There are hundreds of species of fish in the North Sea, which makes it a very popular destination for many sea anglers. The most common types of fish that you’re likely to find are mackerel, cod, haddock and plaice, so this guide will give you a quick rundown of how to get the best bait to land yourself these kinds of sea fish.

Best Baits for North Sea Fishing

Raw, fresh bait is often the best for sea fishing, and the cheapest way you can get it is at the supermarket, ideal when you are learning how to sea fish. Prawns in particular are excellent, and are relatively inexpensive. You need to make sure that the prawns are not cooked, and it makes things much easier if they are substantial. Some of the very cheapest bags that you can buy contain very small or broken prawns which are fiddly and difficult to use effectively as bait when sea fishing.

Fishmongers might be a little bit less convenient than the supermarket, but they do offer a much wider range of fish for you to use as bait. In particular, those that sell fresh bait will stock lugworm, ragworm and peeler crabs. These are all effective when sea fising for cod in particular, but will work for many types of fish that you’ll find in the North Sea

Ragworm is popular, effective, and relatively cheap, possibly the most popular sea fishing bait. It is also quite easy to get hold of yourself for free. You can collect them during low tide in large numbers if you have the time. A good sized ragworm will attract most fish species that you’re likely to encounter, and many anglers would assert that there is no better option to use as bait in the North Sea.

Lugworms are also a good choice for bait, ideal when learning how to sea fish, they are also entirely collectible yourself. Dig a hole within a couple of feet of the casts, and you’ll eventually come across one or more of the worms. They can be stored in cold water for a few days.

Peeler crabs are also found on the shore. It takes more work to find them but they are great for attracting big fish. Peelers can be expensive if you buy them, which reflects the fact that they can be time consuming to collect, but they are undoubtedly effective and very popular among many and should be considered when learning how to sea fish . Depending on where you search for the crabs, they are more common during the spring and summer months. In order to check if a crab is a peeler, you need to nip off the last segment of the second to last leg. If the shell breaks away to reveal fleshy leg, the crab is a peeler, but if all you get is white tendon, it is not.

Often it’s a good idea to use a combination of peeler crab and a worm; they can be tied together relatively easily, and will attract all manner of large fish when sea fishing.

If you’re considering a sea fishing trip, then consider that spending a few hours at a good beach will probably give you a great selection of bait. www.whitbyanglingsupplies.com has all the other gear that you might need for a sea fishing session.

image – Wipeout Dave

You can use almost anything you want as hook bait to catch sea species and is a great way to learn how to sea fish. I have tried most things you could think of, generally in desperate times. I remember well, catching small Pollock on a very basic ledger in Torquay Marina on a bait of liver Pate!

Sea Fishing Baits

Lets have a run down of the top 20 sea fishing baits used out there to target Sea species.

• Sandeels A great sea fishing bait, best fished live but can be used dead. You can catch pollock, ray, skate, bass, wrasse, tope, dogfish, cod and many other species.
• Squid will catch you ray, skate, tope, conger eel, cod, bass, dogfish, whiting and again most other species.Great used in a cocktail ie mixed with Mackerel or worm.
• Blueys – An interesting sea fishing bait, not so much used now. It is a fish bait and worth having in the freezer. More reading here about Blueys for Bait
• Mussels will catch pretty much any sea fish around the UK. Great for Plaice. Try freezing them onto a hook and carry in thermos. Fish while frozen to prevent the bait leaving the hook when it hits the water.
• Ragworm is a great bait to target flatfish such as plaice, sole and flounder. Often used for Bass and pollock. If I had to only have one bait, it could well be ragworm.
• Lugworm again similar to ragworm they have a thicker more juicy body, hebce great scent trails. great Bass and better Cod bait. Very popular sea fishing bait.
• Live pouting great bait for cod and bass.
• Razor fish is a good bait for cod and bass. Have a read here for more information on Razor Shell as sea fishing bait
• Limpets great accessible sea fishing bait. Fun to drop into rock pools to bring out Blennies and prawn. Can be a pain to keep on the hook. Try them for Wrasse!!!
• Prawn Try and use live prawn Read here about catching prawns for bait. A great bait when fished well.
• Mackerel good all round bait, works for most species.Can be used as small slivers to whole mackerel and flappers. The silver belly meat also acts as a good attractor!!!! Easy to get hold of, great when learning how to sea fish.
• Live whiting again a great bait for bass and cod.
• Bread Mix with some pilchard oil and bran for a great ground bait. Will attract everything from Bream to Shark! On the hook and with ground bait makes an ideal mullet bait.
• Cockles good all round bait, but can be hard to get on a hook. Also taste nice!!!
• Clams same as cockles.
• Earthworms known as lob worm. Great high up estuaries for flatties and Bass.
• Peeler crab Some  eople love them! I have never gotten on to well. However, consider a cocktail with squid or worm. Bait elastic is often wound around the bait on the hook to hold the crab in place.
• Softback crab same as above.
• Hardback crab same as above.
• Hermit crab good all rounder. Often under used in this country. I understand good for hound fishing!
• Preserved Baits Not a preferred choice, but always worth having a small selection encase you get a chance to fish and the shops are shut. Great while learning sea fish as you can always get out.

