Is there such thing as too much baitfish in the water?

[thecosbykids]

Went out fishing yesterday to one of my local spots and I noticed an abnormal amount of bait in the water around low tide. In some spots, every cast would result in bait skittering at the surface when the lure hit the water. There seemed to be a lot of activity from larger fish as well around the bait. But despite the promising signs, the day was slow and I couldn't get anything decent. 

Does anyone have any thoughts on how an abundance of bait will impact the bite? I speculate that more bait in the water means a quicker feeding time for any predatory fish, which would mean you get less time to entice these fish to bite. The very few decent tugs I got on the line felt like a fish that was not committing fully, perhaps it wasn't enticing enough with options around? 

Would love to hear peoples thoughts 

 

 

 

 

 

[Isaac Ct]

Well, if larger predatory fish are around a lot of bait fish you probably need to ‘match the hatch’ and try make your lure as close to the baitfish as possible. Predators will sometimes target baitfish that are separated from the group so maybe cast around the edges of the bait and the results might change.

[turtleeater]

I've had moments like that in the hacking before. The baitfish were mostly whitebait and were schooling around my feet on the flats. I used 10 gram metals and 4 inch plastics to catch a 40cm tailor 2 60cm flatties a 40 cm bream and 45 cm trevally. But it really depends on what lures you are using and what baitfish are around you. 

[noelm]

If big schools of bait fish are around, and you see predators feeding, it's time to catch one of the baitfish and put it out live, the "wounded" bait will be taken first!

[XD351]

There is an old saying - find the bait you find the fish .

But just because there seems like a lot of baitfish in the water it doesn’t necessarily mean they are being preyed upon at that time , the bait might be up in the shallows where a predator can’t get to them and will wait for the receding tide to force them into deeper water where they meet their doom . Flathead are a typical candidate for this .