their baaaack

[minner skinner]

Ugh i caught my first hardhead of this year. Actually the first two. Does anyone here know where these slimy bait stealing fish head for the winter? Does anybody have any tips for avoiding these salty creatures of the deep(shallow) blue(brown) sea(bay)?

[dpiper]

Yea, I do. FISH for THEM.

[medulla762]

Hahaha...yep, that's about as sure fire a way to run 'em off as any!...hahaha...

[dwaynez]

LOL

[flatcats]

What are these "hard head" fish?

[michael dill]

Avoid using dead and even live bait, use arties to avoid the hard heads. Larger live baits like mullet and croaker are usually uneffected by them but only if they are lively. Now Gaftop are a whole other story, I had a gaftop hit my topwater last summer!

Flatscats Heard heads are a type of saltwater catfish constisting of mainly one bone from the mouth to there doral fin with very little meat beyond that. They are an indiscriminate bottom feeder with basicly zero table fair appeal. Known for there large schools and bait stealing tatics. Aside from the enviromental uses they are worthless unless of course you on a deserted island and starving to death.

Gaftop sailfins are another type of salt cat that yeild a much larger amount of meat have less bones and grow to much greater sizes. Gaftops can be a bit more agressive and have some table fair apeal to some.

[dwaynez]

Mike

good description, I have caught a few hard heads in my limited salt water fishing experience. We did have a lot of bait stolen though while fishing, I adjusted though and wound up catching quite a few trout to take home for my efforts.

[flatcats]

Thanks Michael, When anyone here talks about salt water fish I'm lost as a goose. :lol:

[michael dill]

Hey no problem, Salt is in my blood. One other thing I thought of to help avoid the HH'S is to not fish during a slack tide, they have a tendency to feed more when the tidal movement is minimal

[dwaynez]

Michael

Good info, it helps to have members on here who fish salt water often and are able to give some advise to those of use that don't fish it as much.