Pigfish make a great bait for catching bottom fish as well as tarpon. Most anglers don’t catch a lot of pigfish at once, but when you do catch a few, put them in your bait bucket. Pigfish are best for still fishing or with a very slow drift. You can use them as cut bait too though, as most saltwater species of fish will eat some cut bait.
Tomtate are located on the bottom and they hang out in large schools. When you find a school of tomtate, they will find any small baits faster than other fish. You will end up bringing in one after another.
White Grunt
Most anglers consider white grunt as great bait for bigger fish such as grouper. However, some anglers do fish for them and they do eat them too. If you get into a school of these fish in the 12 to 15 inch range, you can get plenty of meat for a meal in a short amount of time. One of the problems with these fish is that they hang out near snapper and grouper along the reefs and wrecks and because those other fish have such short fishing seasons, you will be doing a lot of catch and release plus venting too. It can be a nuisance to try to find the fish you want to keep for a meal, however, it can be a lot of fun fishing for these fish. When you find a big school of them, you can catch a lot of fish very quickly.
