Bait in the Tampa Bay Area

Cigar Minnow

Posted on July 19, 2020 at 3:56 pm by Charles Walker / Bait in the Tampa Bay Area

Cigar minnows, cigarfish, or hard tails are all “Round Scad”, Decapterus punctatus. They grow commonly to 6 inches but can be as large as 12 inches. The picture at the top of the page is a Big eye Scad. As the name belies, they are cigar shaped and have a line of enlarged scaled running….

Blue Runner

Posted on July 19, 2020 at 3:40 pm by Charles Walker / Bait in the Tampa Bay Area

Blue runner, hard tail jack, yellow jack, yellow mackerel and runner are all Caranx crysos. Whatever name you attach, they’re great bait for larger fish. They are very hardy in the baitwell and can swim surprisingly fast for long distances on the hook. They commonly grow to 12-14 inches but are said to reach 20 inches…..

Ballyhoo

Posted on July 19, 2020 at 3:34 pm by Charles Walker / Bait in the Tampa Bay Area

Ballyhoo or balao, can you tell the difference? There are supposed to be three species in the Gulf of Mexico, but I’m not going to bore you with the differences. Some mistakenly call them needlefish, but you can easily tell these two apart…

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Bait in the Tampa Bay Area

Cigar Minnow

Blue Runner

Ballyhoo

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