Factors for Finding Saltwater Fish

To catch a saltwater fish, you need to think like a saltwater fish. Five factors affect where and when fish will feed: structure, current, water temperature, weather and bait. Fish live in a three-dimensional world where they can move horizontally or vertically and potentially travel thousands of miles in search of a meal. Some fish are ambush hunters, while others stalk their prey or simply graze on vegetation or invertebrates. But all fish use these factors to find food and keep from being eaten. Understanding how these elements work together will help you find the fish.

Saltwater Fishing Structure

In a saltwater habitat, any hard structure is an oasis for fish. Look for bridges, jetties, breakwaters and buoys above the surface and channels, drops, shoals, sloughs, wrecks, reefs and hills below the water to hold saltwater fish. Many times, even a subtle variation in bottom contour or an unassuming piece of structure will hold a surprising number of saltwater fish.

Some saltwater species will be in the structure, while other fish will hover on the outskirts. Even if the fish are permanent residents of the structure, it will take the right combination of these factors to get them feeding in their saltwater habitat.

When fishing saltwater structure, remember that it can be your friend or foe. Not only are rocks, pilings and wrecks good places to find fish, they are also good places to lose fish. It will take heavier tackle, stronger fishing line, tighter drag and super fish-fighting skills to keep a big fish from breaking off in the structure.

Depending on what saltwater species you are targeting, you can anchor, troll or drift over the structure. When trolling, try to make a figure eight pattern over the structure. Fish can often be found hundreds of yards from the structure, so be sure to cover the surrounding water, too. To drift over the structure, pull the boat directly over the structure, then take the motor out of gear and drift away in the wind and current. Use a GPS and compass to track the direction the boat is moving, then return on the same course to drift across the structure. To anchor over the structure, situate the boat up current and drop a fluke (Danforth) anchor into the sand or a wreck anchor directly into the structure. Be careful not to damage the structure when anchoring.

If you're fishing a smaller piece of structure with other saltwater anglers, be sure to share. Anchor, drift or troll so that everyone can have access to the fish.

In saltwater fishing, as in real estate, the three most important keys to success are location, location, location.

Saltwater Fishing Current

Saltwater current brings food to fish like a buffet on a conveyor belt. Predators hold in the current waiting for a passing meal, and bigger fish will use the current to confuse smaller fish. To understand saltwater fish, you have to understand the current.

Saltwater fish use current and structure to hunt. Some fish will position themselves up current of the structure while others will hide behind it. Structure can actually affect current by making the water move faster or slowing it down. Sometimes, current will create structure. When the tide rises, it may fill a dry area with water. When the tide falls, the fish will congregate in deeper water.

Not only can current react with structure, but when deep sea fishing, current can act as structure. When two bodies of water collide the resulting tide lines or rip attract predators and prey. Often, these tide lines trap flotsam and jetsam creating even more structure for fish to key in on. Fish treat a tide line like a jetty, bridge or drop, patrolling the edge or hiding in ambush.

It is important to realize that current is not the same as tide. Tide is defined as the rise and fall of the water level due to the moon's gravitational pull on the earth. Current, on the other hand, is the flow of water from one place to another. While a changing tide often creates current, the direction or strength of the current does not always coincide with the stage of the tide.

Saltwater Fishing Bait

Nothing attracts predators like the availability of prey. Using saltwater fishing lures or bait that mimic what fish are feeding on is one of the keys to catching fish. But understanding how predators find and feed on saltwater bait is just as important as choosing the right lure or rig.

Saltwater fish and fishermen are always on the hunt for bait. Fish feed on a wide variety of foods including smaller fish, crustaceans, mollusks and even algae. Determining what fish are eating, how, and when is the first step to a successful saltwater fishing trip.

Often bait can be spotted on the surface of the water or marked with a fishfinder as it passes below the boat. Other sources of saltwater bait, such as mollusks or crustaceans, may be harder to see. The conditions that attract big game saltwater fish are the same that attract bait: water temperature, current, structure, weather and other bait.

One of the best ways to find bait and the fish that feed on it is to find birds that feed on both. Identifying and understanding bird behavior in saltwater fishing can be as important as understanding the habits of fish.

Some species of birds are better fish indicators than others. Birds diving or swooping low to the water usually indicate feeding fish, while birds sweeping or soaring might mean that fish are in the area. When targeting fish that are feeding under birds, it is important to put your bait in the frenzy and keep your boat outside the fray.

After you find feeding fish, you have to replicate the size, shape and activity of the bait. First, determine where the fish are feeding in the water column. Second, figure out what bait the fish are feeding on. Finally, try to match the size and action of that bait.

Surface plugs or baits trolled without weight will cover the upper water column while swimming plugs, soft plastics and slow-sinking baits will drop through the middle of the water column. Saltwater jigs, deep-diving plugs and bottomrigs will put an offering in front of fish that are feeding on the bottom.

Matching the color, size, shape and action of the target saltwater bait is also important; however, this relationship is not always obvious. Although there is no chartreuse-colored fish or redheaded white-bodied fish, these colors are two of the most popular patterns for saltwater lures. Many times the best color for a lure is more the result of water color and clarity than the actual color of the natural bait.

Size and action can be easier to match. Study the natural habits of the available bait, then try to find lures or natural baits that resemble the real thing. Even though a bucktail doesn't look like a crab to a fisherman, when a fish sees it kicking up sand as it scoots across the bottom, it thinks about an eight-legged dinner. In other situations, a bucktail may resemble an invertebrate emerging from its hole or a baitfish swimming through the water.

Slight variations in lure design can make huge differences in the fish's response. You and your buddy may be using different colors of the same lure, and he's getting bites while you're not.

Saltwater Fishing Temperature

Fish are cold blooded. That means that a fish's body temperature is the same as the temperature of the surrounding water.

For a fish, the difference in a few degrees of water temperature is like the difference between sitting in your living room and standing in a raging blizzard. To find the fish, you have to find the water temperature they prefer.

Changes in water temperature can be accompanied by changes in water clarity or color. An accurate water temperature gauge is one of the most valuable tools in an angler's arsenal. Offshore anglers rely on satellite images of ocean water temperatures to find areas where the water temperature is ideal before leaving the dock.

Even when water temperatures are not optimal, you can still find fish. Some species of fish can tolerate water temperatures that are too hot or too cold by becoming inactive. On cold days, shallow water will warm the quickest. On hot days, look for fish in cooler, deeper water. Other fish migrate great distances to follow their ideal water temperature.

Of all the factors for finding fish, water temperature is probably the most important. If the water temperature is wrong, the fish will be gone.

Saltwater Fishing Weather

Weather affects fish as much as it affects fishermen. Wind, cloud cover and barometric pressure all play a role in fish behavior.

Wind is one of the most powerful forces affecting fish. Not only does the wind make waves, it can also push water from one area to another. Wind can cause a backwater bay to fill with water or empty out. Offshore, wind can create temperature breaks and tidelines or it can break them up. Surf fishermen usually look for an onshore wind to blow water, bait and fish into the beach. Some species will feed on a particular wind then turn off completely when conditions change.

Barometric pressure also has a strong effect on fish. Before a storm moves in, air pressure will drop. Fish can detect this change and will respond by either feeding heavily or taking cover.

On cloudy days, some species of fish will feed on the surface or move into shallow water because they feel safer and their eyes are protected from the bright sun. On a clear day, other species will come to the surface to warm themselves in the sun's rays.

To keep track of all these conditions and their effect on the fishing, you may want to keep a fishing log. Once you find a pattern that produces fish, you can often return to the same area under the same conditions and have similar success.