# Fishbites Sand Fleas



## jaac (Feb 17, 2014)

Hello everybody in the USA,

I've seen on the Fishbites bait Facebook website that Fishbites has just released the new Fishbites Sand Flea flavor. I am from Spain and I've never seen anybody using sand fleas for fishing ( in fact, I didn't see any sand fleas on the beaches where I went fishing) so I don't know what kind of fish can I catch with this kind of bait. My question is: what kind of fish do you catch with sand fleas in the USA? what kind of fish are sand fleas GOOD for?
Thank you very much and good fishing.


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## River (Sep 30, 2006)

jaac - Sea Mullet, Pompano, Black Drum, Sheephead and Puppy Drum mainly here in NC, not sure what you call these fish in Spain are if you even have these species in Spain ------ Fishbites work well here in the surf and I'm sure the new Sandflea flavor will fit right in with the Bloodworm flavor --- River


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## surfnsam (Apr 28, 2008)

Also will catch stripers, flounder and dogfish in mid Atlantic. Also called mole crabs u don't see them only tiny holes at waterline then dig and remove from sand. Tautag like them too.


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## jaac (Feb 17, 2014)

Thank you all for your input and advice.


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## NTKG (Aug 16, 2003)

wow. 

wonder how these will do. i always assumed the sanflea bite was often more a visual bite than a scent orientated bite, that being said, will definitely pick a bag up


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## River (Sep 30, 2006)

NTKG -- That's a very good thought, my opinion would be --- Sight first, somewhat according to water color and condition but scent a close second, again Surf condition and clarity. I was fortunate to work at a known tackle shop in Hatteras for a couple years --- during the summer months, the good, great and exceptionally great fisherman, like you and your friends - don't show up --- it's tourists and low priced combo's and it's tough to tell em how to catch fleas, especially when the Rake costs as much as their low priced combo. So I would always tell em how to catch fleas by hand ---- and sell em Fishbites as a backup which I knew they would probably need by their actions. I weighed a lot of Citations and got some nice feedback those two summers on Fishbites by some very unexperience fisherman --- That sold me, now myself - I will always use live fresh bait when available as my first choice but I'm definitely gonna have some Fishbites in my Truck or pack as a backup ---- River


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## gadwall (May 11, 2011)

A quick question for you on this on River. In your experiance with the people that came back with reports on the fishbites, were you able determine from them what flavors/colors were the most effective for individual species?


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## River (Sep 30, 2006)

gadwall - The Red Bloodworm was by far the most popular for all species, that's what we sold the most of - the biggest Sea Mullet I saw caught on Bloodworm Fishbites was 2 lb 2 oz --- River


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## luckyOC (Apr 3, 2010)

.


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## PandaBearJeff (Aug 19, 2013)

River said:


> NTKG -- That's a very good thought, my opinion would be --- Sight first, somewhat according to water color and condition but scent a close second, again Surf condition and clarity. I was fortunate to work at a known tackle shop in Hatteras for a couple years --- during the summer months, the good, great and exceptionally great fisherman, like you and your friends - don't show up --- it's tourists and low priced combo's and it's tough to tell em how to catch fleas, especially when the Rake costs as much as their low priced combo. So I would always tell em how to catch fleas by hand ---- and sell em Fishbites as a backup which I knew they would probably need by their actions. I weighed a lot of Citations and got some nice feedback those two summers on Fishbites by some very unexperience fisherman --- That sold me, now myself - I will always use live fresh bait when available as my first choice but I'm definitely gonna have some Fishbites in my Truck or pack as a backup ---- River


I guess fish have night vision now....


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## PandaBearJeff (Aug 19, 2013)

My whole life ive never seen lures or "appearance" or fake **** ever work. Always real bait, and always scent 1st. But ive never fished clear water. The bay is one disgusting hopeless place.

And all my life... i only been night fishing... but sure. I guess you could try "appearance" from the surf at night. What are you? fishing in a 10 ft pond?


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## greg12345 (Jan 8, 2007)

lures will still work in muddy water....go to any muddy lake w 1foot visibility and throw a chartreuse spinnerbait for largemouth...you just gotta throw it in the right places


as for the fishbites i'm a little skeptical....i'll be using my brined sand fleas instead if i can't get live ones...


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## DrumintheSuds (Nov 19, 2007)

FRESH bait is always best but I will NEVER be without Fishbites in any circumstance when surf fishing for bottom feeders like drum and sea mullet. My dad has fished primarily with it the last 1-1/2 years with great success......I have had a few trips the last couple years where I wouldn't have caught fish had it not been for Fishbites and that's the honest truth. I always start out with fresh bait but I will have one rig out with Fishbites. If they start tearing it up and wont touch my fresh bait I move everything over to what is working.


