I have been down herer only for a couple of months and have had good luck catching small/medium trout with live shrimp. I read articles about how good croaker are to fish with but I buy them and they are usually dead before I can even get on fish. (Well, most of the die) I usually put a dozen in each 5 gallon bucket and get new water out of the bay often. I also have put frozen water bottles in with the bait and it has helped. I don't have a live well, so should I get a bait bucket tied off in the water while I drift?
Another question is how should I fish them. I drift across areas throwing shrimp under an alemeda until I catch a trout and then anchor and stick around for a while. Can I throw croaker and drift too? I have only freelined them while anchored when I manage to find the trout and it has worked, but most of the croaker are dead by then. Its pretty frustrating to catch and release on shrimp with 10-14 inch fish and the only keepers were off of the few croaker that survived the drift to find the fish.

you can use piggie perch to catch your trophy trout .. piggies are tougher than croakers so they will last longer in your bait holder .. that's my opinion :-)

I agree that piggies about the size of a silver dollar are some darned good trout bait.

I have used a Carolina rig and drifted the bottom with little piggies and the trout will just about yank the rod out of the boat when the hit.

The croaker are dying due to many reaasons, they are sensitive fish, if you look at them wrong they die..LOl

More then likely the aalinity is different in the water you are putting them in and that gets them in that small a space.

Piggies works just as well.

What we use when we dont have a live well is a bucket with a Mr. Bubbles aereator from acadamy. They are only like 10 bucks and clip on to the side of the bucket and have a tube that drops to the bottom of the bucket that keeps air circulating. The combinations of that and frozen water bottels has kept very few from dying on me. I find the best way to fish them is to carolina rig'em so that they stay toward the bottom but have the freedom to take line and swim around. As far as the hook I use a small trebble hooked through the back just behined the dorsal fin or a small circle hook through the bottom and up through the top lip. If you get one of those inexpensive aereators that will save you a lot of hassle.

The way I have always fished them is freelined, maybe a small split shot about 2 feet up. i hook them above the lateral line and behind the dorsal fin leaning more to the tail..this keeps the fish swimming down like he is munching on some trout eggs........plus I hardly ever set the hook at the first hit, i let hem come back and get it while i have my rod pointed horizontally to the water and sometimes will open the spool and let them run..then a gentle pull.

Your croakers are croaking for many reasons. Number 1 being lack of oxygen. I built a big tank and keep mine on pure oxygen. It acutally "super charges" them and they are more lively than when I bought them. The oxygen system is pricy, so I suggest investing in a Mr. Bubbles. They won't be jumping out of the bucket, but will be alive. Also, go to Wal-Mart and look for a bottle of Stress Coat in the aquarium section. Pour a few teaspoons of Stress Coat in your bucket. This helps keep the slime on the croakers and helps them heal. If the croakers don't have slime, don't waste your time.

Solid Action, your a poet and you don't even know it

Sorry I had to say it

I have a large shad tank will the croakers stay alive in that. It makes sense that they would after everything I have just read? I figure if it will keep shad alive then it should keep just about anything alive.

Yes, croaker like the round corners as well, actually no corners in circle......

I have never taken a boat to port a. but I am this year. my buddies and I are taking a 21 ft center console fishmaster. We usually have guided trips, but are ready to take it on ourselves and we considered catching as many croaker as we could to chop up as chum and keep alive for bait. I wasn't sure how to keep them alive, now we are taking the shad tank. Are we on the right track wanting to catch them to use as chum and bait? and where do we fish them, jetties, rigs, or in the bays?

bays mainly is the best bet....i would not buy any to cut up into chum though, that would be expensive....try catching mullet for that.

All very good advice, if you plan on fishing with bait a bunch, you might look into a O2 system, can pay for itself. Cheaper but a bit more work is the Mr. Bubbles, baitbucket, frozen bottles(Try cardboard paper ice cream or milk containers, fill with clean saltwater and freeze, tear off the paper and put in the 5 gl bucket, releases oxygenated water, and cools the water too) when drifting put the bucket over the side, just don't forget when time to get up on plane. Suggest you try the stuff S.A mentions or Pogey Saver from Academy, Wal-mart also I believe. Really helps.
Would suggest looking into piggies also as SB and A.T. said. If work is the NAS you should be able to put a perch trap down somewhere and not have it raided. Free Bait!
Try the King ranch shoreline south of Pita in 3-4 foot of water, look for scattered grass beds, and especially any little baitfish you see flipping out of the water, not a school of mullet type showering but any little baitfish flipping out of the water. Trout have been in 2-3' as of late, but the weather will warm up and move them a bit deeper.
Brit, no need to chum for trout, if they're in the area they'll find the bait you throw. Plus if the chum chunks don't sink them the gulls show up and when you cast they'll dive down and grab the croaker/piggie before it get too low into the water. You can use a split shot or egg sinker, to get the bait down quicker but sometimes any pressure on the line will make the fishing tougher.
I hook below the lateral line just avove the anal fin, where the anal fin bones are. Try above or below, to see what works for you. I do hook my piggies above the lateral line at the jetties when using "TOO's Famous Slip Rig" for reds. Good advice from everyone, take it all out and experiment. That's the best part.

My boat's live well system will keep croakers alive all day in 90+ degree weather. In fact went saturday and had 4 doz and had to throw 2doz back at 4pm when we bought them at 6am. All you need is a livewell system that will draw the water from the bay, force spray it into the well and let the over flow drain back overboard. If you ever look at bait shops that keep the croakers croaking they are drawing water from the bay and lettting the overflow spill back into the bay. The same goes for shad, no need for O2 unless you think you need an edge.

I'm with Wahoo on this one. My dad and I just recently bought a new boat and we went out for our first trip last weekend. He's been all over-excited and went out and bought one of these new ice-chests with an oxygen tank to keep the croakers alive. Never mind the fact we just bought a boat with three re-circulating live wells on it. I think he may not have had the new O2 systems set up right or he may have crowded the croaker, but by time we got to the first hole, they were ALL dead. Sooo.... Pull up anchor, back to dock, and a few dozen more croaker into the re-circulating live well. Left the pumps on and it kept the croaker alive for 6 hours in the blistering heat. I think we can probabaly incorporate the oxygen system into the existing wells, but I don't think there is any substitute for fresh bay water.