[SHUT UP AND FISH]

I am going to florida this summer and I need some tips on how to catch houndies, also know as needle nose fish. The reason I want to catch these is to use as baracuda bate. It worked great last year. We would catch the houndies and then put a treble hook on each end, rig it onto our big poles and drop in off the pier. With luck the fish would swim the right way and we would catch a HUGE cuda. We used steel leaders with a bobber 6 feet away from the bait. It is the coolest thing bobber fishing for cuda. Somtimes it would be hard to catch the needle nose fish though. I was using a bass pole with a 2 foot steel leader and live bait fish caught off a biki rig. They did not want to bite any thing other than live bait fish. Also when I tried to set the hook it would get wanked right out of thier mouth. I had to wait for them to swallow the bait before I set the hook. Can you guys give me some tips on how to catch these fish without using live bait fish? What kind of rigs and techniques do I need to know about? Thanks for you help. And as you guys would say "tight lines"

 

[Live_Bait]

shutup, I used to have the same dilemma as you. The best bait for houdies is live-bait. You can throw jigs out there that mimic live bait fish and that are very erratic. The hounds will go up to them and "test bite" and if you set the hook at the right time you will get a houndie. If your an experienced angler, just hook on a dead sardine and jig and move your pole in the best motion so it mimics a live bait. You can get a few hookups that way.

 

[SHUT UP AND FISH]

The needle nose dont really have a mouth though, just a bunch of sharp teeth and bone, nothing to sink a hook into. What type of hooks do you use and where do u set it?

 

[Live_Bait]

You have made a very good point there that needlnose have a toothy mouth which in turn makes hook setting a tricky procedure. When i'm fishing live bait i just use a regular gamagatsu hook thats VERY SHARP! When houndies go for live they usually go for the kill and devour the whole thing. If you ever bass fished before, you should know that before the you set the hook using a worm, you have to wait a little for the bass to eat it. same thing for houndies when fishing live bait. Dont just set the hook as soon as you feel the bite, wait a little and then set it-not too long though or you will have to cut the fish open to get the hook out. AS for lures, anything that mimics live fish preferably with 2 or more treble hooks. Plugs work reall good also.

 

[flistell]

Would NOT us a swivel--use blood or double surgeon's knot. Needlefish will hit your swivel, even black, more often than the hook. I use 12-14# test with and 80# leader. They bite the swivel and all is lost.

 

[SHUT UP AND FISH]

what bait do you use? what kind of hooks?

 

[flistell]

CATCH QUITE A FEW ON SPOONS WHEN LOOKING FOR BLUEFISH. Haven't tried to actually catch them, like I have a choice, but I rarely use bait.