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## rwh (Dec 10, 2012)

I was wondering the same thing about Gulp! sand fleas. I have such good luck on the swimming mullet, I think I may have to try some of the fleas out:

https://www.basspro.com/Berkley-Saltwater-Gulp!-Sand-Crab/Flea/product/97377/


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## River (Sep 30, 2006)

rwh - I luv the Gulp Swimming Mullet in Chartreuse and White, I'll always have a tub of em close by, caught a lot of nice Flounder and Pups with em but I've not had any success with the Gulp Sand Fleas and I've tried em several times when the fish were biting - again JMO - River


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## NTKG (Aug 16, 2003)

PandaBearJeff said:


> My whole life ive never seen lures or "appearance" or fake **** ever work. Always real bait, and always scent 1st. But ive never fished clear water. The bay is one disgusting hopeless place.
> 
> And all my life... i only been night fishing... but sure. I guess you could try "appearance" from the surf at night. What are you? fishing in a 10 ft pond?


I guess I've been doing it wrong my whole life. Those bassmaster guys have it all wrong too. I wonder what bait those guys are throwing for blues and spanish in the mornings and evenings. Surely the guys on the pier do well to, im sure they also blue and spanish fish with bait at night. I've seen some photos, and they seem to catch fish.

You're at VCU, you should go down to the river and throw some bait for the shad that come up in the river there. I hear they like chunks of fatback.


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## NTKG (Aug 16, 2003)

greg12345 said:


> lures will still work in muddy water....go to any muddy lake w 1foot visibility and throw a chartreuse spinnerbait for largemouth...you just gotta throw it in the right places
> 
> 
> as for the fishbites i'm a little skeptical....i'll be using my brined sand fleas instead if i can't get live ones...


spinner baits/crankbaits in muddier water work for a variety of reasons and also create instrinsic feeding response from bass, willow vs colorado, vs indiana, hammered vs flat. Like an umbrella rig or mojo does to stripers


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## NTKG (Aug 16, 2003)

fishbites work great. Will they outfish livebait? Well, lets put it this way, if i need to catch a bait i try and have real bw's. But thats not to say i dont use fb, i use them quite a bit actually. Let's say you're on a pier and there is a "run" of bait (aka spot). When they're coming by the pier they will usually eat, and there are a lot of them. So who catches more in that scenario, the guy who has to rebait live bloodworms or the guy using fb who rebaits every 10-15 fish?


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## NTKG (Aug 16, 2003)

The sandflea scenario that intrigues me is that in my personal experience (River I know you do a lot more of this type fishing, i'm only speaking on water up this way) that fish (excluding sea monkeys) that preferentially feed on sandfleas are caught moreso in clear water, which lends me to think that they are feeding on sight being that they prefer the sandfleas (and at that usually a certain size) rather than the other baits out. 

It undoubtedly could be a scent relation as well (i just dont know...) or it could need a combination of the two. But the questionable aspect i am referring to is that if the water is stained those particular species that are feeding may no longer be able to see the flea, and therefore either move out of that zone, or change feeding habits, or do not actively feed. In stained water, would a fbbw be more attractive than a fbsandflea, and in clear water, vice versa purely based on scent? Either way I'm happy that the folks at FB decided to at least try it out, I know I will.


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## NTKG (Aug 16, 2003)

rwh said:


> I was wondering the same thing about Gulp! sand fleas. I have such good luck on the swimming mullet, I think I may have to try some of the fleas out:
> 
> https://www.basspro.com/Berkley-Saltwater-Gulp!-Sand-Crab/Flea/product/97377/


GULP! are not a similar bait in comparison to a FB product. GULP! baits smell like "gulps" FB are specific to a product.


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## greg12345 (Jan 8, 2007)

sand fleas are a "sight" bait for me

i use bwfb, fishbites clam (orange), fishbites shrimp (pink) and they all work well but when going after pomps/mullet i would rather have live fleas, fresh shrimp, fresh clam, fresh clam that has been salted, brined fleas, salted shrimp all in that order before any fishbites product...just my 2c from what works for me and comparing

now when spot fishing u cannot beat bwfb in my opinion due to price and durability compared to real bw's


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## RjTheMetalhead (Dec 3, 2011)

PandaBearJeff said:


> My whole life ive never seen lures or "appearance" or fake **** ever work. Always real bait, and always scent 1st. But ive never fished clear water. The bay is one disgusting hopeless place.
> 
> And all my life... i only been night fishing... but sure. I guess you could try "appearance" from the surf at night. What are you? fishing in a 10 ft pond?


November and December nights down in SC a Purple Demon mirrolure works pretty goddamn good.


Had a jar of Gulp sand fleas given to me, couldn't buy a bite off the pier with one. Some hungry hungry endangered sea bass finally took them off my hands.

