[Mumbo_Pungo]

So I have been surf fishing most of my life. Fresh shrimp has always been my go to bait for sea mullet, pompano, and even puppy drum on occasion. Over the past 5 years i have heard more and more about fish bites. I'd like to get some opinions from the guys who use both fresh natural bait and fish bites. What is your opinion of them?

 

[AbuMike]

The plain and simple is......They both work and both have their place....

 

[enoman]

good thing about fishbites is it stays on the hook. you sometimes have to cut it off. shrimp is good for 1 fish. I catch about the same size fish on either 1. have also used gulp baits cut into little 1/4'' ringlets. it works good too. but sometimes....they only want the freshest bait you can find.

 

[tjbjornsen]

FB Fan here.
Every citation Pomp I've caught over the course of the last couple of years has come on FB or a combo of FB & fresh bait.
I can throw a rig baited with a combination of fresh shrimp or fleas and FB to the outside bar and know that 15 minutes later I will still have something that will interest Mr. Pompano on my hook.
I will often use a combo of two different colors for added attraction, and that seems to work as well.
If I am fishing in close, with rod in hand, I will more likely use fresh shrimp or fleas.
And for as well as they work, you absolutely cannot beat the convenience & cost.
YMMV...
TjB

 

[Digger54]

I agree with tjbjornsen.

I use sand flea flavor/ezflea which is an orange Fish Bite as a back up to fresh shrimp or tipping Pompano lures when I can't get live sand fleas. I have never had luck on the red shrimp or red bloodworm flavor but that is not to say others haven't.

 

[vaycay fishin]

Yea my tackle box will never be without fishbites again. Awesome for when you dont want to deal with fresh bait or for when those pesky bait stealers are picking your shrimp off. Shrimp flavor is good but i have had the most luck with sand flea or bloodworm flavor. Haven't tried the other flavors yet. I even caught a 10 inch flounder last year on fb bloodworm. Another plus is i have never caught a shark on fishbites. Maybe im just lucky but i have seen anglers all around me bringing up those small blacktips off the pier and im still catching whiting and spots.

 

[Mumbo_Pungo]

Sounds like it cant hurt to have them on hand. Think ill give them a try next time im out. Thanks for the info guys!

 

[goldencreek]

I have fished all day at Oak Island one rod with various Fishbite products and one rod with fresh shrimp and Sand fleas.Never caught anything on the Fishbites.

 

[letmefish]

I have fished all day at Oak Island one rod with various Fishbite products and one rod with fresh shrimp and Sand fleas.Never caught anything on the Fishbites.

My bother tried the same experiment, and his results were quite the opposite. Did you swap rods locations during your experiment? One time I fished with my two rods using only fresh shrimp, one rod caught all the fish and the other rod didn't catch anything till I swapped them around. The casting spots were about 15 or so yards apart, I swapped rods and the action stayed in the same spot. One spot was productive, and the other one was not. Go figure, but that's fishing I suppose.

 

[Elgreco]

Some days they hit fishbites and some days they hit other bait. That's just saltwater fishing. I caught a flounder on fishbites before. Had a hilo rig and I was just reeling it in to go home and a flounder grabbed it.

 

[RjTheMetalhead]

I've caught quite a few keeper flounder and slot drum on the bloodworm fisbites.
Any flavor I've tried has caught fish....
Doesn't replace fresh shrimp or sand fleas but is always good to have in the bag

 

[surffshr]

I like to carry fresh shrimp and fishbites. Seems A lot of times the real shrimp lasts about 5 minutes. So lately I put a piece of fishbites on the hook with the shrimp. Or at least on the high or low hook.

 

[NC KingFisher]

Ive had pretty good success with the blood worms, from whiting and spot at oki to croaker in virginia. I use small pieces on sabikis when trying to make bait when there are lots of pinfish around. I cant justify buying real bloodworms to catch king and shark bait

 

[fishiker]

We've been using the Bag O Worms for years and I can only remember one occasion when we had to switch to live bloodworms to catch fish. Dollar for dollar you get more bait using FB over live bait and there is no need to refrigerate the leftovers. Normally you can catch several fish on a piece of bait before needing a new piece. We have had good success catching mullet using pieces of the E-Z Flea on the trailer jig of a trout rig.

 

[flatty]

When the spots are biting I have done just as good on the bloodworm fishbites as real bloodworms. As far as surf fishing goes, I have done better with natural baits.

 

[JamesRiverVa]

I use fishbites cut into small pieces on sabiki rigs to catch small spot, croaker and pinfish for bait and it works like a charm. Usually use bloodworm flavor for that.

So far I haven't had much luck using fishbites in the surf, though. I've tried it by itself, and as a combo with a live sand flea or fresh shrimp. So far I've caught more fish on fresh bait alone, than I've caught on either fishbites alone or fishbites paired with bait. This is over the last 3 or 4 summers, on 2-week trips to the OBX with the family. My guess is that if I keep on trying, the law of averages will kick in and I'll have some luck with the fishbites also.

 

[Mumbo_Pungo]

Do yall keep them in the cooler or does it not matter?

 

[Digger54]

Do yall keep them in the cooler or does it not matter?

No need to keep cold, but you do want to keep them sealed in their bag so they do not dry out and get stiff.

 

[tjbjornsen]

No need to keep cold, but you do want to keep them sealed in their bag so they do not dry out and get stiff.

And for extended periods of storage I will take the time to roll the bags up really tight, pushing out as much air as possible, and then store them in a tightly sealed ziplock.
If I had one of those food-saver vacuum sealer things I would even use that.
Nothing worse that opening up 4 or 5 half used bags on your first Spring trip only to find that you have a bunch of crunchy bait...

 

[Piddlin]

I always have FB blood worms with me. The sand flea seemed to work good. I have not had much luck with the shrimp. It comes down to what the fish want that day. My last time out, the would only touch fresh shrimp. Nothing on FB or salted shrimp.