# Fish bites?



## Mumbo_Pungo

So I have been surf fishing most of my life. Fresh shrimp has always been my go to bait for sea mullet, pompano, and even puppy drum on occasion. Over the past 5 years i have heard more and more about fish bites. I'd like to get some opinions from the guys who use both fresh natural bait and fish bites. What is your opinion of them?


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## AbuMike

The plain and simple is......They both work and both have their place....


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## enoman

good thing about fishbites is it stays on the hook. you sometimes have to cut it off. shrimp is good for 1 fish. I catch about the same size fish on either 1. have also used gulp baits cut into little 1/4'' ringlets. it works good too. but sometimes....they only want the freshest bait you can find.


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## tjbjornsen

FB Fan here.
Every citation Pomp I've caught over the course of the last couple of years has come on FB or a combo of FB & fresh bait.
I can throw a rig baited with a combination of fresh shrimp or fleas and FB to the outside bar and know that 15 minutes later I will still have something that will interest Mr. Pompano on my hook.
I will often use a combo of two different colors for added attraction, and that seems to work as well.
If I am fishing in close, with rod in hand, I will more likely use fresh shrimp or fleas.
And for as well as they work, you absolutely cannot beat the convenience & cost.
YMMV...
TjB


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## Digger54

I agree with tjbjornsen. 

I use sand flea flavor/ezflea which is an orange Fish Bite as a back up to fresh shrimp or tipping Pompano lures when I can't get live sand fleas. I have never had luck on the red shrimp or red bloodworm flavor but that is not to say others haven't.


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## vaycay fishin

Yea my tackle box will never be without fishbites again. Awesome for when you dont want to deal with fresh bait or for when those pesky bait stealers are picking your shrimp off. Shrimp flavor is good but i have had the most luck with sand flea or bloodworm flavor. Haven't tried the other flavors yet. I even caught a 10 inch flounder last year on fb bloodworm. Another plus is i have never caught a shark on fishbites. Maybe im just lucky but i have seen anglers all around me bringing up those small blacktips off the pier and im still catching whiting and spots.


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## Mumbo_Pungo

Sounds like it cant hurt to have them on hand. Think ill give them a try next time im out. Thanks for the info guys!


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## goldencreek

I have fished all day at Oak Island one rod with various Fishbite products and one rod with fresh shrimp and Sand fleas.Never caught anything on the Fishbites.


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## letmefish

goldencreek said:


> I have fished all day at Oak Island one rod with various Fishbite products and one rod with fresh shrimp and Sand fleas.Never caught anything on the Fishbites.


My bother tried the same experiment, and his results were quite the opposite. Did you swap rods locations during your experiment? One time I fished with my two rods using only fresh shrimp, one rod caught all the fish and the other rod didn't catch anything till I swapped them around. The casting spots were about 15 or so yards apart, I swapped rods and the action stayed in the same spot. One spot was productive, and the other one was not. Go figure, but that's fishing I suppose.


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## Elgreco

Some days they hit fishbites and some days they hit other bait. That's just saltwater fishing. I caught a flounder on fishbites before. Had a hilo rig and I was just reeling it in to go home and a flounder grabbed it.


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## RjTheMetalhead

I've caught quite a few keeper flounder and slot drum on the bloodworm fisbites. 
Any flavor I've tried has caught fish....
Doesn't replace fresh shrimp or sand fleas but is always good to have in the bag


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## surffshr

I like to carry fresh shrimp and fishbites. Seems A lot of times the real shrimp lasts about 5 minutes. So lately I put a piece of fishbites on the hook with the shrimp. Or at least on the high or low hook.


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## NC KingFisher

Ive had pretty good success with the blood worms, from whiting and spot at oki to croaker in virginia. I use small pieces on sabikis when trying to make bait when there are lots of pinfish around. I cant justify buying real bloodworms to catch king and shark bait


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## fishiker

We've been using the Bag O Worms for years and I can only remember one occasion when we had to switch to live bloodworms to catch fish. Dollar for dollar you get more bait using FB over live bait and there is no need to refrigerate the leftovers. Normally you can catch several fish on a piece of bait before needing a new piece. We have had good success catching mullet using pieces of the E-Z Flea on the trailer jig of a trout rig.


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## flatty

When the spots are biting I have done just as good on the bloodworm fishbites as real bloodworms. As far as surf fishing goes, I have done better with natural baits.


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## JamesRiverVa

I use fishbites cut into small pieces on sabiki rigs to catch small spot, croaker and pinfish for bait and it works like a charm. Usually use bloodworm flavor for that.

So far I haven't had much luck using fishbites in the surf, though. I've tried it by itself, and as a combo with a live sand flea or fresh shrimp. So far I've caught more fish on fresh bait alone, than I've caught on either fishbites alone or fishbites paired with bait. This is over the last 3 or 4 summers, on 2-week trips to the OBX with the family. My guess is that if I keep on trying, the law of averages will kick in and I'll have some luck with the fishbites also.


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## Mumbo_Pungo

Do yall keep them in the cooler or does it not matter?


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## Digger54

Mumbo_Pungo said:


> Do yall keep them in the cooler or does it not matter?


No need to keep cold, but you do want to keep them sealed in their bag so they do not dry out and get stiff.


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## tjbjornsen

Digger54 said:


> No need to keep cold, but you do want to keep them sealed in their bag so they do not dry out and get stiff.


And for extended periods of storage I will take the time to roll the bags up really tight, pushing out as much air as possible, and then store them in a tightly sealed ziplock.
If I had one of those food-saver vacuum sealer things I would even use that.
Nothing worse that opening up 4 or 5 half used bags on your first Spring trip only to find that you have a bunch of crunchy bait...