Every flavor of fishbites I've used has caught fish. Awesome stuff to have in the bag in case I bought some cursed shrimp or damned squid.


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## DrumintheSuds (Nov 19, 2007)

I have to disagree wholeheartedly with sandfleas being primarily a "sight bait". They are crabs and they absolutely give off a scent, especially the females with the orange roe. In fact there is a little trick that I was shown to help get the scent in the water that I knew nothing about until I was schooled on the subject of flea fishing....

There are TONS of little things you can and NEED to do to increase your catch rate with fleas from the hook, how you hook them to the rod you use and where you cast. Until I was "schooled" I spent many a trip coming back with no flea or a flea with nothing left but the shell back. Anybody can catch fish with them but their is an art from to slaying the quality fish with them time and again.


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## AbuMike (Sep 3, 2007)

DrumintheSuds said:


> I have to disagree wholeheartedly with sandfleas being primarily a "sight bait". They are crabs and they absolutely give off a scent, especially the females with the orange roe. In fact there is a little trick that I was shown to help get the scent in the water that I knew nothing about until I was schooled on the subject of flea fishing....
> 
> There are TONS of little things you can and NEED to do to increase your catch rate with fleas from the hook, how you hook them to the rod you use and where you cast. Until I was "schooled" I spent many a trip coming back with no flea or a flea with nothing left but the shell back. Anybody can catch fish with them but their is an art from to slaying the quality fish with them time and again.


So you gonna throw us a tip or 4???


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## AbuMike (Sep 3, 2007)

On a side note....I think this is what jaac is speaking of, not the "Sandfleas"


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## JLOVE (Feb 17, 2012)

geez


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## JLOVE (Feb 17, 2012)

DrumintheSuds said:


> I have to disagree wholeheartedly with sandfleas being primarily a "sight bait". They are crabs and they absolutely give off a scent, especially the females with the orange roe. In fact there is a little trick that I was shown to help get the scent in the water that I knew nothing about until I was schooled on the subject of flea fishing....
> 
> There are TONS of little things you can and NEED to do to increase your catch rate with fleas from the hook, how you hook them to the rod you use and where you cast. Until I was "schooled" I spent many a trip coming back with no flea or a flea with nothing left but the shell back. Anybody can catch fish with them but their is an art from to slaying the quality fish with them time and again.



I must agree with AbuMike! You can't tease us with a lead-in like that.... Teach us O' Wise One.


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## [email protected] (Jul 12, 2006)

Well? We're waiting.....


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## Kenmefish (Apr 21, 2000)

I can see the advantage of using a small piece of orange fishbites with a live sandflea.


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## cooper138 (Aug 8, 2012)

DITS has posted some of his tips here before off hand I can remember soft rods and skinny water, often fishing the top of the bar. Presentation is important as in keeping the fleas natural and on/ very close to the bottom. Many rigs can accomplish that, most of us have a preference so let's leave that one. As far as scent I dunno? give the turds a little pinch before you toss them. Not trying to step on his toes but those are just some I remember off the top of my head.


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## DrumintheSuds (Nov 19, 2007)

The biggest difference for me was switching to lighter equipment. I use 9'-6" to 10'-0" steelhead rods with a medium to light action coupled with Shimano Spheros 4000 reels and braided line. I fish no heavier than a 2-3oz weight with a strong preference for 2oz.....I like owner circle hooks although the large majority of old school flea legends I have known prefer longshank, sticky sharp needle hooks size #2 or #3. When a bottom feeder like a sea mullet or drum picks up your flea and starts to swim off to eat him you want your equipment to do the best job it can of snagging him. Using a lighter weight and a rod that bows (bends) gives you an advantage in that the fish is "less likely" to feel resistance before it's too late. Once he pulls the bow in that rod the hook will make purchase in his jaw and that steelhead rod coupled with the no stretch braid literally sets the hook for you. You basically pick the rod up, tighten it up and reel (there is no setting the hook). When I first started flea fishing a had my big heavy duty drum rods, a 3/0 SS hook and a 5oz weight and I was coming back bare hooked with no fish and wondering why.......You have to lighten up your equipment!

I will add in a couple more tips......

When I push the hook through the flea I STOP the point of the hook as soon as I feel it break the back of his shell. There is no need to hide a hook when fishing with shrimp or cut bait but I think it makes a difference with sandfleas (especially with light biting black drum which is my main target). You want the sharpest hook you can find and KEEP THE HOOK SHARP. You aint gonna catch many fish with fleas and a dull hook but this is common sense.

If the flea doesn't have eggs I don't even bother with it except in the late fall when the fish will hit any flea. I don't like the great big fleas preferring one about the size of my thumbnail.

As far as the "scent" thing goes this is difficult to explain but there is a video out there titled "How to rig for sea mullet" where O.B. Wallace shows you exactly how to peel the sides which is how I was taught to do it. I suggest you check that video out!


