We'll be in PA over the weekend and would like to know what bait is available, where it is available, and what is the cost this year. Does anyone sell the Black Salty bait in PA?

Was bait available all weekend last weekend?

You sharing your knowledge is appreciated.

Im not too sure about getting good bait on the island but i know u can find Shrimp pretty easily. I usually pick up my croakers, piggies or whatever on the causeway between corpus and the island. That is quite a ways from port a, about a 30 min drive but I am coming from corpus, so its no prob for me. U can get croaker on the island but it seems that most of the places sell out pretty quick. Black saltys are also on the causeway but I dont ever get them. I am sure u could also get bait in aransas pass but the ferrys will be packed like a champ this weekend. If u r down there and cant find bait, give clems a call and see what they have. It is a drive but u just never know what u will find. Not too many places sell mullet for whatever the reason. I have been told it is tough to keep them because of their jumping ability. There is a place on the island that will have them in later months though. I guess I can sum this up and just tell u that everytime I am meeting friends in the morning, its easiest for me to grab the bait because there is almost always a ton to be had on the causeway. There are quite a few bait shops by scoopys. Good luck and post a report when u get back. If u cant find any good bait to buy, u could always castnet u some live finger mullett.

what's a quart of live shrimp running? dozen croaker? (rockport area )

pete's bait stand usally has all the bait on the island (quart 10$)

Came back yesterday. Shrimp and croaker were available all day everyday except Saturday morning. We purchased at Woodie's for $12.00 a quart. I did not purchase or price croakers.

I was there this past weekend. Shrimp was $5 a pint and $10 a quart at Port A Outfitters. Woddy's is like a dollar more and they sold croaker for $6 a dozen.

At Fulton harbour bait stands I bought croaker for
$4.00 a dozen and live shrimp for $5.00 a pint.
You will need to keep circulating fresh saltwater
or the croakers and shrimp will die fast. Also aerate your bait but most of all keep them in plenty of fresh saltwater because in the heat they will die in a hurry! Bait is plentiful at Rockport and Fulton this week, but that may change soon because of the high fuel cost.
Bait shop owners are worried because there are
so many shrimp boats up for sale right now. If they (shrimp boats) got out and come back with one bad load, it can bankrupt them and has many times.
By the way the trout fishing was great in the Fulton/Aransas bay area this past weekend and they
will hit a croaker twice as fast as a shrimp.
I used to like to fish the PA area but just too many boats in that area right now and that really scatters the fish.
Good luck and tight lines!!

Some good info L13. Thanks. I'll be down at Rockport/PA in July. But this weekend I'm going to Jamaica beach. I need to find some live bait there. Does anybody have any ideas? Croakers, shrimp, mullet?

I stick to artaficials but if i take women and children croakers keep the pests away and generally work better, also more hearty in the box and on the hook

Headed to Port A in two weeks... Do you hook the live croaker through the back or through the lip? In reading several posts, a 4/0 hook and 25# shock leader should do the trick for free lining...yes? Thanks!

The 4/0 hook and 25# shock leader will work fine for Specks. I usually hook them behind the dorsal fin so they can swim around. Hooking them through the lips works fine since Trout usually ead their prey head first (or so I've been told). I think they swim better when hooked in the back though. Just my .02. 6 one way and half a dozen the other as they say.. LOL.. Good luck amigo!

I hook the croaker just above and behind their "waste outlet" (trying to be PC), below their lateral line. It seems to work pretty good. They stay alive longer for me if I hook them there. Hope you catch some. I did really well last year in the surf at Port A freelining shrimp in the second gut. One day I limited out and caught and released about 25 more keepers. What a great day that was.

I caught most of the keeper sized trout this past week by hooking the croaker with a Kahle #4 bait
hook through the bottom lip and up out through the top of the head in the gristle area. I tried the through the dorsal and anal fin areas first
but the trout would have to run with it longer in order to swallow up to the hook and I lost several that spit out the bait hooked that way.
Head first is how the trout were taking the croaker and therefore hook first allowing for a
faster hook set. Also the croaker hooked in this fasion would live longer and I used some of them
over and over. You can catch croaker with a small
treble hook and dead shrimp at nite off most piers
and get the kids to joining in for some great fun!
Also I caught several keeper trout by fishing
cut perch tails on the bottom. Specks love the perch tails for some reason! Great fun and I will
be going back there in about 2 weeks I hope!
Oh, and artificial bite was ten times slower than
live bait this trip.

In the lips Brings them in In the tail encourages them to swim away so if you have structure or a channel away pitch em short and thell swim into it or in the lips chunk em on the other side and bring em across!!! it works