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## Piddlin

I always have FB blood worms with me. The sand flea seemed to work good. I have not had much luck with the shrimp. It comes down to what the fish want that day. My last time out, the would only touch fresh shrimp. Nothing on FB or salted shrimp.


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## oldguy

I have had great luck with the bloodworm Fish Bites for spots off the pier. I use the shrimp on the planks and the surf to catch my bait fish when targeting reds in the fall. If that is slow, apply a little Pro Cure shrimp scent to the FB. The trick is to keep whatever Fish Bite product you use as air tight as possible when in storage.


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## Windjinx

I also use them. A trick that I use for storing them is I precut them to the size I use and store them in a couple of my old pill bottles. Then I don't have to worry about getting the bag sealed properly.


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## Digger54

Windjinx said:


> I also use them. A trick that I use for storing them is I precut them to the size I use and store them in a couple of my old pill bottles. Then I don't have to worry about getting the bag sealed properly.


I tried that once but the fish kept getting stoned on the Oxycodone dust.


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## greg12345

Not my go to bait but usually have them around if I can't get fleas. BW, shrimp, clam, crab, sand flea flavor...crab has been the worst for me, BW probably the best


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## letmefish

Digger54 said:


> I tried that once but the fish kept getting stoned on the Oxycodone dust.


OMG!!! I dang near sprayed Mountain Dew all over my monitor when I read that post.

Sometimes ya just never know what you are going to read on here. 

The pill bottle is a good idea though. Think I'll give it a try, but I'll wash them out first so as not to get the fish high.  Hehehe.


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## pmcdaniel

Like many others I've had the most luck with the Bloodworm alternative. It's still not as good as a tiny piece of the real thing when it comes to Spot and Croaker though, or even young Black Drum. If they are in the area you'll either have an empty hook or a fish on it. If I keep coming back with empty hooks or the bite is slow I'll switch to the alternative and let it soak. The nice thing is it's very hard to steal off the hook, so you can let the fish hook himself. I've had some luck with shrimp in the orange, but I think I need to start cutting the pieces in half for bottom fishing. I only use small pieces of the Bloodworm flavor. I also do some fishing when traveling for work, and Fishbites are absolutely great for those times where it's difficult to get or keep fresh bait.


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## Razor1138

Fish Bites and salted shrimp...but like others have said, sometimes they just want fresh bait. But it doesn't hurt to have a bag or two on hand.


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## pern

Where can one buy fishbites?


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## Razor1138

pern said:


> Where can one buy fishbites?


Bass Pro and any Wal-Mart near the beach. They can be hard to find sometimes, especially the blood worm ones. I would recommend buying some online, better chance of them being in stock. Also check local tackle shop.


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## pern

Thanks Razor. I will be buying some FB's for my trip down this weekend to the OBX.


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## blue82

Bloodworm seems to work the best for spot, croaker and mullet. Never had anything "big" hit one. I always cary them though since they don't take up too much space and don't seem to go bad if moisture doesn't get to them. If I see sand flea flavor, I'm going to give it a go.


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## BoilermakerJohn

pro tip. Raccoons really like fishbites. They pulled 8 bags of them out of one of my tackle bags and ate every single piece.


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## pmcdaniel

I bet they had a tummy ache after all that!


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## oldguy

I was skeptical of FB baits when they first came out. Then I started hearing of people buying the product in bulk from Wal Mart and re-selling it at flea markets for a small markup. I figured the stuff must be selling. I use the shrimp to catch my first fish and then cut up the fish for bait. I have had great luck on the pier with the blood worm product when the spots are running. The fleas are great in the summer for pomps in the suds. As someone said above, the shrimp is good with a little ProCure on it for reds. Once I had a spot hit a FB shrimp while fishing for bait. While reeling it in, a red hit the spot and 30 minutes later I had a 28 lb. red on the beach and on 17 lb. test line. Gotta love it.


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## hifu

Had to jump in here and I thought I would never buy the stuff ever again, but, today I purchased some to give em a shot. Was fishing just s of Rhodanthe and got into a few mullet for dinner. Then noticed a twitch on the pole and pulled in a just under keeper drum. Small hooks, tiny piece of FB.......unbelievable. I'll just keep my mouth shut about discussing them now on.


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## SmoothLures

Two pomps 2 lb and 1.5 lbs in a couple hour trip right before dark in dingy water is all it took to convince me. Got in town and said I'm going fishing. No bait shops were open and no fleas were visible. Just a piece of shrimp flavor FB, no flea, no shrimp, no bead. The cooler of whiting was just a bonus. I use and highly prefer the no mesh fast melting shrimp strips cut into 1/2" cubes. Pink, green, orange have all worked.


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## Razor1138

BoilermakerJohn said:


> pro tip. Raccoons really like fishbites. They pulled 8 bags of them out of one of my tackle bags and ate every single piece.


This x100


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## DrumintheSuds

I started using it several years ago and have had huge success. I have caught everything you can imagine on it even a 48" drum....I have found the pink and green shrimp to be the most consistent producer so I always keep a double rig with one of each in the water.

I buy it in bulk and immediately put the packs in the freezer. If you keep it sealed up in the original pouch or a ziplock bag and keep it in the freezer between trips it will remain fresh


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## HossRoss

Yes Sir.
Field mice made there way into my building to the open tackle bag and devoured my FB.
Going with a Tupperware box for storage now.


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## Alexy

pern said:


> Where can one buy fishbites?


Go to the web page and get them directly. http://fishbites.com/
I get several and try them out since local shops seem to run out rather quickly.Shipping on a bunch is cheap and they are quick. I got mine in 4 days. 
As far as fishing withthem I have had excellent results in surf with the sand flea blood worm and clam on everything from pompano to flounder, croaker, mullet and even bagged a spanish mackerel with one off Avon pier last year.


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