I would always suggest buying more bait than you think you will need. Remember most of the time the scent created by the bait is what will attract fish to your hook. Large baits dripping in goodness and scent will attract fish, no doubt. The most important thing in respect of bait while I learnt how to sea fish was to get good quality fresh bait and get plenty on the hook for most species.

Consider the mouth of the species you are targeting while fishing. If its tiny like a sole, then use small bait, but consider using ground bait in some manner – PVA bags or swim feeders. Fish with big mouths, like Bass and Cod will engulf large baits with ease.

Make sure your hook point is not masked with bait. If the fish selects your bait and runs and the hook point is masked you will loose that fish. In large bait consider using a second hook, a Pennel rig is great for this where you slide a second hook on the line before tying the last hook to the line.

If you suffer from crabs (ouch) use a small float on the line – piece of wine cork or foam. This will lift the bait in the water, preventing it from laying next to the crab how will strip you hook clean in seconds. There is nothing more frustrating than sea fishing for hours with a hook clean of bait.

Keep your bait fresh. I use plastic cold bags with ice blocks to keep the bait fresh in summer months. Use common sense as fresh sea fishing bait is a large piece of the pie when it comes to increasing your catch rate.

Supermarkets are ideal for last minute bait buys. Squid, prawn, mussel, fish, bread…. It’s all there. A good tackle shop will provide fresh bait also. You should be able to order in advance if you have a big trip planned!

I hope you found this useful. Please comment below to add to the value of this post.

Green Haven loacted in Lincolnshire are the UK distributor for a brand new sea fishing bait called SEASPAWN. Due to be released ontomthe marketplace in September SEASPAWN is the saltwater version of the sucessuful course fishing bait aqua Spawn.

The sea fishing bait is synthetic and activated with water and liquid attractant. The sea angler has full creative control over the size the bait is!

Activated to (up to 30mm dia) and the flavour content of the bait. Details of the product can be found at www.aqua-spawn.com and the site contains links to the manufacturers web site and our own blog site.

SEASPAWN™ Trial 2011

We are offering 500 free samples of SEASPAWN™ for a new sea fishing trial which starts on 1st September – 31st October 2011 inclusive.
The trial is open to all UK sea anglers willing to test the new product – small (padded) S.A.E. required! Details HERE

I dream of using the good old lugworm again but in Orkney although there are plenty of casts the worms are so deep that unless you use a JCB you have no chance of gathering enough for a decent days fishing, Any ideas?

Can any of you help Michael with the above question. I have never been to the location to dig bait so I cannot really help or advise on this question. Please comment on this sea fishing question if you can help out.

Here are some past posts on lugworm collection

• Collection lug – from youtube
• Digging lug worm

Rag worm are a superb sea fishing bait. They stay alive on the hook for ages and can be presented in a few ways from boats and the shore depending if you are after movement or a scent trail for fish to follow.

Using Rag worm as Sea Fishing Bait

1. A single or a few small worm can be hooked through the head area leaving the tails to wiggle below. This creates a bait full of movement, ideal for Flounder fishing. Harbor rag or Maddies work well for this.
2. Use a bunch of rag worm laced up over the hook onto the line. This is good for presenting bigger baits and casting longer ranges than from using the method above. Useful when learning how to start sea fishing.
3. The use of rag as a cocktail bait can prove very successful indeed. Thread on a bunch of rag and tip it with another bait ie. Crab, Squid or fish bait.

So depending on the target species and combined with the sort of range you are looking to cast, or the tide strength you are fishing in if from a boat, Rag can be used in different was dependant on the circumstance, location, method and prey fish (don’t give fish with small mouths a huge bait!!), in all they are a fantastic bait for people learning how to sea fish.

Digging Rag Worm

Find a location where it is legal to dig. Ideal Rag worm beds tend to be more gritty, composed of coarse sand and gravel. Harbour Rag are found in softer conditions, more silt / sand mix. Get some local knowledge and go from there.

I use a wide pronged fork and generally trench (dig in a long line through as many surface holes as I can find). Take out a fork full of substrate, then another one further back, but joining the first hole. I then go back to the first hole area and go one fork deeper, keeping to this pattern. Effectively you are making a trench two forks deep. You need to check each fork full carefully for any rag and place them into a bucket as you find them.

You can dig individual holes. Start infornt and dig quickly taking small fork fulls at a time, back and past the hole. Rag will move quite quickly, so be sure to dig at a reasonable speed.

For storage keep them in some torn up news paper or vermiculite to keep them moist, but not dry. Stored in the fridge they should last a good week as long as you remove the dead and dying on a daily basis.

If you have any tips or questions regarding the digging of Rag worm please comment on this post.

image: Daniel