Has anyone ever used pufferfish (blowfish) as bait? The reason I ask is because they're such an annoyance. They keep picking off other bait you'd use before any other fish come and take your bait. So I'm tempted to target them and use them as bait. Would love to hear if anyone here has tried it and whether it's a good bait or not.

The short answer is no.

The only fish known to eat and target pufferfish are sharks (mainly tiger sharks). The little ones you are talking about would not be shark food. Sharks would be after the larger open water variety.

Sea snakes and turtles also eat them. But as bait themselves about the only thing you could target is tiger sharks. Nothing else eats puffer fish.

The little ones that are pesky and often take bait are usually only in very shallow water...What fish are you trying to catch?

Was trying to catch breams.

You could try small lures.

Bream will take a wide range of lures. From very small sabiki right through to largish hard bodied bibbed. They will even take flies if you are into fly fishing.

The lure you choose will depend a lot on the location. If it is a jetty a small jigging type lure. Or if it is shallow sandy a small soft plastic. etc