• Shrimp bait, though expensive, works well for a wide variety of fish.fishing image by Keith Frith from Fotolia.com
  
  The most reliable and efficient rule of thumb when saltwater fishing is to use bait which matches the normal diet of your target catch. Live bait in the form of smaller fish and shrimp tend to yield the best results most frequently, as the movement of live bait attracts attention, and is more reminiscent of what your target catch would come upon naturally. However, pieces of dead fish and lures are not entirely without merit, and can work quite well with specific types of fish.
  
  

Cut fish and Smaller Fish

• Cut fish, as the term implies, are simply chopped pieces of the kind of fish your target catch normally feeds on. Any blood on the cut fish bait is great for attracting the attention of potential catches. Smaller fish are generally used live and as a whole. As with cut fish bait, live smaller fish are also chosen according to the preferred diet of your desired catch. The best bait for saltwater bluefish, for instance, would be live herring or mullet. Croaker and flounder, on the other hand, can be best caught using bloody, cut bait.
  
  

Bloodworms

• Found in shallow sea waters, the pale pink bloodworm is collected in large numbers for the express purpose of bait usage. The best way to use bloodworms as bait is to cut the worm so that it's a half inch longer than the fishhook's bend, sticking the hook point through the center of the worm, and leaving the extra half inch hanging freely. The loose end will wiggle when dragged through the water, appearing alive, and attracting the attention of hungry fish. Kingfish, spot fish, and sea trout are examples of saltwater fish that respond well to bloodworm bait.
  
  

Shrimp

• Shrimp bait is most effective when used live, though frozen shrimp can also result in a catch. The downside of using shrimp as bait is the expense, which becomes a frustrating factor when losing bait to unwanted fish. Although shrimp can be effective in deep saltwater fishing, they seem to bring about the best results closer to shore. Red drum fish and puppy drum fish are two examples of saltwater fish which respond well to shrimp bait.