-pound line on a spinning rod, baited it with a minute sliver of tuna, floated it back in the chum and started catching fish after fish. Sometimes the simplest methods can be the most effective!
Capt. Mark Sampson is an outdoor writer and captain of the charter boat, “Fish Finder”, docked at the Ocean City Fishing Center. During the winter months, Capt. Mark runs charters in the Lower Keys.
