Natural Bait Or Plastic Or Wooden Lures For Marlin?
Bait, or actual fish that marlin like to eat, is often touted as one of the best ways to get marlin to bite. What better way to attract a fish than to trail its favorite snack in front of its face, right? Yet for many people, artificial lures made of wood or plastic still reign supreme. In fact, a technique in which several lures are dragged along to make it look like there's a bunch of fleeing fish is a very successful technique, too. If you're about to embark on a deep-sea fishing trip to catch some marlin, you'll want to use the bait or lure with the best chance of catching the marlin in the area you'll be in.
The Type of Marlin Matters
Most marlin go for both bait and lures, but the white marlin is easier to catch when bait is used. This is because the fish doesn't bite on lures the way you want it to, often missing the hook itself. If you're fishing in the Atlantic, Caribbean, or Mediterranean, you'll likely encounter white marlin and should pack your baits accordingly.
The Idea of Using Live Bait Is Off-Putting to Some
If you're just getting into fishing, you'll have to be comfortable with the idea of using live bait. If it's truly off-putting, but you find you have to use something natural, you can use dead fish for natural bait. Just be aware that they obviously are not going to move on the hook as you'd like them to, so you'll have to provide motion yourself to make them look like they're swimming away.
Lures Move Better and May Be More Attractive
Wooden and plastic lures that are made specifically to imitate the movement of a real fish may be more attractive than bait that could move unpredictably (if live) or that might not move as expected (if dead). If your goal is to attract a marlin and make it literally take the bait (or lure), then using an artificial lure could be better. Plus, a plastic lure is going to be lighter than natural bait; marlin lures and bait can be huge. You're not looking at a tiny little fish to hook, you're going to use something that's the size of what you might eat for dinner yourself. If weight limits are a concern on the boat you'll be on (or you just don't want to lug the weight around), using plastic lures when possible is a good idea.
You can also contact deep-sea marlin fishing tours to ask which baits or lures they've had the best luck with. The operators of these tours will want you to have a successful fishing excursion, so they should be willing to talk to you about the tactics they know will work.
For more information about marlin fishing, contact a local fishing tour.
Share
