A little mojarra help please...

[Captain Michael Buffington]

aka sand perch. I am trying to trap them in perch traps more or less and am wondering if anyone else has tried this. I am using estuary mussels for bait wiut phenomenal success on crabs, puffers, lobters, and pretty much everything but sand perch i know that is what they naturally eat and am looking for a little advice. There is no info on the net that I can find and am hoping the best group of fisherman in the world can help me out
Michael

p.s. they look like pinfish without the stripes

[SeaBiscuit]

Captain Michael, I have never seen moharas in the minnow traps or pinfish cages used here on the east Coast. I have only caught them in the cast net. Do you plan to use them for live bait? They sure shine better than a brand new silver dollar, but I have found them to be extremely fragile in the live well.
Good luck on this endeavor and please let us know when you work it out.
SeaBiscuit

[Deep C]

I used to catch the "mahooas" in my pinfish traps baited with shrimp... Another point is we seemed to do better on the edge of a flat than near my dock.
Also used shrimp and tiny hooks to get get little ones at Bimini. The bigger the bait though the bigger the perch we caught were...

[Captain Michael Buffington]

Yes I have caught a few in my traps, so I know they go in. Mostly I get them while castnetting for choves. I also buy them for a buck apiece and they live abot 10 hours. The castnet beats the hell out of them and thats why they die. I am going to start purse seining choves in march and am sure i will get a ton of them as bycatch. I'm just playing with this idea until then. Any help is appreciated...
Michael

[tom s]

Mike tell Omar to answer my email please!Tom

[HOLWACHAGOT]

As Biscuit said...They are very fragile in the well. It seems they always die regardless of Oxygen, fresh water, whatever. I feel like they die of shock because I have tried and tried to keep them alive, even when I can keep shad and/or bunker very healthy...the mojara never make it. In fact they die almost instantly in the well or the basket.

With that being said, I catch them all the time in the cast net when one other factor is present...Silversides...The fact that you catch them while going for chovies(assuming you mean anchovies) along with the shape of thier mouth leads me to believe that they feed on small minnows. They are always around the silversides and will bite them on a small hook.
Just food for thought as these are my NON-Scientific observations. Good luck in trying to figure them out Captain.
Another thing Mike, they die when I catch them on the bait hooks as well.
Holwachagot

[WAHOONBOX]

HELL I WOULD LIKE TO KNOW HOW TO TRAP THE ESTUARY MUSSELS..............

[Tsukiji]

I caught several in a trap with bloodworm fishbites and crushed blue crab. Had to be the fishbites because I use crab all the time and never had them before the fishbites. Please share how you keep them alive for ten hours.

Butch

[HOLWACHAGOT]

I have caught the on bloodworm fishbites too while trying for spot for bait.
Holwachagot

[Roddy Hays]

Over the years I have found that sometimes some species of fish will stay alive and happy far longer in a livewell or bait motel if they have some cover in there with them. A big bunch of floating seaweed can sometimes make all the difference to the happiness of bottom dwelling fish. You may also be giving them too much current or oxygen. Not all fish are the same. If you're going to catch them on your day off, try also to set them direct into a bait motel with some cover and let them harden up for a few days before using them.

As for catching species like this, I like to use sections of worm baits, either fresh from the area, flown in, or even cut sections of something like Gulp sandworms. All of those small fish are suckers for worms. You'll often find worms under rocks at low tide, as well as in the sand and mud. Make sure you use a long-shank fine wire hook, or you'll be gut-hooking them for sure !

Hope this helps.

Roddy