Well tomorrow I'm going deep-sea fishing on a party boat for the first time and need some help. The boat supplies bait but its dead shrimp and squid and I heard you catch bigger fish with live bait. I can't afford live bait and was wondering how hard it is to catch your own. I don't have a cast net and will only have about an hour at the dock to catch the bait any tips.

You will need a cast net. I wouldn't worry about it though. You will catch so many fish you'll be sore. Cut bait will work as well. The boat workers will know what they are doing though; they'll have the right bait.  Where are you going?

Try taking some very small gold hooks. Many moons ago I caught several 100 bait fish on small gold hooks don't put any bait on them and tie 10  to 15 on a single line with a weight on the end spaced about 6 inches apart. use a hand line and drop this over the side while fishing with the dead bait. It doesn't work all the time but when the bait fish are there and bite you'll have so many you'll be giving them away.

Go to a tackle shop and get a sabiki rig. It is used to catch baitfish of various sizes. It is a strip of line with a lot of tiny hooks (6-10)dressed with feathers, mylar, yarn, or some other decorative material that most baitfish enjoy. I think walmart has them too. This rig can be used at the dock or out in open water at different depths, if you have enough weight on it. If you catch any french grunts or beeliner snappers rig them up live or butterfly them and use them as bait. You will catch some monsters.

Good luck!!

What did you catch?

Nothin really 2 pogies 1 under sized red snapper and one eel   Still had a great time