There are lots of great tips out there by people with far more flea fishing experience than me. I was fortunate enough to learn very quickly from one of the best before he passed away........THE MOST IMPORTANT tip is at the top of the page......LIGHTEN UP YOUR EQUIPMENT


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## DrumintheSuds (Nov 19, 2007)

I will add this as well.....If you want to learn to really nail the fish with sandfleas you need to dedicate yourself to it. The man that taught me fished with fleas ONLY. If he couldn't find them there were none to be found on the island. He had a dedicated strategy when he hit the beach......He found his bait, looked for the "cleanest" water he could find and methodically cruised up the beach looking for his spots to mark at dead low tide. He fished hard when he knew the fish were on the bar feeding and when they weren't he went to the dunes to rest or rode up and down the beach "LOOKING". The man taught me things about reading water that I never even gave one second of thought over......subtle things that make a difference. He turned fish finding into a game of inches


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## River (Sep 30, 2006)

Good stuff DITS --- I agree on light sensitive equipment, circle hooks and pretty well everything you say, we all know how good soft shell fleas are and wonder why Sea Mullet can find em so quick --- it's Smell !!! DITS --- I call it "poppin off the fender skirts", you got to make your Flea smell better and look pretty, cause it's up against lots of other Fleas. Now the one thing I don't agree on is -- IMO sometimes they don't want a flea with eggs, kinda like sometimes beads work, sometimes they don't -- Like DITS says, lots of small things make a big difference, that's why certain fisherman slay em and others don't. The idea of adding a small piece of Fishbite to a Flea will work I'm sure, I've witnessed people doing that using Shrimp with great success on nice eating size Sea Mullet, the big Sea Mullet get smarter. Besides Sight, Smell and Feel they can still display Fear, if they spook, you ain't gonna catch em with nothing --- be careful DITS, someone will be calling you "Dumb as a Fish" like they did me --- River


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## DrumintheSuds (Nov 19, 2007)

I wouldn't call myself "dedicated" to flea fishing. I learned a LOT from the flea legends but my ears really perked up when the subject of "finding fish" and "reading water" came into play because these guys were the best at finding quality fish......

Until I actually started to listen I did like everybody else. I looked at the water and the beach only. I paid no attention to what was under the sand, what was happening UNDER the waves, the signs up on the beach to look for and the importance of things like BUBBLES in the sand.

I never thought much about water temps either and how one end of the island can SO MUCH BETTER at certain times of year because of those water temps


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## lonewolf0420 (Apr 21, 2014)

How are you guys "fishing" your FishBites? Just hooked on a circle hook, or due you hook the pieces on jigs?


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## 4pac (Jul 29, 2014)

sand fleas do release a smell, as once you drive a hook in them they sort of bleed brownish liquid. also "soft shelled" sandfleas are way better to use, kind of like peeler crabs vs regular blue crabs


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## Gary NZ (8 mo ago)

jaac said:


> Hello everybody in the USA,
> 
> I've seen on the Fishbites bait Facebook website that Fishbites has just released the new Fishbites Sand Flea flavor. I am from Spain and I've never seen anybody using sand fleas for fishing ( in fact, I didn't see any sand fleas on the beaches where I went fishing) so I don't know what kind of fish can I catch with this kind of bait. My question is: what kind of fish do you catch with sand fleas in the USA? what kind of fish are sand fleas GOOD for?
> Thank you very much and good fishing.


Hi there Im from New Zealand. We do not have any sand fleas here but the Fishbties Sand Flea scented bait is a winner here. I fish mainly surf over sand. The surf species here are varied but trevally (jack family) and snapper are common. Trevally cannot resist the sand flea baits and must be identifying the smell/taste with our common paddle crabs which they feed on all the time. I would be confident in saying that worldwide this will be a real winner for surf fishers. WE are proving that already.


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## Gary NZ (8 mo ago)

Hi there from New Zealand. We are learners with Fishbites which are just being put on the shelves here








now, I have been fishing Fishbites for over a year sussing out possibilities with our saltwater species. It has been an eye opener and has changed my fishing approach and techniques. Better results than with natural bait is one thing but the convenience makes this product a real winner. We have caught 16 different species during the trials including all the premier sportfish and plenty of odds and sods as we have been fishing. At this stage most fishing has been in the surf. I have tried most of the baits and Crab and Sand Flea have been standouts. I have caught fish in water the colour of milky coffee and in water so clear you can hardly see it. WE have caught at day and night using the baits on their own and in conjunction with fresh baits. We have lots to learn but I have to say that Fishbites are making a very good impression here in the Southern Hemisphere.


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## Furball (Sep 20, 2002)

Good to hear. Congratulations!!!


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