Using Fish As Bait — Anchovies

[Ken Jones]

Using Fish as Bait in California​

In California, anglers are presented several species of fish that can be used as bait. Most can be caught by anglers themselves but some can also be bought at bait shops. However, most bait shops no longer carry live bait, just frozen bait.

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Anchovies. When I was a teenager fishing at Newport Pier live anchovies, northern anchovies, Engraulis mordax, were the bait used by the vast majority of anglers. Out at the end of the pier there was a ramshackle bait and tackle shop and at one end there was an open window where you got your anchovies. Anchovies were a little cheaper then, about $.50 a dozen (although they were a nickel apiece if you got them separately), and you used ticket stubs to get them. Generally, one man handled the money and another (usually a fellow student) handled the net for the anchovies. You stood in line—there was almost always a line—then you presented your tickets for a few anchovies. You always got just a few at a time. That way the anchovies wouldn’t die from the lack of oxygen in the small bait buckets. I always thought it must be a boring job for the person who stood there bailing out the anchovies hour after hour (although they did get to meet a few young ladies). As a fairly young resident pier rat, I made out pretty good. Many times anglers would buy tickets and then have some left over when they were ready to leave. They would give them to the kids, myself included.

Today, no piers offer live anchovies as a bait. It cost too much to have the bait boats visit the pier, it cost to much for the various tanks and equipment needed to supply the bait, and it cost way too much for the insurance that would be needed. However, live anchovies are still the top bait for many species including many of the most prized fish such as halibut, bonito and barracuda. Because of this, more and more anglers are using nets to catch their own live anchovies.

To keep the anchovies lively, and they must be frisky if they're going to be good bait, they buy an aerator. Many tackle shops carry small battery operated aerators, which clip onto the side of bait buckets. They usually cost under $10 and are well worth the expense since you’ll have much livelier bait. A second approach is to keep a live bait bucket with you which can be lowered down and pulled up from the water as you need fresh bait (although some object to a lot of equipment hanging down from a pier into the water where fish may be brought up since it gives the fish one more thing to become entangled with).

Of course once our sturdy anglers have live bait, they must know how to use it correctly. For live anchovies, most anglers use a Carolina rigging with a one or two-ounce sinker and a size 4-2 hook. Fishing this rig on the bottom is one of the best halibut rigs when fishing the depressions between the pilings. Although primarily used for halibut the same rig and bait can also catch bass, sharks and rays. Its not as productive in the surf or down around the pilings.

A sliding, live bait leader can also be used. The line is cast out with a sinker. A leader, generally 3-4 feet long with a snap-swivel at one end and a hook at the other is used. The baitfish is hooked and simply slid down the line to the water. If halibut are the goal, hook the anchovy through the nose or through the upper and lower lips; both ways will generally insure it heads toward the bottom. Or, you can hook it behind the anal fin. This also tends to move the anchovy toward the bottom and is useful since halibut like to grab bait from behind.

If the preference is fishing the upper levels of the water many anglers will cast out a Cast-a-Bubble. The hook and fish are at the end of the line while the Cast-a-Bubble is several feet up the line. The anchovy can be hooked a couple of different ways. One way is through the lower and upper jaws; this will prevent the fish from drowning. You can also hook the anchovy in the “collar” area just behind the gills; this is the most common way to hook live anchovies on boats although it is less effective on a pier. Collar-hooked anchovies will tend to stay nearer the surface of the water (which is better for mackerel, bonito and barracuda) until they begin to tire and move toward the bottom. At that point you should put fresh bait on your hook.

Perhaps the most common bait used by pier fishermen is frozen anchovies. These are sold border to border, usually in one-pound bags, and are one of the main baits throughout the state. Unfortunately when thawed out they quickly soften up and may need some “Magic Thread” to keep them from falling off the hook. Most commonly a whole anchovy is put on a hook and it is tossed out. A far better method is to use the frozen anchovies as cut bait. Cut the fish into two or three pieces using diagonal cuts then put these on your hooks. An exception is when fishing for sharks, rays, or striped bass when a whole anchovy is preferred.

Less common today but still seen at times, primarily in the Los Angeles and San Diego areas, are salted anchovies. They work the same as frozen anchovies but are tougher and will not fall off the hook when thawed. Many anglers swear they are better than the frozen variety.